Pet food recall expands to new wet brand

[Suzie]

Pet food recall expands to new wet brand (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070331/ap_on_go_ot/pet_food_recall;_ylt=AgADxjjeQ1driDElNcckcF8DW7oF) AP - 2 hours, 7 minutes ago Sent 559 times WASHINGTON - The recall of wet and dry pet foods contaminated with a chemical found in plastics and pesticides expanded Saturday to include a new brand even as investigators were puzzled why the substance would kill dogs and cats.



That's it. I am going to Sams and buying the tuna like Wolfie suggested.

[DoctorDoom]

I have Alpo Prime Cuts, but the dates don't match.

Here's the full text from the Purina site:

Alpo® Brand Prime Cuts In Gravy Canned Dog Food Voluntary Nationwide Recall

March 30, 2007

Nestlé Purina PetCare Company today announced it is voluntarily recalling all sizes and varieties of its ALPO® Prime Cuts in Gravy wet dog food with specific date codes. The Company is taking this voluntary action after learning today that wheat gluten containing melamine, a substance not approved for use in food, was provided to Purina by the same company that also supplied Menu Foods. The contamination occurred in a limited production quantity at only one of Purina's 17 pet food manufacturing facilities.

Consumers should immediately stop feeding their dogs ALPO Prime Cuts products with the date codes listed below and consult with a veterinarian if they have any health concerns with their pet.

The recalled 13.2-ounce and 22-ounce ALPO Prime Cuts cans and 6-, 8-, 12- and 24-can ALPO Prime Cuts Variety Packs have four-digit code dates of 7037 through 7053, followed by the plant code 1159. Those codes follow a "Best Before Feb. 2009" date. This information should be checked on the bottom of the can or the top or side of the multi-pack cartons.

Importantly, no Purina brand dry pet foods are affected by the recall - including ALPO Prime Cuts dry. In addition, no other Purina dog food products, no Purina cat food products, Purina treat products or Purina Veterinary Diet products are included in this recall, nor have been impacted by the contaminated wheat gluten supply.

At Purina, nothing is more important to us than the health and well-being of the pets whose nutrition has been entrusted to us by their owners, and we deeply regret this unfortunate situation. We will continue to take any and all actions necessary to ensure the quality and safety of our products.

Please see our March 30 press release for more information and click here for an updated list of Frequently Asked Questions. If you have more questions or concerns, please contact our Office of Consumer Affairs at 1-800-218-5898.Alpo® Brand Prime Cuts In Gravy Canned Dog Food Voluntary Nationwide Recall (http://www.purina.com/)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v349/DocDoom777/MiscStuff/AlpoCuts.jpg

[PrezLeefun]

Anyone have info on cat food.... I dont want my baby getting sick. She has been through enough this year.

[DoctorDoom]

These are the announced cat food brands, updated yesterday.

Recalled Cat Product Information
Recall Information 1-866-895-2708

Variety or Multi-Packs:

If you are in possession of a variety or multi-pack, please be sure to check the individual can or pouch rather than relying solely on the date coding on the side of the carton.

Americas Choice, Preferred Pets
Authority
Best Choice
Companion
Compliments
Demoulas Market Basket
Eukanuba
Fine Feline Cat
Food Lion
Foodtown
Giant Companion
Hannaford
Hill Country Fare
Hy-Vee
Iams
Laura Lynn
Li'l Red
Loving Meals
Meijer's Main Choice
Nutriplan
Nutro Max Gourmet Classics
Nutro Natural Choice
Paws
Pet Pride
Presidents Choice
Price Chopper
Priority US
Save-A-Lot Special Blend
Schnucks
Science Diet Feline Savory Cuts Cans
Sophistacat
Special Kitty Canada
Special Kitty US
Springfield Prize
Sprout
Stop & Shop Companion
Tops Companion
Wegmans
Weis Total Pet
Western Family US
White Rose
Winn DixieRecalled Cat Product Information (http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_cat.html)

And for the dog owners:

Recalled Dog Product Information
Recall Information 1-866-895-2708

Variety or Multi-Packs:

If you are in possession of a variety or multi-pack, please be sure to check the individual can or pouch rather than relying solely on the date coding on the side of the carton.

