Even MORE Pet Food Recalled!

[Belle]

When is it going to end?? ??

I'm so glad Bil Jac, Vixen's food uses NOTHING from Menu Foods and no wheat products whatsoever!!

I still think there's a very high probability that human food was also contaminated, especially since some of the products were processed at plants that also make human food and the gluten was "food grade" and not "feed grade". <_<

I don't trust the FDA at all and I trust the friggin' importers and distributors even less.

******************************

BREAKING NEWS: Menu Foods Expands Recall — Again

April 10th, 2007

Menu Foods transfered some of the tainted wheat gluten to their Canadian facility and has issued yet another recall.

Menu Foods has identified a single interplant transfer of the ChemNutra supplied wheat gluten, shipped from Menu Foods’ plant in Emporia, Kansas, to its plant in Streetsville, Ontario. This wheat gluten was subsequently used in the production of pet food in December, 2006 and January, 2007, which is being recalled by Menu Foods.

This may explain the melamine found in Nutro’s cans in California. Thank goodness for pet parents who care. You were right to suspect all Menu Foods products.

The revised recall includes cat food brands from Nutro, Publix, America’s Choice, Pet Pride, Winn Dixie and more.

http://www.itchmo.com/read/menu-foods-expa...-again_20070410

Edited April 11, 2007 by Belle

[Psalm 71 one]

Dang! The more I read, the more i wonder just when they're gonna start telling us about the dry foods?

My dogs get a pretty decent amout of homemade foods I make them--sometimes half and half. But my cat will only eat cat food-- and that is dry Nutro--and pounce treats! YIKES!

I wonder now about my Ellie--my cat that died several weeks ago. Yeah, the vet found a string, so it could have been only that, but I have my suspisions about her foods, too-- she was a piggy when it came to the pounce treats. And she went downhill so fast.

I can't prove anything, and she DID swollow a thread, so it may just be that, but I am now very suspicious of the pet food makers.

And i wonder how soon before we find it in a LOT of people foods.

[GrouchoMarxJr]

I haven't seen "9 Lives" 5.5 oz cans for cats...or 22 oz cans of "Pedigree" for dogs, on any lists...my shelves are full of this stuff...Is it safe?

[Mister P-Mosh]

My dog eats Hill's science diet dry food, which has not been on the list yet, but even if it is...I think she's too weird to die.

[Belle]

I haven't seen "9 Lives" 5.5 oz cans for cats...or 22 oz cans of "Pedigree" for dogs, on any lists...my shelves are full of this stuff...Is it safe?

Groucho, 9 LIves and Pedigree are not on the recall list....... yet...... if it has wheat or gluten or wheat gluten on the label, I would take it back to the store. There are people claiming that 9 Lives has killed their cats and Del Monte is slow to act on it. Considering these companies have known since February about the problem and are still, 2 months later, adding food to the recall list, I wouldn't trust them.

"..they were getting complaints back in December about the food making pets ill or killing them. Just who does he think he is talking to?

I also hope he rots in prison. I wonder if the boys in jail will treat a pet killer like they do child killers?

I am beyond mad.

I also found someone else who's pet is ill from eating 9 lives Shredded Turkey with Gravy. She switched because it was onsale and within days the cat is in the hospital on fluids. Been there a week now. She says Del Monte is going to look into it. Please, anyone who has had a pet sickened by the 9 lives Shredded Turkey with Gravy, please post. This one is not on the recall but should be. It killed my Lil Bear."

Itchmo

I have the link above, but just in case - this is a list of all the foods that have been recalled so far: Itchmo Recall List

I also just found out that the CFO of Menu Foods sold half his stock in Menu Foods just prior to the recall being announced. Co-inky-dink? I think not.

"Insider trading reports show that Mark Wiens sold 14,000 units for $102,900 on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27. Those shares would be worth $62,440 today, based on yesterday's close of $4.46 a unit."

