Pet food recall-LOOK HERE FOR UPDATES BEFORE REPEATING

About the recall thing, I have heard that with car companies, if a certain car has a defect they weigh how much it would cost to recall VS how much it would cost to pay lawsuits. It#%92s a very money hungry world we live in. I am sure they did the same with the animal food.

 
That was the case with the Ford Pinto in the 70's.  I definitely would not be surprised if that was a factor with the Menu Foods situation.  It really is a shame how money can affect such crucial decisions such as this!
 
I lost my 10 year old ACD/German Shepherd Misty in January due to kidney failure.  She had been showing signs of kidney failure prior to eating Nutro wet food (we only fed her Nutro because she had no appetite for her dry food anymore, and she wouldn't even eat much of the Nutro either), but we'll never know if eating Nutro advanced her renal failure. [sm=sad.gif]

I don't know whether to stick this here or if a new thread in nutrition might be good? This is "big picture" and more than the recent recall----so where should it go???

The FDA is revising the Animal Feed Safety System and has been holding public meetings. This is the announcement about the fourth meeting which will be held in May:
 
[linkhttp://www.fda.gov/cvm/CVM_Updates/AFSSPM2007Update.htm]http://www.fda.gov/cvm/CVM_Updates/AFSSPM2007Update.htm[/link]
 

 
March 29, 2007
FDA Public Meeting on Animal Feed Safety System (AFSS)
 
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will convene a public meeting on the Animal Feed Safety System (AFSS) to present work-in-progress on a method for ranking feed contaminants according to the relative risks they pose to animal and public health. 
 
The public meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 22, 2007, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn-
Gaithersburg, 2 Montgomery Village Ave., Gaithersburg, MD. 20879, 301-948-8900; [linkhttp://www.higaithersburg.com/]http://www.higaithersburg.com/[/link]
 
During the past several years, FDA has been considering changes to the Agency#%92s Animal Feed Safety System (AFSS), which is a program aimed at protecting human and animal health by ensuring that animal feed is safe.  As part of this effort, FDA is developing a model for ranking the relative risks to human and animal health from contaminants in animal feed.  This meeting is the second of several planned by FDA to discuss aspects of the AFSS relative risk-ranking model.
 
The relative risk posed by feed contaminants to animal and human health consists of two components; namely, 1) Health Consequence Scoring and 2) Exposure Scoring.  At the meeting held in September 2006 the Agency presented its current thinking on Health Consequence Scoring.  At this meeting the Agency will describe the methods it plans to use to develop animal and human Exposure Scoring for chemical, physical and microbiological feed contaminants.  At a subsequent public meeting, the FDA will present information on its relative risk-ranking model and how the Health Consequence Scoring and Exposure Scoring will be combined to determine the relative risks of contaminants in feed.
 
Although there is no registration fee for this meeting, registration is required.  Due to limited meeting space, early registration is strongly encouraged.  You may register by telephone, fax, or e-mail by contacting Nannette Milton, Center for Veterinary Medicine (HFV-200), Food and Drug Administration, 7519 Standish Place, Rockville, MD 20855, 240-453-6840, FAX 240-453-6880, e-mail: [email=nanette.milton@fda.hhs.gov]nanette.milton@fda.hhs.gov[/email].  Send registration information (including name, title, firm name, address, telephone, and fax number) to Nanette Milton.  To obtain the registration form via the Internet, go to [linkhttp://www.fda.gov/cvm/Documents/AFSSPM052207_RegForm.pdf]http/www.fda.gov.cvm/Documents/AFSSPM052207_RegForm.pdf[/link].
 
If you need special accommodations due to a disability, please contact Nanette Milton no later than May 15, 2007.
Interested individuals may submit comments to the Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.  Electronic comments may be submitted to [linkhttp://www.fda.gov/dockets/ecomments]http://www.fda.gov/dockets/ecomments[/link].  Comments should be identified with the full title and Docket number 2003N-0312. 
 
