I just had a friend call me.But she couldn't remember the name said it was on the Today show this morning. Or you could go to the www.Todayshow.com
To find it i couldn't.But she said there was a dry food on recall.Anyone know of this.
TIA

My husband was watching the news while I was getting ready for work and he came in to tell me that now they're recalling a dry food. He didn't remember the type... but I bet if it was ProPlan or Canidae, he would have remembered because that's what we feed!

Apparently PETA is calling for a recall of all pet foods (gee, do you really think they're worried about our pets???).

This is a press release:

"Iams and other companies should be held responsible for the companion animal deaths if they had knowledge of the food contamination issue and refused or neglected to alert the public immediately," says PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich. "PETA has called for investigations and, if appropriate, cruelty charges against Menu Foods in Canada and Iams in Ohio."

The release adds: Consumers are now worried that their animals may have become ill after consuming dry pet food manufactured by Menu Foods, prompting PETA to demand the company immediately recall all dry pet food products until they have been chemically tested for safety. The Seattle-based law firm that is handling a class-action lawsuit against Menu Foods has said it is receiving numerous reports from people attributing their animals' illness to dry food.

It is a video posted. Basically baout the difference between high dolalr vs grocery brand. Homemade stuff etc. You can find it now on www.todayshow.com

I just read this release on yahoo finance page
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070330/pet_food_recall.html?.v=6

Does this mean they are going to name the source of the dry food contamination. I'm a little worried because all 3 of mine are on dry and I felt safe,

Are they saying there is time period on this.......
like from what dates etc?

I had a call from a friend this morning looking for advice on finding a new dog food as she feeds Nutro dry and has heard they are going to be recalling it.

I don't however know where she heard this.

I just saw an MSNBC article (I don't have the link now) about some reduced calorie Eukanuba foods containing a chromium ingredient that is not yet determined to be safe for dogs. It is approved for swine. There is no recall on it at this point. It's dry food. Perhaps that is what was on Today???
There are rumors that some Iams dry was affected, but to my knowledge, there is no evidence.

Wonderful -- My oldest is on Nutro Mini Chunks. I just switched the other two from Solid Gold to Royal Canin. When does this end!!!!!11

This dry food recall is a food(s) produced by menu foods.
Sorry I forgot to mention that first post.

FDA testing reveals chemical in pet food By ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer
6 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - Recalled pet foods contained a chemical used to make plastics, but government tests failed to confirm the presence of rat poison, federal officials said Friday.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Food and Drug Administration said it found melamine in samples of the Menu Foods pet food, as well as in wheat gluten used as an ingredient. Cornell University scientists also have found the chemical, sometimes used as a fertilizer, in the urine of sick cats, as well as in the kidney of one cat that died after eating the company's wet food.

Menu Foods recalled 60 million containers of cat and dog food earlier this month after animals died of kidney failure after eating the Canadian company's products. It is not clear how many pets may have been poisoned by the apparently contaminated food, although anecdotal reports suggest hundreds if not thousands have died. The FDA alone has received more than 8,000 complaints.

The new finding comes a week after scientists at the New York State Food Laboratory identified a rat poison and cancer drug called aminopterin as the likely culprit in the pet food. The FDA said it could not confirm that finding.

New York officials have detected melamine as well, though it's not clear how that chemical would have poisoned pets. It's typically used to produce plastic kitchen wares, though it's apparently used as a fertilizer in Asia, said Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine.

New York remained confident in its aminopterin finding, said Patrick Hooker, commissioner of the New York state Department of Agriculture and Markets. Hooker added that neither aminopterin nor melamine should be in pet food, but that it was unclear why the latter substance would be poisonous to the cats in which it was found.

"While we have no doubt that melamine is present in the recalled pet food, there is not enough known data on the mammalian toxicity levels of melamine to conclude it could cause illness and deaths in cats. With little existing data, many questions still remain as to the connection between the illnesses and what has caused them," Hooker said.