There's more than just the melamine that's contaminated the food and the FDA isn't even announcing that! There are BIG companies involved - P&G, Lipton, Nestle, Del Monte - none of the news media folks want to take this on. It would mean lost advertising revenue and one of the broadcast stations actually owns part of one of the companies that was involved in the recall. It would also mean mass hysteria if they added human food processed at the same plant to the recall list, so they're just biding their time on that issue.

[Dot Matrix]

Look at this crap --

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/06/pet.death...tml?eref=rss_us

snip-

(CNN) -- Contaminants that led to a massive recall of pet food could have been added intentionally, according to one theory being considered by the Food and Drug Administration.

"Somebody may have added melamine to the wheat gluten in order to increase what appears to be the protein level," the FDA's Stephen Sundlof told CNN on Friday.

"Wheat gluten is a high-protein substance and by trying to artificially inflate the protein level, it could command a higher price. But that's just one theory at this point."

Snip -

We are focusing on the melamine right now because we believe that, even if melamine is not the causative agent, it is somehow associated with the causative agent, so it serves as a marker," Sundlof said Thursday.

Gee, can these companies be trusted? NO!

Rather than add protein they added something used in plastic to bolster the protein....

GET SOME PREMIUM FOOD PEOPLE

They have been listed on other of the recall threads

BTW, Petigree was what I used prior to understanding the commercial pet food lie. My holistic vet told me it was not good for my pets. It is not a good food -- sounds like it -- but it isn't. I am sorry.

What is really in commercial pet food? Links below

http://www.api4animals.org/facts?p=359&more=1

SNIP*

However, about 50% of every food animal does not get used in human foods. Whatever remains of the carcass — heads, feet, bones, blood, intestines, lungs, spleens, livers, ligaments, fat trimmings, unborn babies, and other parts not generally consumed by humans — is used in pet food, animal feed, fertilizer, industrial lubricants, soap, rubber, and other products. These “other parts” are known as “by-products.” By-products are used in feed for poultry and livestock as well as in pet food.

And

What most consumers are unaware of is that the pet food industry is an extension of the human food industry, also known as the agriculture industry. Pet food provides a place for slaughterhouse waste and grains considered "unfit for human consumption" to be turned into profit. This waste includes cow tongues, esophagi, and possibly diseased and cancerous meat. The "whole grains" used have had the starch removed and the oil extracted -- usually by chemical processing -- for vegetable oil, or they are the hulls and other remnants from the milling process. Some of the truly whole grains used may have been deemed unfit for human consumption because of mold, contaminants, or poor storage practices.

Four of the five major pet food companies in the United States are subsidiaries of major multinational food production companies: Colgate-Palmolive (Hills Science Diet Pet Food), Heinz (9 Lives, Amore, Gravy Train, Kibbles n Bits, Recipe, Vets), Nestle (Alpo, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Mighty Dog) and Mars (Kal Kan, Mealtime, Pedigree, Sheba). From a business standpoint, multinational food companies owning pet food manufacturing companies is an ideal relationship. The multinationals have a captive market in which to capitalize on their waste products, and the pet food manufacturers have a reliable source from which to purchase their bulk materials.

http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels...et_Food_API.htm

Edited April 13, 2007 by Dot Matrix

[GrouchoMarxJr]

Yikes!...

[Dot Matrix]

Another source of meat you won't find mentioned on pet food labels are dogs and cats. In 1990 the San Francisco Chronicle reported that euthanized companion animals were being used in pet food. Although pet food manufacturers vehemently denied the report, the American Veterinary Medical Association confirmed the Chronicle's story.

Protein is protein once it is rendered. What is rendering? Rendering, as defined by Webster's Dictionary, is "to process as for industrial use: to render livestock carcasses and to extract oil from fat, blubber, etc., by melting."

What can the feeding of such ingredients do to your companion animal? Some veterinarians claim that feeding slaughterhouse wastes to animals increases their risk of getting cancer and other degenerative diseases. One factor is that the cooking methods used by pet food manufacturers and rendering plants do not destroy many of the hormones used to fatten livestock, or medications such as those used to euthanize dogs and cats.