Additional information about the meeting may be found in the March 29, 2007 [linkhttp://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/E7-5820.htm]Federal Register[/link] and from Zoe Gill, Center for Veterinary Medicine (HFV-226), Food and Drug Administration, 7519 Standish Place, Rockville, MD 20855, 240-453-6867; Fax 240-453-6882 or email: [email=zoe.gill@fda.hhs.gov]zoe.gill@fda.hhs.gov[/email].

 
Here is another page with same basic info:
[linkhttp://www.fda.gov/cvm/AFSS052007PM.htm]http://www.fda.gov/cvm/AFSS052007PM.htm[/link]
 
 

PETA also killed how many adoptable puppies & kittens last year? Yeah, I don#%92t care to hear anything PETA has to say.

 
Might be true,,but I think I agree with them on this one. That above article says that shipments of the wheat that was contaminated was also sent to a dry dog food company but wouldn't tell what company.....so maybe someone (like PETA) should  make them tell!

I looked up PETA. They tell who they are trying to get investigated for multiple complaints of dead pets that were eating only dry.

Iams.

I made a post about it in the Nutrition area.

(ETA a more precise answer.)

Apparently the contaminated wheat was used in a dry cat food, not dog food.  Hill's  has recalled their Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry cat food.  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070330/ap_on_go_ot/pet_food_recall

Its on the news tonight!  I'd say at this point in the game,,,don't feed your pet anything with wheat!!!

I think I'm gonna be sick!!!!!

I agree - I'm not feeding anything with wheat, or anything manufactured by Menu, for now.

ORIGINAL: dyan

PETA also killed how many adoptable puppies & kittens last year? Yeah, I don't care to hear anything PETA has to say.

Might be true,,but I think I agree with them on this one. That above article says that shipments of the wheat that was contaminated was also sent to a dry dog food company but wouldn't tell what company.....so maybe someone (like PETA) should  make them tell!

I know I couldn't make them tell yesterday.  A staffer at the Mass. office (dog owner herself) said they wouldn't even tell the staff, and she is as worried as we are.  They have 20-30 people answering phones who would normally be doing other work.  And, when I asked about terrorism (because quite a few people have mentioned to me that this might be a precursor to attacking the US human food supply) she said that the FDA was checking every possibility and had "thought of that".  In fifty years we may know the truth.  In the meantime, I am a nervous wreck.  BTW, Innova dry is made at one of the Menu Foods plants, but has no grain.....I'm still nervous - what if it does have melamine???  Or, some other substance that these two are merely masking?  Personally, I want the ASPCA testing my food if if comes to that.  The FDA would let me die so as not to "panic" anyone.  Do they freakin' think we aren't panicking now?  This is nothing more than a bureaucratic "it's only a dog". 

But wait! There's More!! http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/31/us/31petfood.html?em&ex=1175486400&en=c4dd781bab0f3bd2&ei=5087%0A
NOt only is there rat poison in it, but also melamine, which is used to make plastic.

Good grief. 

This is nothing more than a bureaucratic "it's only a dog".

 
I dislike it intensely when people think that "it's only a dog." My dog is better company than a lot of people.
 
Anyway, I don't think this was an act of terrorism. It is a case of companies, some quite well known, are just now having to let people know that some of their food was made by someone else rather than at their own plant, with Maxfield Parish-type lovely people lovingly carving up whole, fresh ingredients and working over hot cauldrons. It is a case of a company buying cheap stuff from China, who is making cheap stuff to make a huge profit. Case in point, we have pipe fittings at work that are made in China and they are crap. This is a case of companies being run by bottom-liners who worry only about the profit margin, no matter what they say on the company's website.
 
We could all go to homecooking and then such companies would fold, so it is on them to re-gain our confidence.
 
It is also a wake-up call. We could be victims of terrorism through our food supply. So, we must have measures on place and enforced to guard against that.
 

ORIGINAL: ron2
made by someone else rather than at their own plant, with Maxfield Parish-type lovely people lovingly carving up whole, fresh ingredients and working over hot cauldrons.

I don't think it's Maxfield Parrish you want here. Norman Rockwell, more like.