The recall involved nearly 100 brands of "cuts and gravy" style dog and cat food made by Menu Foods. The recall covered products carrying names of major brand-name and private-label products sold throughout North America.

The apparently melamine-contaminated wheat gluten also was shipped to an unnamed company that manufactures dry pet food. The FDA is attempting to determine if that product, imported from China, was used to make any pet food, Sundlof said. There is no risk to human food, he told reporters.

Menu Foods used wheat gluten, a source of vegetable protein, to thicken the gravy of its pet foods, FDA officials have said.

Menu Foods spokesman Sam Bornstein did not know whether company testing had found melamine in its products. The company planned a press conference later Friday.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070330/ap_on_go_ot/pet_food_recall

Sorry, I didn't see the word "advertisement" come up. The story is not an advertisement, that's what popped up instead of the photo that was highlighted next to the text when I copied from the Yahoo news story!

Wow. This could be a scary development. But I think the best course of action for everyone is to stay calm, watch the news, pay attention to how your dogs are acting, act quickly if they seem sick, and DON'T make any changes to their food unless you suspect a problem or that food is recalled.

So far my "pack" (16 dogs right now) is doing fine on Proplan performance, Proplan puppy, and Raw Instinct.

"Wonderful -- My oldest is on Nutro Mini Chunks. I just switched the other two from Solid Gold to Royal Canin. When does this end!!!!!11 "

According to Nurto Debi you are safe (so they are saying)

Dear Nutro customers and pet owners,

I understand that your pets are treasured members of your families. I know that Joey, our dog, is a beloved member of my family. The importance of pets to all families is why Nutro has always been committed to ensuring their health and well being, and we remain committed to that important goal during this unfortunate incident.

We want to ensure you have all of the information you need about Nutro’s products and how they are affected by Menu Foods’ recall. Here’s what you need to know:

1. If your dog and/or cat eats Nutro dry food, biscuits or treats, it is absolutely safe to continue feeding them any of these products. There are no dry food products included in this recall.

2. If your pet eats any of the Nutro Wet or Foil Pouch-packaged products included on this list you should discontinue feeding these products. If your pet becomes sick, you should take them to the vet immediately. Note – not all Nutro Wet food products are affected. Just those on this list.

If you go to the Menu Foods website, scroll down to the Product Information and click on #3 FAQ, #8 states Menu Foods doesn't manufacture any dry food. If any dry food is affected it would have to be a different manufacturer.
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/

This is what I found on yahoo. Story updated 17 minutes ago, link
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070330/ap_on_go_ot/pet_food_recall

This is what I'm concerned about

"In a news conference, FDA officials said that the apparently melamine-contaminated wheat gluten also was shipped to a company that manufactures dry pet food, but they would not name the company.

The FDA is attempting to determine if that company used any of the wheat gluten, imported from China, to make dry pet food, Sundlof said. The head of Menu Foods, the manufacturer of the recalled pet food, said Friday it had dropped the U.S. supplier of the imported ingredient. Paul Henderson also suggested his company would sue the unnamed supplier."

While we're on the subject of recalls...here's another one:

Did you eat this? Did you feed this to your dog?

--------
On Thu 22 Mar 2007, New York State Agriculture Commissioner Patrick
Hooker warned consumers not to eat "Smoked Sardines" sold by Apholo
Shippers & Sari-Sari Store, Woodside, Queens, because the [fish] was
processed uneviscerated.

The "Smoked Sardines" were sold at the Woodside store. The product
was offered for sale refrigerated, in an uncoded, plastic-wrapped
foam tray. The product label indicates it is distributed by C & K,
Elmwood Park, New Jersey.

The sale of this type of fish is prohibited under New York State
Department of Agriculture and Markets regulations because
_Clostridium botulinum_ spores are more likely to be concentrated in
the viscera than any other portion of the fish. Uneviscerated
processed fish has been linked to outbreaks of botulism
poisoning. [See ProMED archive Botulism, canned uneviscerated fish -
USA: recall 20061206.3439].

