Comments on: Recall Now Includes Dry Pet Food

Government Finds Chemical, But No Rat Poison, In Tainted Pet Foods

[catscats74]

I contacted (via email) each of the name brand companies (four of them) that I buy dog and cat food from to find out if MenuFoods manufactures any of their pet food. I was surprised to find that two of the all natural brands that I buy at the local health food store are actually manufactured by MenuFoods. They are not part of the recall and do not contain wheat gluten, but I stopped using them. I will never again purchase any dog or cat food made by MenuFoods. There are still a lot of brands that are not manufactured at MenuFoods to choose from. Just takes a little research to find out, but it is worth it.

[barbaraf4]

Since Haliburton owns just about everything in the world, they may very well be the Mothership for MenuFoods.

If this is a publicly owned company, I hope there is an indepth investigation. It would be very interesting to know if that two week lag coincided with all the officers and insiders dumping their stocks and destroying everyting except their "cooked" books.

[barbaraf4]

galaxiana

"There is a long list of the 90+ brands that MenuFoods manufactured for on their web site. That is how you can know who they manufactured for."

Those 90 brands are the ones being recalled. It is those that aren't on the list that scares me. How do you know your breakfast cereal isn't one of their brands (for humans)?

[sheila2u-2009]

I would never buy a pet food manufactured by this miserable MenuFoods company again...but how do we know who is manufacturing name brands!!
It was quite surprising to find major brands listed in the recall.
Perhaps this will put them out of business...but then they will reopen under a new name that we will not recognize.

[sheila2u-2009]

I would never buy a pet food manufactured by this miserable MenuFoods company again...but how do we know who is manufacturing name brands!!
It was quite surprising to find major brands listed in the recall.
Perhaps this will put them out of business...but then they will reopen under a new name that we will not recognize.

[sheila2u-2009]

I would never buy a pet food manufactured by this miserable MenuFoods company again...but how do we know who is manufacturing name brands!!
It was quite surprising to find major brands listed in the recall.
Perhaps this will put them out of business...but then they will reopen under a new name that we will not recognize.

[dog-x8]

Hey knyghtwolf,

If you were trying to make yourself look intelligent by posting all of that chemical information on melamine, you failed.

All you did was show yourself to be a plagiarist - because when you use the work of others without giving credit, that is what it is. The information you copied and pasted as your words is from wikipedia.
Posted by zephant0m at 06:29 PM : Mar 30, 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------Knyghtwolf, don't pay any attention to what some of these little "tattletales" try to get started! I know you were just helping us understand what melamine consist of. I for one thank you. I enjoy reading your post. Have a good night--uhh morning. (it's 4:00am EST) lol

[randalds]

This whole fiasco shows that we need to find out what's in our food as well as our pet's food and also where it comes from. China is the most polluted place on the planet. Why are they putting chemicals from there in the pet food and why aren't we told where it comes from on the bag.

And how much of our PEOPLE food is made this way?
Posted by susha4 at 09:04 PM : Mar 30, 2007

In the 1960's the federal government became aware of the fact that many very poor people in our country were living on canned pet food because it was cheaper (a disgrace then that still happens a lot more then people realize unfortunately) and they passed a law that says that dog and cat food be of such a level of quality that it's consumable by humans and not just animals. Obviously the FDA (who is supposed to enforce this law through inspections) dropped the ball! Of course in many ways it's not their fault because their budget has been slashed to criminal levels. Yes Menu Foods is to blame, but so is the US Government because this is just a warning of what could happen to people food (imagine this was Gerber's baby food instead of pet food?) because they're under-funding food inspections. Demand a Congressional inquiry before we're talking about the deaths of hundreds or thousands of babies on this blog. The possibility is every bit as real because it's the same agency that screwed up this time as will screw up the next.

[galaxiana]

Barbaraf4,

There is a long list of the 90+ brands that MenuFoods manufactured for on their web site. That is how you can know who they manufactured for.

Notice I used "manufactured" in the PAST TENSE. If Iams, Hill's, Purina, Eukanuba, et al wish to retain the business of their customers, I think they realize they have to dump these MenuFoods jerks. How could any company that really cared about pets do business with an entity that knew its food had killed nine of its own animals, and then kept it secret for 4 weeks waiting to see if the public would "find out."

Once the public did "find out" (because our healthy pets were dying) they STILL delayed several more days claiming they delayed making an announcement to "confirm the public reports." (What they were probably really doing was raiding the "income fund" before the company went bankrupt from the lawsuits they knew were coming.)

In addition, you're absolutely right that this MenuFoods Income Fund doesn't give a hoot about animal welfare. Just have a look at the PETA photos of their animal testing laboratory (if you can bear to look...)

Any major U.S. company that continues to do business with them will suffer organized pet-owner boycotts of ALL of their products as a result. Wait and see. ;)

Ok people lets just say that this situation is way of of control. My animals are very much a part of my family they depend on me for their every need and trust that they are safe in my care. Well I know mine are Thank you Purina, whos foods are all processed in Purina owned factories thoughout the world. None of the food I feed my babies has been tainted. I use only Friskies wet and dry to feed my kids. And low and behold they are still very healthy. Check out Purina'a website as they will let the public know that they care about all animals starting with livestock many years ago and then graduating into dog and cat foods. They have always been a good product. Hats off to Purina. That sites addy is www.purina.com.
I truly feel for all those that have lost their beloved pets. My heart goes out to all of you. Now lets hope this wakes people up and get some regulations going in the Pet food industry for the sake of our animals life just would not be the same without them.