Sounds appetizing

Gross huh? Hey, Groucho what are you doing up?

Look at this --

Animal and Poultry Fat

You may have noticed a unique, pungent odor when you open a new bag of pet food -- the smell of restaurant grease from a hundred fast food restaurants. What is the source of that delightful smell? It is refined animal fat, kitchen grease, and other oils too rancid or deemed inedible for humans.

Another Quote:

In 1995 Nature's Recipe pulled thousands of tons of dog food off the shelf after consumers complained that their dogs were vomiting and losing their appetite. Nature's Recipe's loss amounted to $20 million. The problem was a fungus that produced vomitoxin, an aflatoxin, which is a subset of mycotoxin, a poison given off by mold contaminated the wheat.

Although it caused many dogs to vomit, stop eating and have diarrhea, vomitoxin is a milder toxin than most. The more virulent strains of mycotoxins can cause weight loss, liver damage, lameness, and even death. The Nature's Recipe incident prompted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to intervene. Dina Butcher, Agriculture Policy Advisor for North Dakota Governor Ed Schafer, concluded that the discovery of vomitoxin in Nature's Recipe wasn't much of a threat to the human population because "the grain that would go into pet food is not a high quality grain."3 Which means that the grain used in pet food is not fit for human consumption and therefore not a threat to the human population.

[rascal]

Hey ladies...guess who my vet said the biggest customers of the rendering plants are?? Now I am talking about the companies that farmers and horse owners call to pick up the bloated diseased carcasses from the vet and the farms???

(We happened to be looking at a couple of bloated horses that he had done autopsies on that had been in the hot sun for a few days that the rendering plant hadn`t picked up along with a stack of dead goats and pets)

Cosmetic companies!!!

Yup ... He thinks that people are crazy to wear make up and stuff.

[VeganXTC]

When I went to the supermarket, I saw some of these brands still on the shelf being sold. Aren't the stores supposed to pull them from the shelves?

[Belle]

Yeppers! But not all stores (or vets, for that matter) are keeping up with it and not all of them are even aware that the list is expanded almost daily.

Hopefully this whole debacle will change things so that this doesn't happen again.

[Dot Matrix]

Rascal

I know, barf me out.

Burt's Bees is inexpensive available at Walmart -- used to only in health food stores -- He made all natural stuff and a friend talked him into going into business. He did not want to do it, so she said what is your dream? HE said to buy and save some of the rain forrest (I believe). He opened a company with all natural plant make up, sold it and bought the land he could. He still lives in a little house

http://www.burtsbees.com/webapp/wcs/stores...catalogId=10751

Edited April 13, 2007 by Dot Matrix

[dmiller]

Recall of Pet Foods Manufactured by Menu Foods, Inc.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been informed that Menu Foods, Inc., a private-label pet food manufacturer based in Streetsville, Ontario, Canada, is recalling all its "cuts and gravy" style dog and cat food produced at its facility in Emporia, Kansas between December 3, 2006 and March 6, 2007. The products are sold in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Can anything good come out of Emporia?? :huh:

[GrouchoMarxJr]

I may never buy processed dog food again...

[Dot Matrix]

Dmiller

ROTFL

[Dot Matrix]

http://www.insideedition.com/

This was on inside Edition:

For the fifth time, the government's expanded the pet food recall, further confusing worried pet owners. But, as INSIDE EDITION reports, some pet owners are doing an end run around any possible risk by making their own pet food.

At first glance Randy Klein could be preparing dinner for her family as she cuts up fruits, vegetables and the finest fresh poultry.

But Randy's gourmet meal is going to the dogs literally!

Since contaminated pet food caused the deaths of pets across the country, worried pet owners have sought out safe, alternatives for their precious pets - and what could be better than a home cooked meal?

