Pet Food Co. Knew Of Problem Last Month
In Tests Of Food After Complaints, As Many As 1 In 6 Animals Died; Cause Still A Mystery
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Deadly Pet Food Source Unknown
With a deadly toxin affecting as many as 91 different brands of pet food, pet owners are concerned about what to do. Dr. Debbye Turner reports that authorities are still looking for answers.
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A sign explains why a store shelf is empty of pet food after it was pulled from a Petco store in Miami, March 19, 2007. (Getty Images/Joe Raedle)
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"That's a huge number, considering when you feed pet food no animal should die," says CBS News The Early Show veterinarian Dr. Debbye Turner.
A federal investigation is focusing on wheat gluten as the likely source of contamination that sparked a recall last Friday of 60 million cans and pouches of the suspect food, said Stephen F. Sundlof, the Food and Drug Administration's top veterinarian.
"I'm certain someone's going to figure this out because there are a lot of pet foods involved, a lot of pets involved and a lot of veterinarians who are upset," Dr. Ann Hohenhaus of New York's Animal Medical Center told CBS News.
Wheat gluten, a protein source, is commonly used as filler.
Agency investigators are looking at other ingredients as well. The wet-style pet food was made by Menu Foods, an Ontario, Canada-based company. The FDA on Monday had investigators at Menu plants in Emporia, Kan., and Pennsauken, N.J.
Menu Foods told the FDA it received the first complaints of kidney failure and deaths among cats and dogs from pet owners on Feb. 20. It began new tests on Feb. 27.
During those tests, the company fed its product to 40 to 50 dogs and cats and seven animals — the mix of species was not immediately known — died, Sundlof said. The contamination appeared more deadly to cats than to dogs, he said.
"Cats seem to be more susceptible to acute renal failure, what which is what this toxin is causing," Turner told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.
The recall now covers dog food sold throughout North America under 51 brands and cat food sold under 40 brands, including Iams, Nutro and Eukanuba. The food was sold under both store and major brand labels at Wal-Mart, Kroger, Safeway and other large retailers.
The FDA has yet to tally how many reports it has received of cats and dogs suffering kidney failure or death. The company has reported just 10 deaths, of nine cats and a single dog.
"We are still trying to find out what the true picture is out there of animals. We're talking about 1 percent of the pet food (supply) and it's really just impossible to extrapolate at this point," Sundlof said.
Menu Foods spokeswoman Sarah Tuite told Associated Press Radio the company was "still trying to figure out the cause."
"We're testing and testing, but we can't identify the problem in the product," Tuite said.
Other companies — Nestle Purina PetCare Co., Procter & Gamble and Hill's Pet Nutrition Inc. — said that as a precaution they were voluntarily recalling some products made by Menu Foods.
A complete list of the recalled products along with product codes, descriptions and production dates was available from the Menu Foods Web site. The company also designated a phone number that pet owners could call for information — (866) 895-2708. The lines have been swamped by callers.
Tuite said the company has added more people and lines to cope with the calls. Callers who get a recording saying the line is out of order should try again, she added.
Concerned pet owners are calling veterinarians, too.
"All morning we've been getting phone calls," said one.
The company became aware of a potential problem after it received an undisclosed number of owner complaints that dogs and cats were vomiting and suffering kidney failure after eating its products.
Tuite told AP earlier the recalled products were made using wheat gluten purchased from a new supplier, which has since been dropped.
The FDA hasn't confirmed the identity of that company, but its Web site suggests it supplies only animal feed manufacturers, Sundlof said.
Wheat gluten itself wouldn't cause kidney failure, leading FDA investigators to suspect contamination by other substances, including heavy metals like cadmium and lead or fungal toxins. Aflatoxin, a corn fungus, sparked a 2005 dog food recall.
"In this case, we've just got renal failure and there are probably dozens of environmental contaminants, toxins, bacteria that might provoke an episode of renal failure," said Hohenhaus. "I don't think anyone has an idea right now."
The new recall covers the company's "cuts and gravy" style food, which consists of chunks of meat in gravy, sold in cans and small foil pouches from Dec. 3 to March 6.
The company said it makes pet food for 17 of the top 20 North American retailers. It is also a contract manufacturer for the top branded pet food companies.
Meanwhile, the inability of customers to get through to Menu Foods was proving frustrating on Monday.
Michael Ritter, 38, of Washington, Pa., met a busy signal countless times over the weekend after learning about the recall from local news reports. He wonders if pouches of Special Kitty-brand food from the local Wal-Mart were to blame for the kidney failure and death of his 3-year-old cat Cosmo.
