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From goerie.com Please check the link in the article to look at the recalls.

Pet food maker announces huge recall amid reports of pet deaths

Published: March 17. 2007 6:00AM


WASHINGTON (AP) _ A major manufacturer of dog and cat food sold under Wal-Mart, Safeway, Kroger and other store brands recalled 60 million containers of wet pet food Friday after reports of kidney failure and deaths.

An unknown number of cats and dogs suffered kidney failure and about 10 died after eating the affected pet food, Menu Foods said in announcing the North American recall. Product testing has not revealed a link explaining the reported cases of illness and death, the company said.

''At this juncture, we're not 100 percent sure what's happened,'' said Paul Henderson, the company's president and chief executive officer. However, the recalled products were made using wheat gluten purchased from a new supplier, since dropped for another source, spokeswoman Sarah Tuite said. Wheat gluten is a source of protein.

The recall covers the company's ''cuts and gravy'' style food, which consists of chunks of meat in gravy, sold in cans and small foil pouches between Dec. 3 and March 6 throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The pet food was sold by stores operated by the Kroger Co., Safeway Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and PetSmart Inc., among others, Henderson said.

Menu Foods did not immediately provide a full list of brand names and lot numbers covered by the recall, saying they would be posted on its Web site _ www.menufoods.com/recall _ early Saturday. Consumers with questions can call (866) 463-6738.

Repeated calls to that number over several hours Friday night got only a busy signal. Attempts to reach a company spokeswoman for an explanation were unsuccessful.

The company said it manufacturers for 17 of the top 20 North American retailers. It is also a contract manufacturer for the top branded pet food companies, including Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co.

P&G announced Friday the recall of specific 3 oz., 5.5 oz., 6 oz. and 13.2 oz. canned and 3 oz. and 5.3 oz. foil pouch cat and dog wet food products made by Menu Foods but sold under the Iams and Eukanuba brands. The recalled products bear the code dates of 6339 through 7073 followed by the plant code 4197, P&G said.

Menu Foods' three U.S. and one Canadian factory produce more than 1 billion containers of wet pet food a year. The recall covers pet food made at company plants in Emporia, Kan., and Pennsauken, N.J., Henderson said.

Henderson said the company received an undisclosed number of owner complaints of vomiting and kidney failure in dogs and cats after they had been fed its products. It has tested its products but not found a cause for the sickness.

''To date, the tests have not indicated any problems with the product,'' Henderson said.

The company alerted the Food and Drug Administration, which already has inspectors in one of the two plants, Henderson said. The FDA was working to nail down brand names covered by the recall, agency spokesman Mike Herndon said.

Menu Foods is majority owned by the Menu Foods Income Fund, based in Ontario, Canada.

Henderson said the recall would cost the company the Canadian equivalent of $26 million to $34 million.

Below is article from CNN. The types of dog and cat food are on the bottom of the article.


WASHINGTON (AP) -- A major manufacturer of dog and cat food sold under Wal-Mart, Safeway, Kroger and other store brands recalled 60 million containers of wet pet food Friday after reports of kidney failure and deaths.

An unknown number of cats and dogs suffered kidney failure and about 10 died after eating the affected pet food, Menu Foods said in announcing the North American recall. Product testing has not revealed a link explaining the reported cases of illness and death, the company said.

"At this juncture, we're not 100 percent sure what's happened," said Paul Henderson, the company's president and chief executive officer. However, the recalled products were made using wheat gluten purchased from a new supplier, since dropped for another source, spokeswoman Sarah Tuite said. Wheat gluten is a source of protein.

'Cuts and gravy' food sold in cans, pouches recalled
The recall covers the company's "cuts and gravy" style food, which consists of chunks of meat in gravy, sold in cans and small foil pouches between December 3 and March 6 throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The pet food was sold by stores operated by the Kroger Co., Safeway Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and PetSmart Inc., among others, Henderson said.

Menu Foods said it makes pet foods for 17 of the top 20 North American retailers. It is also a contract manufacturer for the top branded pet food companies, including Procter & Gamble Co.

Proctor & Gamble announced Friday the recall of specific 3 oz., 5.5 oz., 6 oz. and 13.2 oz. canned and 3 oz. and 5.3 oz. foil pouch cat and dog wet food products made by Menu Foods but sold under the Iams and Eukanuba brands. The recalled products bear the code dates of 6339 through 7073 followed by the plant code 4197, P&G said.

