FDA Testing Reveals Chemical in Pet Food

Mar 30 11:08 AM US/Eastern
By ANDREW BRIDGES
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - 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.
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.

article.php?id=D8O6IGB80&show_article=1
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Contaminated Cat Food Recalled by Maker

Mar 30, 6:14 PM (ET)

By ANDREW BRIDGES

WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal testing of recalled pet foods turned up a chemical used to make plastics but failed to confirm the presence of a cancer drug also used as rat poison. The recall expanded Friday to include the first dry pet food.

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday it found melamine in samples of the Menu Foods pet food involved in the original recall and in imported wheat gluten used as an ingredient in the company's wet-style products. Cornell University scientists also found melamine in the urine of sick cats, as well as in the kidney of one cat that died after eating some of the recalled food.

Meanwhile, Hill's Pet Nutrition recalled its Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry cat food. The food included wheat gluten from the same supplier that Menu Foods used. The recall didn't involve any other Prescription Diet or Science Diet products, said the company, a division of Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL)
article/20070330/D8O6OO602.html

Unfortunately, the price you pay or getting the food from a vet has little effect on its safety as the Hills DRY Prescription--one of them at least so far--has just been added to the list being recalled as contaminated.

I feed the raw BARF diet which can be found on the internet 2 to 3 times a week for mine and also cook meat for human consumption for them as well with rice in slow cooker. Mine get a big variety of food and do well on it so far.

After my own experience with pet food recall last year, I have been extra cautious.

I am getting uneasy with this starting to recall the dry foods now as I always leave kibbles available for mine.

Is this some sort of cover up or what is going on that the FDA now says plastic but no rat poison? How are vets supposed to know how to treat the sick ones. I wonder how many have been effected by this so far.

Does anyone know where there is a total being kept?

.

I am on emailing mailing lists of some pet foods

This one is from Update on Mighty Dog Pouch WithdrawalDate: Sun, 25 Mar 2007 06:29:08 EDT
From: Purina Petcentric <purinapetcare@updates.purina.com>
Subject: Update on Mighty Dog Pouch Withdrawal
An Update from Nestle Purina PetCare Company About the Menu
Foods Recall - March 23, 2007

We at Nestle Purina PetCare Company know the reports of pet food
recalls and withdrawals over the past week have been very
concerning and at times confusing for pet owners, who want to
ensure the safety of the food they are feeding their beloved pets.

We want to take this opportunity to reassure you that Mighty Dog
pouch products are the ONLY Purina(r) brand products affected by
Menu Foods' recall. Nestle Purina stands behind the high-quality
of our pet foods, and all Purina brand cat food products and all
other Purina brand dog food products, including Mighty Dog
canned products, can continue to be fed to your pets with
complete confidence.

On Friday, March 16, Nestle Purina PetCare issued its press
release announcing the voluntary withdrawal of our Mighty Dog(r)
brand pouch-packaged products that were produced by Menu Foods
from Dec. 3, 2006, through March 14, 2007. While we had no
indication of any product quality or safety issues specifically
related to our Mighty Dog pouch products at that time, we are
proactively withdrawing these products as a precautionary
measure, because the well-being of pets and the safety and
efficacy of our products are our top priorities.

Click below to view the Press Release:
T2RT0226561F2C186F91AC5B4D44F0

We also want to apologize for any difficulty you may have had in
reaching us by phone this week. While we have dedicated numerous
additional phone lines, people and other resources exclusively
for this purpose, we understand that the volume of calls still
has occasionally exceeded our system capacity.

We have prepared some Frequently Asked Questions that may be
helpful to your understanding of this situation, and we will
update these questions as more information becomes available. If
you have other questions or concerns, please continue to call
our Office of Consumer Affairs directly at 1-800-551-7392.

Click below to view the Frequently Asked Questions:
T2RT0226569FDC186F91AC5B4D44F0

-----------------------------------------------------------------
You are receiving this email because you signed up to receive
news and promotions from Purina(R).

To Unsubscribe, click below.
T2RT0226560FCC186F91AC5B4D44F0

We take your privacy seriously. Read our privacy policy.
T2RT0226567FFC186F91AC5B4D44F0

Purina(R) Office of Consumer Affairs 6T
901 Chouteau St. Louis, MO 63102

1-800-7PURINA (1-800-778-7462)
Weekdays 9am - 4pm CT

All trademarks and other intellectual property on this site are
owned by Societe des produits, Nestle S.A., Vevey, Switzerland.

Here's an email I recd from IAMS

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.