[lpn04750]

I believe that besides having the names, they should be putting the pictures also of the foods that are safe. I know that if anything happened to my 3 purebreed beagles I would be just beyond myself. They are 15, 6 and going on 3. It very hard to find a good food that you can trust your pets health to. I just recently found one that has glucosomine in it for their joints as the old one has arthritis and the 6 yr old is getting it too. Our pets deserve to get the best we can provide!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[iceman_1960]

"It's a good day in Baghdad when only twelve human beings are found dead on the street."
Posted by tucson23 at 10:35 PM : Mar 30, 2007

That's a good day in Chicago too.

[my_liberty]

I would like to see testing done on all of the pet foods, dry and wet, that are manufactured by Menu Foods and Hill's Pet Nutrition along with any other that may crop up over time. In this way the consumer can be made aware of all possibilites of future problems with these products. It certainly would remove any doubts in my mind as to what NOT to feed my pets. I take in seriously ill animals that don't have a home, are unadoptable, and need the extra care. They don't need the complication of their food adding toxins to their systems. Their health is already vulnerable and delicate. This could seriously compromise the lives of all of my rescues.

[barbaraf4]

galaxiana

"I will never buy from any company that uses MenuFoods again."

How do we know what products this involves? They could also be in the human food business. And their name: "Menu Foods Income Fund." Does this sound like a company who would be more interested in making money than creating a quality product?

[galaxiana]

I just happened to have opened a new 4 pound bag of Iams for my kitty on Tuesday, which I had purchased about 3 weeks ago. By yesterday, she was acting a little "down" but we all have up and down days, so although I was alert, I wasn't yet worried.

But today, she has been acting like she really doesn't feel well! She's been sitting on my lap most of the day, alternately sleeping and lightly purring, and this NOT a lap cat here! She's usually pretty active and prefers to sleep by herslef curled up in one of her "spots."

I have taken away the food she was eating, and conserved the rest of the bag for possible testing if she gets sicker, and thank goodness I had an older bag of kitten food someone gave me several months ago to feed her until I can figure out what is ABSOLUTELY SAFE for her to eat. I don't think I am buying any more major commercial brands for her!

I thought the premium price I paid for Iams included a higher level of quality in all areas, not just in the food composition itself, but when the same company is using the same poisoned ingredients in every brand they make, all of a sudden the premium price for Iams doesn't seem justified. I will be finding another source of food for her.

I URGE PEOPLE to PLEASE STOP FEEDING dry food from the recall period to your kitties; I think the Science Diet recall is the tip of the iceberg in the dry foods recall! Iams, Eukanuba, Purina Pro, they ALL would have the same poisoned wheat gluten in them.

[galaxiana]

(Quoted from the article):
"In this case, we're going to have to look at this after the dust settles and determine if there is something from a regulatory standpoint that we could have done differently to prevent this incident from occurring," he said.
--------------

"Incident?" The FDA is trying to minimalize this as an "incident?!" This is a flippin' CATASTROPHE and I think everyone should immediately stop using the dry foods from the recall period!

What I'm really waiting to see if any of the major cat food brands dump this sleazy company that sat on the news for almost 4 weeks after their own laboratory animals died, and who still deny that any more 16 pets have been killed.

I will never buy from any company that uses MenuFoods again.

[barbaraf4]

I love animals. Besides my own two dogs and 4 cats, I feed every stray in the county. They also get neutered and get rabies shots.

My concern? Why is rat poison used in the treatment of Cancer?!?!?!?

Not only can we worry about what "filler" is in our pet food and our own food. We can also worry about what is in our medicine!

[tucson23]

More than three thousand Americans are part of perhaps 100,000 people who have died in the Iraq war...perhaps we should keep things in perspective when talking about 12 animals dying. It's a good day in Baghdad when only twelve human beings are found dead on the street.

[twocatmom]

My heart goes out to all the people and pets affected by this terrible pet food recall. I have 5 precious cats, all rescues. I give them the best of everything, then something like this happens that we had no control of. My cats are fine right now, but who knows what other types of cat foods will prove to be tainted. Please, everyone, consider feeding your pets natural, raw, healthy foods. Info is out there for how to do it. Commercial petfoods are made from bad meat by-products, additives, chemicals, etc. from meat processing plants that throw in parts of dead animals not fit for human consumption! We don't realize what all goes into the pet foods that isn't healthy for our pets. Get educated on what you can do for better nutrition, for your sake and your pet's sake, too. Good luck and good health!

[sfoulger]

I think its an outrage what has happened with this "MISTAKE"???? Not only have thousands of pets died in an agonizing way (and climbing); but my heart goes out to the poor pet owners that have lost their beloved pets. I thank god I fed my dog and cats a manufacturer that is not on the Menu Foods list! Even then, Im scared to death to feed them anything at this point and myself! What in the hell is this world coming too when we cant even have faith in the food we eat everyday? This world is going to hell! Anything to go cheaper and make a buck eh??