Menu Foods' three U.S. and one Canadian factory produce more than 1 billion containers of wet pet food a year. The recall covers pet food made at company plants in Emporia, Kansas, and Pennsauken, New Jersey, Henderson said.

Henderson said the company received an undisclosed number of owner complaints of vomiting and kidney failure in dogs and cats after they had been fed its products. It has tested its products but not found a cause for the sickness.

"To date, the tests have not indicated any problems with the product," Henderson said.

FDA also working to target brands
The company alerted the Food and Drug Administration, which already has inspectors in one of the two plants, Henderson said. The FDA was working to nail down brand names covered by the recall, agency spokesman Mike Herndon said.

Menu Foods is majority-owned by the Menu Foods Income Fund, based in Ontario, Canada.

Henderson said the recall would cost the company the Canadian equivalent of $26 million to $34 million.

Below are lists of specific brands recalled by Menu Foods, in addition to Proctor & Gamble's recall of certain Iams and Eukanuba products. Menu Brands lists the brands on its Web site, www.menufoods.com, and advises consumers to call 1-866-895-2708 for more information.

Recalled cat foods
Americas Choice; Preferred Pets; Authority; Best Choice; Companion; Compliments; Demoulas Market Basket; Fine Feline Cat, Shep Dog; Food Lion; Foodtown; Giant Companion; Good n Meaty; Hannaford; Hill Country Fare; Hy-Vee; Key Food; Laura Lynn; Li'l Red; Loving Meals; Main Choice; Nutriplan; Nutro Max Gourmet Classics; Nutro Natural Choice; Paws; Presidents Choice; Price Chopper; Priority; Save-A-Lot; Schnucks; Sophistacat; Special Kitty; Springfield Pride; Sprout; Total Pet; My True Friend; Wegmans; Western Family; White Rose; and Winn Dixie.

Recalled dog foods
America's Choice; Preferred Pets; Authority; Award; Best Choice; Big Bet; Big Red; Bloom; Bruiser; Cadillac; Companion; Demoulas Market Basket; Fine Feline Cat; Shep Dog; Food Lion; Giant Companion; Great Choice; Hannaford; Hill Country Fare; Hy-Vee; Key Food; Laura Lynn; Loving Meals; Main Choice; Mixables; Nutriplan; Nutro Max; Nutro Natural Choice; Nutro; Ol'Roy; Paws; Pet Essentials; Pet Pride; President's Choice; Price Chopper; Priority; Publix; Roche Bros; Save-A-Lot; Schnucks; Springsfield Pride; Sprout; Stater Bros; Total Pet; My True Friend; Western Family; White Rose; Winn Dixie and Your Pet.

I buy Grocery store brand, (Winn Dixie), so I don't have to worry

Did you check my list? Winn Dixie brand is part of the recall for both dog and cat food.

Well I haven't bought Dog food in 3 weeks.................

If I read this correctly, the recall is for canned food, correct?

correct. Canned and 'foil pouch' prodcuts only.

I use nothing but the Iams dry food, so I'm safe

Well I haven't bought Dog food in 3 weeks.................

Well, it's been on the shelves since December so if you use canned food I'd check it. My Dad's dog almost died just last week after being sick for a month and he was feeding it some of this stuff. At least we think it was this food....the cans are all gone so we cannot be sure it was from the affected lots. But something did make the dog sicker than hell.

I refuse to buy canned food for that reason. I buy the regular crunchy, dry, stuff. Which is allright by my dog, because that's the only type of dog food she will eat. (Besides Biscuits )

'Cuts and gravy' food sold in cans, pouches recalled
The recall covers the company's "cuts and gravy" style food, which consists of chunks of meat in gravy, sold in cans and small foil pouches between December 3 and March 6 throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The recall goes all the way back to December 3rd.

You have to search some for this press release because in some articles Iams and Eukanubu are not tied to Menu foods. But here is a portion below stating Iams brand with a link below.

P&G announced Friday the recall of specific 3 oz., 5.5 oz., 6 oz. and 13.2 oz. canned and 3 oz. and 5.3 oz. foil pouch cat and dog wet food products made by Menu Foods but sold under the Iams and Eukanuba brands. The recalled products bear the code dates of 6339 through 7073 followed by the plant code 4197, P&G said.

http://www.wtop.com/?sid=1090120&nid=106

Yeah, but it's the canned/foil pouch food just like the others, not the dry food.