Ritter's voice started to break as he described the loss of his cat a week before. "You get attached to them. You really do," Ritter said.
He said he was tired of trying to reach Menu Foods, and was going to contact someone else: a lawyer.
Laura Iskowitz, 33, of Monroe Township, N.J., was equally frustrated, saying she had called the information line "a hundred times" over the weekend.
She believed packages of Iams, Companion and Nutro-brand wet food were possibly to blame for the kidney-failure death of her 3-year-old dog Angel, a Labrador retriever mix.
"She truly was my best friend. And because of this food I don't have her anymore," Iskowitz, who has lived alone since Angel was euthanized on Jan. 30, told CBS News.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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See all 182 CommentsIt's too bad *it* used a keyboard to do so. *It* clearly has no concept of how to punctuate or use correct grammar.
It's insane to think the FDA should have the resources to test more than 1% of the food in the marketplace. What company would want to market poisonous food? No one, it's bad for business.
The company is at fault. They can be held responsible for this problem.
You guys get upset with the Patriot act and then expect the government to police your pet food? What is wrong with you?
You can't have it both ways.
The real Willowreed
Corporations that are so big that sell to so many other companies and dont have some kind of restictions or controlls and is not held responsible some way would be an out-right shame on our goverment.
p.s. yOmamma get a life!
Take a look at canidae. It is quality dog food, and hasn't been involved in any of these recalls. Their website is canidae.com. It can be ordered from petfooddirect or thru amazon or your local quality feedstores/upper end pet stores might have it. It actually isn't more expensive to feed even though the food is more per bag, because the amount you feed is so much less. No fillers (which means less *** to have to pick up) Plus, healthier pets!
Pet food manufacturers have become masters at inducing companion animals to eat things cat and dogs would normally spurn. Pet food scientists have learned that it's possible to take a mixture of inedible scraps, fortify it with artificial vitamins and minerals, preserve it so that it can sit on the shelf for more than a year, add dyes to make it attractive, and then extrude it into whimsical shapes that appeal to the human consumer. For this, pet food companies can expect to earn BILLIONS in sales.
For years, many care givers have tried to avoid feeding their companion animals people food leftovers, having been warned by veterinarians about the heath problems they can cause. Yet much scrap material from the human food industry is ending up in dogs and cats dinner bowls. What the consumer purchases and what the manufacturer advertises are often two entirely different products, and this difference threatens the animals health.
Linda Reinhardt
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/backgrounders/problem.html#emerg
Let your food company know that you don't appreciate them using cheap filler and you'll be switching to a new brand. Look for foods that do not contain wheat or corn. (Most pet food recalls are due to contaminants in wheat or corn.) Ask for food recommendations at your pet store that do not contain By-Products or grains. There are a lot of good companies out there like Wysong, Prairie, Wellness, and many more that are committed to the health of your pet and not just a quick buck.
Remember if you won't eat it don't give it to you companion.
I will I can understand that accidents happen and recalls are understandable, but for this company to have knowledge of this problem and to keep a lid on it is unconscionable.
My heart goes out to the pet owners here who have lost pets and those who have sick pets due to the negligence of Menu Foods.
And P.S. pet lovers: I know it%u2019s hard to deal with certain trolls here who make insensitive comments (especially if you have suffered a loss of a pet). But please just ignore them. We regulars here already do.
Further, I am disillusioned to learn that the premium brand of food (Iams) that I have been buying at a premium price for 20 years comes from the same manufacturer and ingredients as dozens of other less expensive brands - and is no better or safer. What a flim-flam job Iams has done on me.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You won't fool me again, Iams.
Unbelieveable they'd test this some more on live animals to see how many would die. UNBELIEVEABLE. There are other ways to test for harmful ingredients and what they might do.
PLEASE tell us what brand of dry food you are feeding your dogs. If dry dog food is determined to be tainted sometime in the future, I want to change brands NOW if I am feeding my dogs the same brand that you were feeding.
Thanks.
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/backgrounders/problem.html#emerg
Let your food company know that you don't appreciate them using cheap filler and you'll be switching to a new brand. Look for foods that do not contain wheat or corn. (Most pet food recalls are due to contaminants in wheat or corn.) Ask for food recommendations at your pet store that do not contain By-Products or grains. There are a lot of good companies out there like Wysong, Prairie, Wellness, and many more that are committed to the health of your pet and not just a quick buck.