Unless those wholesome people are clad in flowing garments and cooking with a gorgeous sunset behind them. []

Unless those wholesome people are clad in flowing garments and cooking with a gorgeous sunset behind them

 
Well, that's how I cook.[]
 
Kudos to you for correcting my spelling and also for knowing who Parrish was.
 

Great editorial!!!

MAD AS HELL YET?

by Robert Jay Russell, Ph.D., President, Coton de Tulear Club of America
      [email=CotonNews@aol.com]CotonNews@aol.com[/email]
      [linkhttp://www.cotonclub.com/]www.CotonClub.com[/link]

Presidential candidates throughout US history have reminded voters that as president, their first obligation is to protect the citizens of the US. George W certainly emphasized that fact after more than 3,000 citizens died in a terrorist attack under his watch.

So what if I told you that recently, terrorists had poisoned a major portion of the US grain supply by dumping subtle poisons in imported wheat gluten. Tens of thousands of American pets, like canaries in a carbon monoxide-filled coal mine, had died. More were dying and suffering every day. Americans continued consuming these same low grade but deadly chemicals in their breads, pastas, fast foods, frozen diners and breakfast cereals.

Now what if I further told you that the Executive branch agencies in charge of ostensibly protecting the U.S. food supply KNEW the country of origin, the grain, and the supplier's brand product that contained the poison. And these agencies absolutely refused to divulge the name of the supplier of the poisoned grain to either food processors (who had potentially bought the grain) or to the American public who was consuming it. In short, these government officials stood by and watched pets die and watched people continue to get poisoned and they covered up these corporate felonies to protect the company profits involved. And a felony it surely is to knowingly sell a dangerously tainted product to food processors and the public.

Every day, one company or another would voluntarily announce that they were recalling their product. None assumed any culpability for their crimes of omission. The crisis continued as long as corporate lawyers determined that recalling a poisoned product would cost a company more than selling the product and fielding an odd law suit from the families of victims. Obviously, when that cost/benefit tipping point was reached, the company -- under the guidance of guileful attorneys -- would reluctantly issue a recall.

Finally, what if I told you that with the possible exception of the terrorist scenario, everything mentioned here is exactly what's going on right now in the US of A. Mad as hell and not going to take it anymore, are you? Or are you and me like the majority of Americans today: sitting down, looking at your pets and family (who seem healthy), and saying once again, "Terrible, thing, really but, oh well, not in my backyard."

Maybe that's the attitude all us unaffected Americans ought to take. After all, I lost no friends or relatives when the Twin Towers fell. No one I know has been maimed or killed in Iraq. My town was not destroyed by a hurricane and left to rot (heckuva' job, Brownie). My pets are all fine and dandy. My little part of the homeland seems secure.

Of course with that thinking, the next natural disaster, the next terrorist attack, the next poisoning or massive environmental contamination may affect me and my family. Then what?
[/font]

janet_rose, you are a woman after my heart![]
 
while some people may see that article as "alarmist", i find these to be alarming times.
 
i think ron2 has the right idea.  if we were all to switch to homecooked/raw, if we were to all buy our supplies from the local famer's market instead of walmart, and if we were to convince a significant amount of other dog lovers to do the same, we could have an effect on the supply chain by changing the demand.  i will repeat "could".
 
i think that as americans, we have responsibility to respond civically when something strikes us as wrong.  because we are a market driven society, the best weapon we can wield is the dollar.  i think that as dog lovers, we have a responsibility to our pets to demand a change.
 
i have worked in manufacturing for many years.  i know that products are moved from production line to line to satisfy demand, sometimes at the expense of product quality.  if natura uses wheat, you cannot convince me that even the "grain free" products have never chanced an encounter with machinery that may have previously run a suspect product.  because of this, i can no longer trust natura to provide me with the product i previously expected from them.
 
although i find raw food and homecooking to be positively mind boggling, i think i owe it to my dogs, and to my country (insert waving flag and national anthem here) to try it anyway.
 
plus, i have all you guys to help me[] 

janet_rose, you are a woman after my heart!

Blush! Blush! []