They think they found the cause of the problem. Surprise, some idiot tried to save money, so they got wheat imported from china that had a banned rat poison sprayed on it.

Rat poison found in deadly pet food

Animal deaths led to nationwide recall; news conference scheduled Friday
The Associated Press
Updated: 12:31 p.m. ET March 23, 2007


ALBANY, N.Y. - Rat poison has been found in pet food blamed for the deaths of at least 16 cats and dogs, a spokeswoman for the State Department of Agriculture and Markets said Friday.

Spokeswoman Jessica Chittenden would not identify the chemical or its source beyond saying it was a rodent poison.

The Food and Drug Administration has said the investigation was focusing on wheat gluten in the food. Wheat gluten itself would not cause kidney failure, but the common ingredient could have been contaminated by heavy metals or mold toxins, the FDA said.

State agriculture officials scheduled a news conference Friday afternoon to release laboratory findings from tests on the pet food conducted this week.

The rat poison, which may have been used on wheat imported from China, is illegal in the U.S., NBC News correspondent Tom Costello told MSNBC TV.

The deaths led to a recall of 60 million cans and pouches of pet food produced by Menu Foods and sold throughout North America under 95 brand names. There have been several reports of kidney failure in pets that ate the recalled brands, and the company has confirmed the deaths of 15 cats and one dog.

Menu Foods last week recalled "cuts and gravy" style dog and cat food. The recall sparked concern among pet owners across North America. It includes food sold under store brands carried by Wal-Mart, Kroger, Safeway and other large retailers, as well as private labels such as Iams, Nutro and Eukanuba.

Menu Foods is majority owned by Menu Foods Income Fund of Streetsville. The company also makes foods for zoo cats, but those products are unaffected by the recall.

The company's chief executive and president said Menu Foods delayed announcing the recall until it could confirm that the animals had eaten its product before dying. Two earlier complaints from consumers whose cats had died involved animals that lived outside or had access to a garage, which left open the possibility they had been poisoned by something other than contaminated food, he said.

A spokesman for New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said he was not aware of any criminal investigation involving the tainted food.
There have been tests on 10 cats that died performed by an outside company for Menu Foods. The results show only that the cats died of acute kidney failure.

The FDA has sent investigators to New Jersey and Kansas plants operated by Menu Foods.

Wheat gluten is a source of protein and was used to thicken the gravy in the pet food, sold in both cans and pouches, according to the FDA.

Reason for recall delay
A complete list of the recalled products along with product codes, descriptions and production dates was available from the Menu Foods Web site. The company also designated two phone numbers that pet owners could call for information — (866) 463-6738 and (866) 895-2708.


Vet connects cases
At least one veterinarian in New Hampshire reports seeing cases of sick cats and dogs before the massive pet-food recall that she's sure are now connected.

Lee Garrod of the Portsmouth Emergency Veterinary Clinic says since the recall, she's called pet owners back and asked them what they were feeding, and the brands and codes were a match.

Garrod said her experience with local cases shows a 50 percent mortality rate for cats and dogs who became sick after they ate the food.

"I was seeing young cats that had me baffled," she said. "One woman even brought all of her house plants to be tested."

Garrod said she's seen six affected animals in Maine, one in Goffstown and 12 in Portsmouth.

"We have successfully treated half," she said, adding that the food doesn't affect every cat.

Richard Uncles, director of the Division of Regulatory Services in the state's veterinary offices, said the pet food recall is unprecedented in its scope. The division is responsible for licensing animal food products.

"I can't recall anything remotely like a recall of this magnitude," Uncles said. "There are so many brands involved. We were in a conference call with the Food and Drug Administration, and there are as many unanswered questions as answered ones. ... What is difficult is trying to pinpoint the source, and the recall is unusually broad, including private packers, producers of many house brands and store label brands."

Garrod said anyone who thinks their pet may have eaten the food should bring it in to have the pet's kidneys and urine tested.



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17754681/wid/11915773?GT1=9145

I like to spoil em every so often with some Gravy Train as well.

They prefer chips, and beer

Pearl gets Nutro Max dry food. I believe it's a far superior product to Iams.

I'm just happy nobody has said they feed Bil-Jac yet. That stuff is nasty.

My babies get this stuff that called Nature something. Supposed to be all natural dry food, and they really, really love the taste. No canned food here, when they're good, they get a pack of tuna.