Pet Food Recall Issue Will Be Lack of Quality Control

The first lawsuit has been launched against Menu Brands, the company who has recalled 95 brands of tainted dog and cat food. CBS News and others reported that the company knew about the problem weeks before it announced the recall, despite the fact that pets were dying.

Where is the human face of Menu Brands?
Where's the Menu blog? Where are the officers of the company? Where are the signs in all stores saying that they are taking steps to make sure this never happens again?

O'Dwyer PR (sub required) reports that Menu has hired a PR firm. "Sam Bornstein, a veteran public affairs exec for National (PR) in Toronto and sister firm Cohn & Wolfe/Canada, is handling the Menu Foods account. He has not yet returned a call."

The issue is going to turn out to be the lack of quality control in the pet food industry. Royal Cainin, another huge supplier of branded pet foods, issued a statement yesterday saying that, after having their own recall. Menu has yet to say anything about how they plan to prevent similar problems in the future. They claim they don't even know what went wrong.

PETA claims, in a letter to Proctor & Gamble, who make Iams, that Menu knew of the problem as early as February 20th, and that several of the animals who died were actually fed the tainted food by Menu to determine its effects -- even though non-animal testing methods are available!

The real question is why all incoming ingredients and outgoing products at Menu's plants weren't tested adequately, since 80 MILLION tainted pouches and cans were involved. If the problem is wheat gluten, then it relates to mold, and they could test for mold BEFORE they put the gluten into the products.

Menu is doing a rotten job of keeping its site from going down. And nine out of 10 news articles say that they couldn't reach the company for comment. Inexcuseable. You hire more people. You get more phone lines. You get more bandwidth. You don't ignore people whose family members you are killing.

And if you think cats and dogs aren't considered family members by millions of people, think again. The deaths we're hearing about are just the tip of the iceberg. Mark my words.

Benny Bix Ochman Labradoodle Puppy eats raw food, supplemented with Solid Gold Wolf King dry food. It does not contain wheat gluten, which is a lousy source of protein in any case.

My cat, Noni, eats Wellness canned food, which contains no grains. I would take the cat off commercial food, but the protein, fat, vitamin/mineral balance for cats has to be more accurate than for dogs, who'll pretty much eat anything that doesn't try to eat them.

I read in a front page article in the Chicago Tribune today that both the FDA and Menu foods are not releasing the name of the company that produced the wheat gluten that has been found to be contaminated with melanine. Why? We already know it came from China, quite possibly the most polluted country on the planet. We are obviously importing wheat products from China because it is cheaper, without the proper concern for our health. And, here is a point to consider... 70% of the wheat gluten used in human and animal food in this country is imported. Corporations and the government appear to be sacrificing the lives of our pets, and potentially own lives in favor of profit. Shameful at least, but very frightening.

Has anyone's cats recently vomitting from their Hill's C/D Feline food? My two cats were throwing up several times within the last two bags of C/D formal. Never in their lives have they gotten so sick. The vet. just assumed they were having gas or suffering from a virus. I have since stopped feeding the C/D to them and they seem to being doing fine. Please comment on this if the matter at hand has happened to you!

There is an uneasy relationship between pet food, PETA and wheat gluten. See >>
http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2007/04/peta-pet-food-and-wheat-gluten.html

This recent recall directly and immediately affects more U.S. citizens than any other recent news stories yet there is extremely lacking mainstream media coverage. Why is this? Is it really because Proctor and Gamble owns these companies?

our dog tillie first began showing signs of illness on 3/5/07. not eating, vomiting, lethargy,dehydration. after two days we took her to vet.

she was diagnosed with kidney failure. she stayed in vets till3/10/7. we visited her there to get her to eat. yes!!! more of the tainted food as they had not yet released info about tainted food.

she lives thank God, but will have to eat prescription food the rest of her life at a cost of more than a $1.00 a day more than her regular food.

that story breaks my heart. I am so happy to know your pup is alive though.

Just got a free sample of Life's Abundance Organic Food from Precious Pets Paradise. My dog gobbled it down. I have read several testimonies about it and just thought every pet owner should have an opportunity to check it out. They are sending out free samples so you can see if your precious pet will enjoy it like mine did. No more food recall worries for me...the FDA does not control my emotions anymore...www.precious-pets-paradise.com

While some pet food manufacturers use every scrap of meat from animal renderings, Wellness dog food limits ingredients to only quality sources for what the animals need for good nutrition. A balanced combination of protein, grains for fiber and fruits for antioxidant protection are included in all varieties of Wellness dog food to help the pet remain healthy and active. http://dogfoodguide.blogspot.com/2008/06/wellness-dog-food.html