Americas Choice, Preferred Pets
Authority
Award
Best Choice
Big Bet
Big Red
Bloom
Cadillac
Companion
Demoulas Market Basket
Eukanuba
Food Lion
Giant Companion
Great Choice
Hannaford
Hill Country Fare
Hy-Vee
Iams
Laura Lynn
Loving Meals
Meijers Main Choice
Mighty Dog Pouch
Mixables
Nutriplan
Nutro Max
Nutro Natural Choice
Nutro Ultra
Nutro
Ol'Roy Canada
Ol'Roy US
Paws
Pet Essentials
Pet Pride - Good n Meaty
Presidents Choice
Price Chopper
Priority Canada
Priority US
Publix
Roche Brothers
Save-A-Lot Choice Morsels
Schnucks
Shep Dog
Springsfield Prize
Sprout
Stater Brothers
Stop & Shop Companion
Tops Companion
Wegmans Bruiser
Weis Total Pet
Western Family US
White Rose
Winn Dixie
Your PetRecalled Dog Product Information (http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_dog.html)

Alpo isn't on the list, so it may be an unrelated recall.

[Suzie]

The problem is they keep adding more to the list. If it's not on there today it might be tomorrow and then you have already been giving it to them. :(

I gave my cat the tuna, he drank the "water" :gag: off of it so far. I am not sure if he took bites of the tuna yet.

Cats are picky creatures. They don't like disruptions in their world. :lol:

[PrezLeefun]

Suzie try giving your cat gefilte fish.... my cat loves it.

[PrezLeefun]

Thanks for the info Doc. My cat's food is not on there... and hopefully it wont be.

[Suzie]

Suzie try giving your cat gefilte fish.... my cat loves it.

Where do you get it? Is a canned like tuna?

[DoctorDoom]

It's Jewish. Try the kosher foods section. It's not a specific breed of fish, but rather a way of preparing it.

Gefilte fish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gefilte_fish)

[Suzie]

Wow I wouldn't think they would like anything seasoned. Mine will eat boiled ham but not anything like the brown sugar baked etc. This is probably going to spoil him. :lol: But he's a good cat. The best we ever had. He acts more like a dog. He will fetch his toys to get you to throw them again. Meets us at the door when we come home. Puts up with my son (and that's a lot to ask) :lol: So I will take extra care now, he's a buddy.


Cats fare worse in food contamination (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070401/ap_on_bi_ge/pet_food_recall;_ylt=AvGt14JEFSb8MJOMcRKSdtlvzwcF) AP - 26 minutes ago

[PrezLeefun]

My cat loves the stuff... I always tell her she must be a jewish cat lol.

[Suzie]

Maybe I will give it a try and see. He's going in and taking a bite or 2 of the tuna then looking up at me like ... "this is not my food" :lol: I guess if he finally decides he's hungry he will probably finish it off.

[PrezLeefun]

I can sympathize Suzie I too have that look on my cats face. :rotflmbo:

[Dowple]

The problem is they keep adding more to the list. If it's not on there today it might be tomorrow and then you have already been giving it to them. :(


And this morning the word is nobody can exclude the possibility that the poison has made its way into the human food chain. What else is so astounding about this story is how the media and government officials are downplaying the the fact that the source of the poisonous wheat gluten is COMMUNIST CHINA. Are the Chinese poisoning us? Is the attack on our pets a trial run for the poisoning of American citizens? Why does Menu Foods REFUSE to name the company responsible in China? Oh, and ain't Free Trade with Communist tyrannies devoted to our a destruction a great thing?

[DoctorDoom]

The flaw in the argument is that the US is one of the primary trade partners with the PRC. They're not stupid enough to cut their own economic throats for a trial run with critters.

OTOH, China has been a new importer of wheat for some time, and it leads one to ask why they are exporting it for use in pet foods.

[Dowple]

The flaw in the argument is that the US is one of the primary trade partners with the PRC. They're not stupid enough to cut their own economic throats for a trial run with critters.

Again, how do you know that the Chinese have not already introduced contaminated food and food additives to American diets? The effect on cats was noticed because of their highly sensitive response to the poison. Dogs, less so. Humans? Perhaps even less noticed immediately. The bigger question is why the hell are we even taking the chance on accepting food imports, or anything else, for that matter, from a country devoted to overtaking, if not destroying us? And compare the response to this scandal to the news stories about bio-engineered food crops. Europeans and people in this country howled and howled and howled and labelled the US as a monster for creating Frankenstein foods. Yet, the Chinese skate right on past with actual poisoning. Why?