Randy, who owns Whiskers Holistic Petcare in New York City, says you can whip up your own pet food right at home.

Randy starts with basic items like fresh fruits and vegetables. She then adds meats like liver, ground meat and poultry to the recipe before cutting up into small pieces and grounding them all together. Randy rounds out the dish by adding a little olive oil and vitamins to finish out the fifteen-minute gourmet meal. She says the meal can last 4 to 6 days in the fridge.

The finished product seemed to pass the approval of some four-legged taste testers who dug right into the tasty mix!

If you are thinking of making homemade food for you pet, here are some things to keep in mind:

DO:

Use fresh vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, zucchini or squash.

Use fresh meat such as liver, chicken, steak or hamburger. Try to get the meat from a butcher, since the fresher the meat is, the better.

Raw meat is best for the animal, but if you feel more comfortable, feel free to cook the meat lightly on both sides before chopping it up.

DON'T:

Avoid chocolate, onions, eggplant or tomatoes as they are hard for your pet to digest and could potentially cause health risks.

Don't add fillers (rice, wheat, corn, soy, grain, etc.) since your pet wouldn't find these in the wild.

Avoid sharing your dinner with your pet, unless what you are eating is fresh and doesn't include any dangerous ingredients.

PS. My vet said not to use olive oil use Safflower oil

[Dot Matrix]

LOOK AT THIS RECALL LIST!!!!

Biscuts all kinds of food OMG!

http://www.fda.gov/ora/fed_state/recalls/Recall.xls

[Belle]

Dmiller, ROFLMAO!!!

Pathetic, Dot, absolutely pathetic. And there's more added every day. :(

[doojable]

Ok I'll post the recipe I used for over ten years for my cats: The basic outlines came from the book, The New Natural Cat by Anitra Frazier

Makes enough for two cats for one month:

Basically the meat/ veggie/ grain ratio is 60/20/20

6 lbs ground turkey- cooked on very low heat keep the fat

18 eggs, hard boiled and shredded in a food processor

(The above should come to about 12 cups)

4 zucchini, shredded

4 large carrots, shredded

(The above should come to 4 cups)

4 cups of either cooked brown rice or soaked oat bran ( measure 2 cups oat bran and 2 cups water and soak in fridge overnight.)

Mix all the above and measure into freezer bags ( I put about 2 cups in a bag - that lasted about two days for two cats.)

I'm still looking for my recipe for vitamin mix - but Anitra Frazier has her recipe already mixed and available in the health food stores.

Here are some links:

Vitamin Mix

Nutrition for Cats

Recipes for Both Dogs and Cats

This last link has recipes for vitamin mixes you can make at home.

Anyone can PM me if they want any tips. I did this for years and although it was some extra effort, it was cheaper and less expensive than Science Diet.

Edited April 14, 2007 by doojable

[Belle]

Dooj, you totally rock!!!

:love3:

[doojable]

BTW - your pet will eat less of this than the commercial food because there are no fillers or "meat by-products (ie mystery meat)

Thank you Belle! -

[Belle]

That's what I like about Bil Jac, Dooj. She eats less and produces less .... ahhhh... poop.... because it's more "natural".

Part of her diet is cooked by me, too, so that helps.

[Dot Matrix]

Dooj

I am taking that to work, thanks

I cooked for my dogs but at 6 dogs it was filling my freezer that is when I went to human grade food. Your way is far superior.

Thanks

[Abigail]

Yeah, the $35 worth of homecooked food I made last Saturday ran out this morning. :( Too expensive for my budget. So today I went to the pet store bought Nutra something - no wheat products, no fillers - chicken, rice, eggs, vegies, etc. I still made some more home food too - figured I'd do a mixture of both.

[Dot Matrix]

Yes, it can be expensive. Along with filling the freezer it was costly that is why I went to human grade pet food. However, I am going to hand out the recipe for those interested.

Abi

Is this what you got?

http://www.nutranuggets.com/Default.html