The company is working with me and without having the dead dogs checked by a vet to exactly determine the cause of death, I can't tell you the company because of personal liability. I first called the company to make them aware there might be a problem and even declined to make a claim against them for the dogs I lost. After hearing of this recall, I did however submit a claim this morning to encourage them to speed the review/testing process up as they wouldn't return my calls recently because they're so busy with the Menu Foods recall. I should receive the necessary equipment to send in food samples tomorrow. The have assured me that my dogs on DRY food and other dogs lost from wet food from Menu Foods are not related. I personally don't believe in coincidences, and the time frame, animals behavior, etc. are too much of a coincidence for me.
I'm sorry, but I told the company I wouldn't mention their name.
I hope we get to the bottom of this. This sucks.
By late 2003 (winter) that changed.
Before the snow could melt in 2004, he was gone.
Feeding trials are necessary, it's either feeding trials on a handful of dogs in a laboratory or field testing on YOUR dogs- take your pick.
I have fed IAMS for 20 years, I buy 400# worth every 3 months and have seen the animal rights nuts attack this company (and all others) because they don't like the connection to Proctor and Gambel- the parent company and are trying every which way they can thru lies and half-truths to shut them down.
IAMS does not test on dogs and cats, and as is typical an animal rights nut applied for a job using false credentials and was not doing her job she was paid to do and was instead filming the "terrible" conditions mostly created by her not doing her job!
See: www.iamstruth.com/
Look on the lower right corner for "get the facts"
that are committed to the health of your pet and not just a quick buck"
ALL companies are in business for a quick buck, and pet food companies are no different. It doesn't matter what you feed there is risk in everything, even human food is full of salmonella, E-coli, meat is full of bacteria and all kinds of other nasty bugs that always hits the news with people sick and dead, kidney and liver failurethis is no different with petfood
Peanut butter was contaminated with salmonella, fresh vegetables have been contaminated by E-coli sickening and killing people as well, this is not confined to just pet food but mass production of food itself is the problem.
Also, by "testing" on animals I was referring to LD 50 kill trials, pouring chemicals in Rabbit eyes etc, feeding trials are different.
IAMS does not do LD50 or chemicals in the eyes or vivisection experiments, they do feeding trials to see the dogs are gaining weight, have healthy skin, coats, breed and whelp normally etc.
Posted by thee0racle at 01:12 PM : Mar 20, 2007"
They are busy killing people in Iraq right now. Be patient and wait your turn--I am sure they will get around to killing you soon.
Take a look at CANIDAE and their product for cats, FELIDAE. It is quality food, and hasn't been involved in any of these recalls. Their website is canidae.com. It can be ordered from petfooddirect or thru amazon or your local quality feedstores/upper end pet stores might have it. It actually isn't more expensive to feed even though the food is more per bag, because the amount you feed is so much less. No fillers, (which means less poop to have to pick up) no corn, no wheat or soy, no meat by-products, and only human grade meat, brown rice, and is preserved with vitamin E.Plus, healthier pets!
Cancer, kidney and liver failure are the 3 top killers of dogs and any of them can strike at any age- some is genetic, some is congenital and some is induced by OTHER things such as chemicals in carpets (formaldehyde) smoke, poisonous flea killers and so much more. To atribute any specific death to food without specific tests is irresponsible and foolhardy that flea spray or dip comes with a POISON warning to wear rubber gloves, not to inhale the fumes etc and that's ok to apply over a dog's entire body?
They have as of yet not found a specific CAUSE or problem in any dog food, the recalls are precautionary.
I will agree corn and wheat are not the best diet for dog. The first ingredient in IAMS chunks is Chicken, I've fed it 20 years to multiple dogs with no problems. It costs close to $30 a bag but since you feed less of it it winds up costing less per kilocalorie and when comparing costs per day to feed you use the kilocalorie per pound of feed to cost per pound of product A to B comparisons. Therefore, cheap foods like "Ol Roy" and Purina are not as cheap as they seem when you have to feed twice as much. Feeding all that bulk also means more work for the digestive system and more material going thru it which increases the risks of cancers, illnesses and so on.
It is quite another thing to test the LETHALITY of food by feeding it to more animals after many have already died.
do some research on your IAMS. Just because the first ingredient listed is chicken doesn't mean there is more meat in the food than anything else. look at the next 2 ingredients....Corn Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum are it. So....if 25% of the food is chicken and then 20% is corn meal and 20% is ground whole grain sorghum, your food is 40% corn/grains. There is a walmart Maxximum food out there that lists "fresh chicken" as the first ingredient...but the next 4 ingredients are all grains (wheat/corn/soy). Plus, when the "fresh chicken" gets done having the 70% of it that is water removed in the preparation process, that isn't much chicken. Meat "meal" is actually a better ingredient to see on the package than a fresh meat. You also do not want foods preserved with BHT or BHA.
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