Pet Food Recall

On Friday, March 16, Menu Foods, a contract manufacturer of wet pet foods, announced that it was recalling millions of containers (cans and foil pouches) of wet dog food and cat food. The company said the recalled products were made between December 3 and March 6 for dozens of different pet food companies and sold under more than 50 brand names. The recall was prompted by reports of the deaths of at least 10 dogs and cats, as well as reports of dozens more animals who suffered acute kidney failure after eating the implicated products. The foods were sold in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and sold by major retailers including Wal-Mart, Kroger, and Safeway.

A complete list of the recalled products, along with product codes, descriptions, and production codes, is available from the Menu Foods website at <http://www.menufoods.com/recall> www.menufoods.com/recall or by calling the company at (866) 895-2708. Check the list often; at the time of release of this message, Menu Foods had added more products to the recall list at least twice since its initial release.

Also, several foods that (as of the release of this message) are NOT on the recall list but were manufactured by Menu are being recalled by their companies. Most notable are five Science Diet wet cat foods.

Menu said in a statement that tests of its food had “failed to identify any issues with the products in question.” However, Sarah Tuite, a spokeswoman for Menu Foods, told the New York Times that Menu did associate the timing of the reported deaths with its use of a new supplier for wheat gluten (in our opinion, a low-quality source of protein). The company has since switched back to its former source for wheat gluten.

Most of the products on the recall list are inexpensive "store brands," made for grocery store retail outlets under a variety of names. The major exceptions to this are Iams and Eukanuba, products recognized by most pet owners due to their healthy market share, heavy marketing, and pervasive presence in almost every pet supply chain.

So far, only two foods that have made an appearance on a WDJ "top foods" list have also appeared on the recall list: Nutro's Ultra and Nutro Natural Choice. The Nutro product featured in the 2007 list of "top wet foods," "Nutro Natural Choice Chicken, Rice, and Oatmeal" variety, does not contain wheat gluten and is not on the recall list. However, the Nutro product highlighted on WDJ's 2006 list, Nutro's Ultra Holistic, does contain wheat gluten and is on the recall list.

Owners who fed any of the recalled products in the past three months should be alert for signs of kidney failure in their pets: extreme lethargy, a sudden change in the amount the animal drinks or urinates, jaundice (indicated by the yellowing of the animal's skin and/or whites of eyes), inappetence, and vomiting. As always, if your pet suddenly declines to eat a food he or she has previously enjoyed, cease feeding the product and call the manufacturer with the product date code for more information. Always contact your veterinarian promptly if your animal shows signs of illness.



Thank you,
The Whole Dog Journal Team

Click to expand...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 19, 2007

AVMA Offers Advice to Pet Owners after Nationwide Food Recall

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.

- The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), in response to a
national pet food recall, offers the following information and advice to
concerned pet owners:

Menu Foods, Inc., a Canadian private-label pet food manufacturer based in
Statesville, Ontario, has issued a recall on all its "cuts and gravy" style
dog and cat food products produced at its facility in Emporium, Kansas,
between December 3, 2006, and March 6, 2007. This recall includes 90 brands
across the entire manufacturing spectrum. A complete list of affected foods
including date and product information codes is available through the AVMA
Web
site at: http://www.avma.org/aa/menufoodsrecall/070318.asp. If you have any
of
the products identified on these lists, immediately stop feeding them to
your
pet.

If you suspect that your pet has been affected by a recalled food, do the
following three steps to help your veterinarian with your pet's diagnosis:

Retain food samples for analysis.
- Retain 4 cans or 1 kg of dry food, when possible.
- Freeze when possible or store at room temperature in airtight bags.

Document product name, type of product and manufacturing information.
- Retain all packaging.
- Identify date codes or production lot numbers.
- Retain purchase receipts.

Document product consumption.
- Dates products or products were fed.
- Consumption and palatability history.
- Time of onset of clinical signs.
- Detailed dietary history (ie, all products fed and feeding methods).
Although the exact cause is not currently known, animals that have become
ill
after consuming these products have shown signs of acute kidney failure.

Dr. Sandra Willis, DVM, a board certified diplomate and communications chair
with the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) and member
of the AVMA Council on Communications, advises that signs of kidney failure
include loss of appetite, lethargy, vomiting, diarrhea, changes in water
consumption and also changes in urination. Anybody who has a pet that
exhibits
these signs should take the animal to a veterinarian.

"Owners shouldn't panic, because there can be a wide variety of reasons a
pet
might exhibit these symptoms," Dr. Willis explained. "But it's always
prudent
that, when a pet is exhibiting any signs of illness, the pet owner should
contact their veterinarian immediately."

A veterinarian may call for a urinalysis and blood work, and might also
perform additional tests, such as an x-ray or ultrasound, to rule out other
possible problems such as bladder and kidney stones. If it has been
determined
that the cat or dog has been affected by consumption of the recalled pet
food,
a veterinarian could decided to treat the illness with medications and/or
intravenous fluids.

"If the kidney disease is severe, such as the animal is not urinating at
all,
the veterinarian can refer or consult with a specialist from the ACVIM for
more specialized care," Dr. Willis explained.

Owners of pets affected by the recalled pet foods who wish to report the
incident should contact the FDA, by going to the FDA Web site at
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/backgrounders/complain.html to find the FDA
complaint coordinator in their state.

Please monitor the AVMA Web site (www.avma.org) for the latest information
on
the recall. Consumers with questions for the manufacturer can contact Menu
Foods, Inc. at 1-866-895-2708. A list of veterinary specialists can be found
at the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine at www.acvim.org, or
by calling 800-245-9081.

Click to expand...