[Suzie]

Lab gets new attention in pet food case (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/pet_food_recall_lab;_ylt=As52IZW52_DaGq5pilBshhMDW 7oF) AP - Sun Apr 1, 10:48 PM ET Avg. Rating: 4.6 ALBANY, N.Y. - Tucked away in a nondescript state office park, scientists at the New York State Food Laboratory have for years quietly gone about their business testing products destined for grocery store shelves.

[Lubbock]

What Dowple said.

I wasn't paying too much attention to it because what I feed my cats hasn't shown up on the list --not yet, anyway. [They'll only eat one food anyway --even if it kills 'em. Talk about your picky eaters . . . ]

But . . .

When it hit the news today about the melamine [sp] showing up in the human food chain, I sat and took notice. My thinking went off in the same direction as Dowple's.

Can anyone tell me what this "wheat gluten" turns up in, as far as human food goes?

[DoctorDoom]

Again, how do you know that the Chinese have not already introduced contaminated food and food additives to American diets? For one thing, because food for humans, especially imported, is inspected much more closely than animal foods. The contaminations would have to be so small as to be ineffectual to get through the exams.

[DoctorDoom]

Wheat gluten - also called seitan (pronounced SAY-tahn), wheat meat, wheat-meat, wheatmeat, gluten meat, or simply gluten - is a foodstuff made from the gluten of wheat. It is made by washing dough made from wheat flour in water until the starch is rinsed away, leaving only the gluten, which can then be cooked and processed in various ways.

Wheat gluten, although not as well known, is an alternative to soy-based meat substitutes such as tofu; some types may taste even more like meat than tofu due to their chewy and/or stringy texture. It is often used in place of meat in Asian, vegetarian, Buddhist, and macrobiotic cuisines.

Wheat gluten is most popular in China, where it was first developed, as well as in the cuisines of other East and Southeast Asian nations. In Asia, it is commonly found on the menus of restaurants catering primarily to Buddhist customers who do not eat meat, but who nonetheless enjoy eating meatless versions of meat dishes.

Because it was first popularized in western nations during the second half of the 20th century through its promotion by proponents of the macrobiotic diet, seitan (the name by which it is known in macrobiotic circles) is also the name by which wheat gluten is best known in most English-speaking nations. In the West, prepared wheat gluten is generally available only in Asian markets and health food stores (although gluten flour is commonly available in supermarkets).

Wheat gluten is also sometimes used in pet foods. Toxic wheat gluten from China resulted in a widespread recall of pet food in 2007.Wheat gluten (food) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_gluten_(food))

[Suzie]

It's added to bread sometimes to make it chewy. Usually mass produced bread that they want to get to that texture more quickly without of lots of kneading. Because you can build the gluten without adding it simply by kneading a high protein flour. It's also used as a thickener in some commercial gravies. Which is what they were using it for in the "wet" food. It's the protein from the wheat grain, so just about anything that would normally need a high protein or high gluten (bread) flour could have it in it.

[DoctorDoom]

Update identifying the Chinese company:

The U.S. stopped imports of wheat gluten from a company in China, acting after an investigation implicated the contaminated ingredient in the recent pet-food deaths of cats and dogs.

The Food and Drug Administration took action against wheat gluten from Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. in Wangdien, China, after the U.S. recall of nearly 100 brands of pet food made with the chemically contaminated ingredient.

The pet food, tainted with the chemical melamine, apparently has resulted in kidney failure in an unknown number of animals across the country.

Wheat gluten from China has been suspected in the outbreak since the first of multiple recalls was announced in mid-March. Even more pet food could be recalled in the next few days, though there probably has been no contamination of human food, FDA officials said yesterday.U.S. halts imports over pet-food deaths (http://www.washingtontimes.com/business/20070403-122002-6819r.htm)

[Suzie]

Probably?

[DoctorDoom]

I interpret that as, "Nothing has been found to date," which is as accurate as one can be without a crystal ball.

[Suzie]

Looks like they would know who they sold to though. And those people would know what it was used for.

[Dowple]

Looks like they would know who they sold to though. And those people would know what it was used for.

Of course, they do. If they don't, then an even bigger crime has been committed. This sort of nebulous response ("probably") should scare the wits out of us. A lot of politicians and Bill Gates type business slugs have a lot riding on giving the Chinese everything they demand. If a few million Americans and their pets suffer kidney failure, what they heck . . . . Whoever was responsible for checking the Chinese company's imports at the FDA should be made to sit down and eat a crate of the contaminated cat food. So should the president of the US and every member of congress.