3.16.2007

Safety Notice!!

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.

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. The pet food was sold by stores operated by the Kroger Company, 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 — http://www.menufoods.com/recall — early Saturday. Consumers with questions can call (800) 551-7392.

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. Its 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.




The list is up and several of our pouches of Nutro are on the list. However they do not fall into the date ranges so I guess we're OK. Make sure you check the list because there are LOTS of brands on it!!

Interesting fact but I live two towns away from Pennsauken, NJ. I didn't realize there was a cat food company 5 minutes down the road!

14 comments:

Bonnie Underfoot said...

Tanks fur getting the word out, Chase! We don't often get canned food, but we'll be especially careful to avoid it until this is clarified!

For tonight, let's stick to Niptinis and Treats - Dry. Purrs!

Artsy Catsy said...

Thanks for posting this, Chase. We were just getting ready to send this to the CB & saw you already had it up for everyone. This is one of the reasons we get mostly homemade catfood, although we do get Nutro packets sometimes. Seems like there have been several blogging kitties lately with tummy problems. We hope this isn't why!

The Artsy Catsy bunch

Hot(M)BC said...

Oh gosh, fanks for lettin us know, Chase! We don't get wet food hardly nefur, but we's glad to know. We's gonna go tell Grandma cuz she has friends who are owned by kitties and she can tell them too. Fanks!
Purrrrrrrrrs,
Sanjee

Lux said...

That IS scary! I know Ninna's been sick, but Silky & I haven't been.

LZ said...

I don't eat wet food either, but Kaze & Latte do. They usually eat Merrick but have been having some other brands lately. I did worry since so many blogging cats have been unexplicably ill lately.

Chase

Max said...

The Woman only caught a part of the story on the news but she's gonna check their website in the morning. She doesn't think any of the food we eat will be on the list, but ya neverknow...

Karen Jo said...

Thank you for posting this, Chase. This is very scary and I will make sure that my friends who live with cats and dogs know about it.

Tara said...

This is terribly scary! Mom heard part of the story on the news tonight also. I used to eat a lot of Iams, but recently I decided I didn't like it, and Mom has been giving me ProPlan. She is definetly going to check the website!
Tara

The Meezers or Billy said...

Fanks for getting the werd out. Our mommy says to tell you that she lifed in Turnersville when she was a younger bean and grajuated from Washington Twp High School!! That's not too far from Pennsauken eifurr!

Icon Baxter Bentley said...

Thanks for the info!!

It is a small world, I'm originally from Burlington County NJ!!

Karen Jo said...

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Chase.

Anonymous said...

thanks fur the info! we never ate stuff with "cuts and gravy" because we don't like chunks - only mush. but you know what? Eric and Flynn's mom told our Lady that she mashes chunks up and so then our Lady put some chunky kinds through a food processor and made mush for us and we liked it! our Lady feels pretty stupid 'bout not thinkin' of that before.

sammawow said...

Thanks for this important info that you gave to us. We eat Eukaneuba and some of it's wet food was on the list but luckily we have only had the crunchies! Good reporting, Chase!

Purrrrrs, China Cat & Willow

Anonymous said...

I hope no more kitties get sick!!!
Mom checked and all our cans are okay. whew.
~Prinnie