Pet Food News: Update 4

Yesterday PetConnection reported two more recalls of contaminated pet food. Blue Buffalo expanded their recall to include canned foods and Costco recalled their Kirkland brand. Both companies report that they were unaware that rice protein had been added to their products and that ingredient didn't appear on the label, so in light of this new development, it's helpful to know more about where pet foods are made and where they get their ingredients.

The Pet Food List offers a breakdown by brand name with information about whether the company makes their own food or obtain it from suppliers and whether they use imported ingredients.

This list is especially helpful and easy to scan because if a company has recalled any products, their brand name appears in red.

We use Old Mother Hubbard's Wellness brand about whom they say:

Menu does make some of our canned cat and canned dog foods. They make OUR recipes according to OUR quality standards.

We have procedures in place to clean between each run of food that is produced. We also inspect the plant regularly to audit their procedures. We require our facilities to pass an audit by Cook & Thurber, a HUMAN FOOD auditing firm."

Other manufacturers are used besides Menu Foods.

Products do not contain wheat gluten, corn or soy, artificial preservatives, flavors or colors.

We do not source rice protein concentrate from Binzhou Futian Biological Technology, the manufacturer of the contaminated rice protein concentrate. (from website 4/24/07)

We do not purchase rice protein concentrate from Wilbur-Ellis. (from website 4/24/07)

We have visited the plants where we source our rice protein concentrate, and they have consistently met our stringent standards. (from website 4/24/07)

Even better than Wellness though is Steve's Real Food, another brand we use:

Menu Food does not manufacture any product for Steve's Real Food, Inc.

All ingredients are 100% grown in the USA.

We also use only 100% human grade ingredients that are 100% USDA inspected. This includes raw meats, fruits, vegetables & functional foods (all ingredients).

Foods are hormone free, antibiotic free, pesticide free, chemical free, and gluten free

Most disappointing, perhaps, is Whole Foods:

When asked, they would neither admit or deny that Menu Foods is their manufacturer - the name(s) of their manufacturer(s) is "confidential."

I have personally spoken with "Steve's Real Food", Wellness and California Natural representatives and am continuing to feed those three brands to my kitties.

Foster & Smith Finally Recalled Pet Food

PetConnection reports that Doctors Foster and Smith have finally (what the hell took so long?) recalled some of their pet foods.

As a long time customer of theirs, I can't tell you how disappointed I am that they were the last of the 5 to go public with the fact that they used possibly contaminated rice protein.

We've never purchased pet food from them, but in the past we bought lots of cat furniture, cat toys, and cat care products.

As an act of disapproval and protest, I am now a former customer of Doctors Foster and Smith.

By the way, if you missed Jon Stewart's smack-down of John McCain last night, find a video of it to watch. After we saw it last night I wanted to nominate Jon Steward for GOD (and that's an extreme compliment for a skeptic like me). Now if only a Democratic candidate would do something like that - I'd vote for him (Hillary already lost my vote by refusing to apologize for her previous vote in favor of the war).

Call to Action: My Pet Counts

The FDA continues to report only 16 confirmed pet deaths due to poisoned food so PetConnection is asking all who've lost a pet to poisoned food to send a postcard with the phrase, "My pet counts."

Please visit PetConnection for the details.

4 of 5 Poisoned Pet Food Makers Now Identified

PetConnection reports that another pet food maker has VOLUNTARILY recalled their food.

They are SmartPac and the recalled food is their LiveSmart Weight Management Chicken and Brown Rice Dog Food.

The particular lot of food recalled included rice protein concentrate that was supplied by Wilbur-Ellis, the same company that supplied rice protein concentrate contaminated with Melamine to Natural Balance. This was the first time that our supplier purchased and used rice protein concentrate from Wilbur-Ellis. No previous lots were affected, nor do we use rice protein concentrate in any other formulas of LiveSmart dog or cat foods.

Thankfully, the product was just produced, and only a very limited amount of product had left our facility prior to the recall (less than 1200 pounds). We have notified every affected pet owner via both phone and email.

There is still another company that used tainted rice protein and hasn't yet been VOLUNTARILY identified.

Pet Food News: Update 3

According to PetConnection another company might have imported rice protein from China.

Senators Dick Durbin and Maria Cantwell wrote the following to the FDA:

“We have learned that in addition to Wilbur-Ellis, a second United States company imported a shipment of rice protein from China that is also likely to be contaminated with melamine,” the senators wrote. “We request the FDA identify this second importer as well as those manufacturers to which it may have sold the contaminated product.”

How about they also identify the other two pet food makers who got the originally discovered poisoned rice?

An aide to Durbin said the senators found out about the second importer from industry sources.

If confirmed, that could further expand a pet food recall that so far includes more than 100 brands.