The product may be contaminated with _C. botulinum_ spores, which can
cause a serious and potentially fatal foodborne illness. Symptoms of
botulism include blurred or double vision, general weakness, poor
reflexes, difficulty swallowing, and respiratory paralysis.

New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets food inspectors
found the "Smoked Sardines" during a routine inspection of the firm.
Subsequent analysis by New York State Food Laboratory personnel
confirmed the product to be uneviscerated. [Although no illnesses
have been reported to date in connection with the product, consumers
are advised not to eat it.]

So far, there has been NO recall on dry foods due to contaminated foods in the Menu Foods recall. This particular recall was dealing with canned/pouched chunks-n-gravy type foods of multiple different brands. The Menu Foods recall was because of aminopterin (a rodenticide now outlawed for this use in the US, associated with kidney failure and bone marrow suppression- the latter being the reason it is also used in the US as a chemotherapeutic agent for leukemia).

PETA has asked that Iams/Eukanuba weight-control foods (dry and canned?) be removed from the shelves due to presence of chromium (like that people take for weight loss/maintenance) in those foods.

There has now been another company whose foods were tested to have trace amounts of melamine in them- possibly linked once again to the wheat gluten used. The company(ies?) has not been named yet.

Nutro specifically says that their dry foods have been cleared of any problems associated with this or any other recall.

So far, these are all different incidents... Kindof scary.
I'm in the animal health profession and this is hitting us like a major storm.

Just heard that Science Diet is recalling their
MD dry cat food. There is supposed to be a News
Conference tonight about the up-dates.

What's next?

P&G Pet Care Update 3/30/2007
March 30, 2007

Dear Consumer:

As promised, we are continuing to keep you updated on the Menu Foods recall.

We know the Menu Foods recall has caused concern, frustration and anger among many pet lovers, including many of our own employees and their families. We want you to know that we care deeply, and we continue to take action on your behalf.

We want to comment on the new announcement today (Friday, March 30, 2007) by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) that they have found a substance called melamine in the wheat gluten of recalled products, and not the aminopterin, as earlier suspected by the New York Foods Laboratory.

We can reassure you:

First, there is no melamine or aminopterin in any of our Iams and Eukanuba dry pet foods on store shelves.

In fact, Iams and Eukanuba dry pet foods to DO NOT contain wheat gluten. Our dry dog and cat foods are made exclusively by P&G Pet Care and not by Menu Foods.

Pet owners can feel safe and confident in feeding all Iams and Eukanuba dry foods, as well as any wet foods that are not on the Menu Foods recall list. Click here to see the specific list of recalled wet pouch and canned products.

We want to review the key actions we’ve taken:
We immediately worked with retailers to remove from store shelves the small number of our wet pouch and canned products affected by the Menu Foods recall.

We immediately suspended production of all our foods manufactured at the affected Menu Foods Emporia, Kansas plant.

We have shared all of our data and continue to cooperate fully with FDA, which is leading this important investigation.

A task force of prominent North American veterinary health care experts, convened by Iams to review the recall, recently agreed: “Veterinarians and pet owners should feel safe recommending and feeding Iams and Eukanuba dry foods.”
We want to stress again that you can confidently feed all of your pets any of our dry foods, as well as the wet foods not affected by the Menu Foods recall. If you have any questions about the recalled products, please click here to see the specific list of recalled wet pouch and canned products.

P&G Pet Care is deeply committed to pet well-being and our top priority is to help you care for your dog and cat family members. We will continue to provide you with meaningful updates. If you have additional questions, not answered on our Web site FAQs, please call us at 1-800-882-159.



P&G Pet Care

What's Next? I've been in law enforcement for 32 years and have a self-proclaimed right to be cynical. What I think is next is...They will find out that some whacko aligned with one of these save the animal groups got a job with Menu and decided to sabotage the food. Remember the recent news story about the woman from PETA that was suspected of dumping hundreds of dead animal carcasses into a store dumpster?

