Dates Codes No Longer Apply to Recall

I just this article on cnn and here is portion of it:

ALBANY, New York (AP) -- Rat poison was found in pet food blamed for the
deaths of at least 16 cats and dogs, but scientists said Friday they still
don't know how it got there and predicted more animal deaths would be linked
to it.

Also Friday, the company that produced the food expanded its recall to
include all 95 brands of the "cuts and gravy" style food, regardless of when
they were produced

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Very scary. I know some people thought they were safe, me included, because
their food was not in the date range of the recalled products. I stopped
feeding my guys Iams anyway and am now using Friskies (to their dismay). I
just want to make sure everyone else is aware of this. Good luck with your
kitties everyone!

--
Message posted via CatKB.com
http://www.catkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx...ealth/200703/1

On Mar 23, 5:20 pm, "MoMo via CatKB.com" u27647@uwe wrote:
I just this article on cnn and here is portion of it:

ALBANY, New York (AP) -- Rat poison was found in pet food blamed for the
deaths of at least 16 cats and dogs, but scientists said Friday they still
don't know how it got there and predicted more animal deaths would be linked
to it.

Also Friday, the company that produced the food expanded its recall to
include all 95 brands of the "cuts and gravy" style food, regardless of when
they were produced

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-----------------------------------------------------------

Very scary. I know some people thought they were safe, me included, because
their food was not in the date range of the recalled products. I stopped
feeding my guys Iams anyway and am now using Friskies (to their dismay). I
just want to make sure everyone else is aware of this. Good luck with your
kitties everyone!

--
Message posted via CatKB.comhttp://www.catkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/cat-health/200703/1

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070323/...et_food_recall


"The Food and Drug Administration has said the investigation into the
pet deaths was focused on wheat gluten in the food"

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And guess what, Canada-based Menu Foods changed wheat gluten suppliers
during this time to a distributor in China where they use aminopterin
to kill the rodents! So contaminated wheat gluten was shipped from
China! Of course wheat gluten for pets and humans are suppose to be
labeled differently - (in China?); but the FDA does not check such
shipments - so any deaths in the family lately!

on Sat, 24 Mar 2007 00:35:27 GMT, "chatnoir"
wrote:

And guess what, Canada-based Menu Foods changed wheat gluten suppliers
during this time to a distributor in China where they use aminopterin
to kill the rodents! So contaminated wheat gluten was shipped from
China! Of course wheat gluten for pets and humans are suppose to be
labeled differently - (in China?); but the FDA does not check such
shipments - so any deaths in the family lately!

GD what a mess.

--
Lynne

On Mar 23, 6:38 pm, Anonyma wrote:
All Menu's wet cat food is NOT poisoned insofar as current data indicates.

Much of the bad product is still on the shelves, either by negligence,
administrative failure or indifference of some retail store managers. As a
result, Menu decided to recall ALL of the wet food they made.

No, the problem is the last month the company knew its food was
killing pets and essentially sat on it!:

http://wjz.com/business/finance_story_079094439.html

headline:

ar 20, 2007 11:24 am US/Eastern

Co. Knew Of Fatal Problem With Pet Food Last Month
(CBS News) As many as one in six animals died in tests of suspect dog
and cat food by the manufacturer last month after complaints the
products were poisoning pets around the country, the government said
Monday.

"That's a huge number, considering when you feed pet food no animal
should die," says CBS News The Early Show veterinarian Dr. Debbye
Turner.

A federal investigation is focusing on wheat gluten as the likely
source of contamination that sparked a recall last Friday of 60
million cans and pouches of the suspect food, said Stephen F. Sundlof,
the Food and Drug Administration's top veterinarian.

"I'm certain someone's going to figure this out because there are a
lot of pet foods involved, a lot of pets involved and a lot of
veterinarians who are upset," Dr. Ann Hohenhaus of New York's Animal
Medical Center told CBS News.

Wheat gluten, a protein source, is commonly used as filler.

Agency investigators are looking at other ingredients as well. The wet-
style pet food was made by Menu Foods, an Ontario, Canada-based
company. The FDA on Monday had investigators at Menu plants in
Emporia, Kan., and Pennsauken, N.J.

Menu Foods told the FDA it received the first complaints of kidney
failure and deaths among cats and dogs from pet owners on Feb. 20. It
began new tests on Feb. 27.

During those tests, the company fed its product to 40 to 50 dogs and
cats and seven animals - the mix of species was not immediately known
- died, Sundlof said. The contamination appeared more deadly to cats
than to dogs, he said.

"Cats seem to be more susceptible to acute renal failure, what which
is what this toxin is causing," Turner told Early Show co-anchor Harry
Smith.

The recall now covers dog food sold throughout North America under 51
brands and cat food sold under 40 brands, including Iams, Nutro and
Eukanuba. The food was sold under both store and major brand labels at
Wal-Mart, Kroger, Safeway and other large retailers.

The FDA has yet to tally how many reports it has received of cats and
dogs suffering kidney failure or death. The company has reported just
10 deaths, of nine cats and a single dog.

"We are still trying to find out what the true picture is out there of
animals. We're talking about 1 percent of the pet food (supply) and
it's really just impossible to extrapolate at this point," Sundlof
said.

Menu Foods spokeswoman Sarah Tuite told Associated Press Radio the
company was "still trying to figure out the cause."

"We're testing and testing, but we can't identify the problem in the
product," Tuite said. ... (cont)




The company expanded the recall -- which initially covered only cans and pouches of food packaged from December 3 through March 6 -- after the FDA alerted it that some products remained on store shelves.

Nothing has been said to indicate that dates outside the original range are
affected.