They will begin a Congressional hearing tomorrow (Tuesday). Hearings are aired on C-SPAN 3 and we only get C-SPAN 1 and 2, so I can't watch it, dammit. I missed the Gonzo Grillings too because of that.

Pet Food News: Update 2

A new contaminant (not melamine this time) has been discovered in rice protein. The toxin found in these foods is cyanuric acid - not melamine. This is the first recall attributed to cyanuric acid.

So far, Royal Canin has pulled products due to tainted wheat gluten, corn gluten and rice protein in the US, Canada, and South Africa. And is being sued for Vitamin D overdose.

A new source for information about pet foods is itchmo

Meanwhile PetConnection reports that the FDA has issued a press release and still won't identify the remaining two pet food manufacturers who received contaminated rice protein:

FDA investigators have obtained records showing distribution to five pet food manufacturers in seven locations. Investigators are currently inspecting all five manufacturers and collecting additional samples, as appropriate...

If FDA’s investigation determines that additional pet food products have been manufactured from the suspect rice protein concentrate, FDA will expect manufacturers to initiate voluntary actions to remove these products from the marketplace. FDA will continue to communicate its findings promptly.

Take your time folks (FDA and pet food makers). It's only our beloved companions dying out here.

Meanwhile, I went shopping yesterday and purchased "Steve's Real Food" (freeze dried nuggets of salmon and chicken), Healthy Kitchen's freeze dried foods and Wellness grain-free canned foods.

Pet Food News: Update 1

I recently bought a bag of kibble by Natura aka California Natural, but have been afraid to give any dry food to our cats. I called California Natural who answered their phone (unlike some of the companies I've called) and they assured me they aren't using any contaminated wheat gluten or rice protein. They use only whole brown rice which is unprocessed and uncontaminated.

This news report recommends Natura foods as safe:

"Pet owners shouldn't use any pet food made with grain," said Lynn Maciel, the manager of Western Feed and Pet Supply Store in Orangevale, California according to News 10. She's telling customers about a California firm called Nutura that makes pet chow that's sold in independent supply stores. Nutura sells dry and wet pet food under the California Natural Brand. Macial says the company uses ingredients grown organically.

Authorities said Friday that the gluten and rice protein concentrate - an ingredient in pet foods - might have been intentionally altered to increase their protein concentration. The Food and Drug Administration says 200 animals have succumbed to tainted pet food. More than 1,000 have been sickened. The Web site Pet Connection.Com claims contaminated food has killed more then 4,000 pets.

So who you gonna believe? Bush's lyin' FDA or regular folks?

Thanks to Carrie@MSUinSF who provided another good source for information about pet food recalls:

Poisoned Pet Food & FDA Malfeasance

I'm keenly interested in news about the latest pet food recalled, but the mass media aren't providing much information. Unless you've been digging for information, you might not know that in addition to contaminated wheat gluten, the recall has widened to include rice protein. In addition contaminated corn gluten had been identified in South Africa. Although various suppliers have provided contaminated grains to numerous pet food suppliers, all contaminated grains can be traced back to Chinese suppliers (yes, more than one supplier) and the contamination might have been deliberate.

The most disturbing element, perhaps, is the fact that the FDA knows which pet food makers received contaminated grains and THEY ARE NOT TELLING US WHO THEY ARE!

Three of the five companies who received the contaminated rice protein have implemented recalls of their products. Those three are Natural Balance (Dick Van Patten's pet food which is advertised as containing only human-grade foods), Blue Buffalo and Royal Canin.

Two other pet food companies received contaminated grains and have not revealed who they are and have not recalled their pet food. If I ever find out who they are, you can be sure that I will never purchase anything from them in the future.

I suspect that the FDA's decision to not reveal who is still selling contaminated pet food is part Bush's directive to protect business interests at all cost.

Senator Dick Durbin is interested in this issue so please contact him with your concerns. The House plans a hearing on Tuesday. Please let your Congress person know that you believe the FDA should be protecting us, instead of businesses.

My favorite source for breaking information is the Petconnection blog. If you have any new information or other good sources for information, please add a comment to this blog.

For now I'm taking my cats off all kibble and am giving them freeze-dried salmon and chicken from "Steve's Real Food" based in Oregon. I called the company and they assured me that they have received no contaminated grains and that their pets are eating their food and are healthy.

I'm also feeding my cats grain-free varieties of Wellness canned food. They assured me by telephone that they haven't used any of the contaminated grains.

I would prefer to feed the cats Newman's Own organic cat food, but they gave it 4 paws down.

I'm being especially cautious, because I've learned that Natural Balance had recently added rice protein to their products without listing it on the label. Apparently pet food makers have up to 3 months to list new ingredients on their labels, so don't trust pet food labels.

If you have a pet, please share with me how you are coping under these uncertain conditions. Thank you.