Nutro sent out this to me today:

Dear Nutro Customers,

As promised, we are continuing to share any and all information and updates we have on the Menu Foods recall. Earlier today (Friday, March 30, 2007) the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and Menu Foods announced that a substance called melamine was found in the wheat gluten of recalled products, and not the aminopterin, as earlier suspected.

With regard to Nutro pet foods, we can reassure you:

Nutro's dry pet foods do NOT contain wheat gluten.
Nutro's dry pet foods do NOT contain imported grains.
Nutro's dry pet foods are NOT manufactured by Menu Foods.
None of Nutro's dry pet foods are included on the Menu Foods recall list.
Pet owners should feel safe and confident feeding all Nutro dry pet foods, as well as any Nutro wet foods that are not on the Menu Foods recall list.
For a list of Nutro products included in the recall, as well as further information about Nutro and how
its products are affected by the Menu Foods recall, please visit www.nutroproducts.com or call
1- 800-833-5330.

Same thing happened with the Diamond recall. People were starting rumors (or posting things that were then taken out of context by others) all over the place that all the Diamond foods were to be avoided even if they came from different plants.

One person posts that they're worried that dry food is going to get recall, someone reads that and turns that into "I heard that..." and then of course that spreads all over.

I also think that PETA has it out for P&G in a big way, as they use a lot of test animals company-wide. They've tried (and failed) to seriously harm P&G's business with Iams/Eukanuba.

today there were 3 things that were of concern, and none point directly to any particular dry food

1. peta is yelling for the fda to recall all dry food too... peta would prefer that no one has pets, let them loose to eat in the wild, i don't have a lot of respect for anything they say, they are jumping on the recall bandwagon to get press

2. there is a warning letter from the fda to eukanuba for their weight control and reduced calorie foods regarding chromium tripicolinate, a nutrient that aids in lipid and carbohydrate metabolism. This nutrient hasn't been specifically approved by the FDA as a food additive,so they issued a warning letter, that isn't a recall, its just a heads up from the FDA.. I personally don't think its a big concern, many of us feed nutroceuticals that are not fda approved and have found good benefit. this does cover some dry foods but its a warning not a recall

3. Melamine has been found in the tainted recalled foods, its used in plastic and a for fertilizers in asia, it may or may not be the cause of the problem, the FDA Press release hinted that it may be in a dry food but hasn't given details...

barb

peta has been harassing Iams for years. They have at least one lawsuit pending against them for animal testing their foods in production. peta will use anything they can to gain a foothold. Including this.

Regarding the melamine - I recall reading that cats should only eat & drink out of stoneware, glass or stainless bowls due to them possibly getting sick from eating out of plastic bowls. I wonder if the sick cats were eating from plastic bowls?

This whole thing is very surreal, with the Govt grabbing at anything to try and figure it out. While peta appears to be an advocate for the pets. After what I have seen over the last few years - I can totally believe that this was an orchestrated attempt to put dog food companies out of business. The Diamond recall of only a year ago could have brought this idea to the attention of the animal rights nutjobs. How many of us worried ourselves sick then about that? peta and the HSUS plant "moles" all of the time. How hard would it be to get one of them a job in a pet food factory. In legislator's offices, on boards of companies, in stores, shelters etc. In fact one of the people who were pushing for the law in Louisville Kentucky, were listed as representatives of the farm bureau when in reality they were also on the HSUS payroll.

http://apps.klec.ky.gov/AgentExpenseSummary.asp?LEG_AGENT=9DBF2E25-2A2E-499F-A1B7-5DE0FD1CFB52&EMP_ID=&Show=ALL

Hills Feline dry kibble is being recalled by hills.

"Hill's Pet Nutrition said late Friday that its Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry cat food included the tainted wheat gluten. The FDA said the source was the same unidentified company. Hill's, a division of Colgate-Palmolive Co., is so far the only company to recall any dry pet food."

My girl is on canine g/d I hope that is not next... she is on it FOR kidney issues

Alpo prime cuts N gravy has been recalled. Canned