Major Developments in Pet Food Recall

There have been some major developments in the pet food recall I’ve been posting about here for the last several weeks. First, the substance originally believed to have been implicated, aminopterin (a rat poison), no longer seems to be the culprit. It is now suspected that melamine, a material used in plastics, was the cause of the deaths of pets who ate the “cuts and gravy” style foods that have been recalled. From the Menu Food Press Conference that was conducted yesterday:

One week ago, some of the dedicated researchers who had been investigating this matter reported the discovery of a single, toxic compound in our pet food. That, seemingly, cleared the way for us to address the problem, deal fairly with the pet-owners who had been injured, put our business back together, and move on.

In the intervening week, other top scientists have been unable to validate the findings. That is, they were unable to find the toxin – called aminopterin – in our pet food, or in any of the component ingredients. It was also brought to our attention that some veterinary experts held the view that aminopterin was inconsistent with what was being observed in dogs and cats.

There is an entirely different story today.

As you heard earlier from the FDA and Cornell University, a compound called melamine has been identified as being present in the food that caused the pet illnesses and deaths.

>Melamine has been found in the finished product that was the subject of recall and has not been found in other Menu Foods pet food outside of the recall. Menu Foods only manufactures wet pet food.

Melamine has been found in the wheat gluten from a new supplier in the United States, who sourced this wheat gluten in China. This is the same ingredient that Menu Foods made reference to in its recall press release of March 16. Melamine has not been found in the wheat gluten that we obtain from our other suppliers.

The recalled product is unfit for consumption by pets. It contains melamine.

The pet food that we have manufactured after March 6 is safe and healthy. How do we know this?

First, it contains no melamine. Secondly, it contains none of the suspect wheat gluten.

Thirdly, all of the testing that has been conducted, including the routine taste tests that were underway prior to the discovery of this problem, have demonstrated that those products not associated with the suspect wheat gluten performed very well and in a manner consistent with historic norms.

The second major development is that Hill’s Pet Nutrition has recalled a single additional product: Prescription Diet m/d Feline Dry Food. From the Hill’s web site:

Topeka, KS (March 30, 2007) – In accordance with its over-riding commitment to pet health and well-being, Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. is voluntarily recalling Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry food from the market. Hill’s is taking this precautionary action because during a two-month period in early 2007, wheat gluten for this product was provided by a company that also supplied wheat gluten to Menu Foods. U.S. Food and Drug Administration tests of wheat gluten samples from this period show the presence of a small amount of melamine. Prescription Diet m/d Feline Dry represents less than one half of one percent of all Hill’s products.

This is the only product Hill’s currently sells in the United States and Canada that contains wheat gluten from any supplier. No other Hill’s Prescription Diet® or Science Diet® products are affected by this voluntary recall. Hill’s Science Diet Savory Cuts Feline canned cat foods, manufactured by Menu Foods, were previously withdrawn from the market as a precaution. Together with this earlier withdrawal, less than 1% of all Hill’s products have been affected.

The web site has a picture of the recalled food.  If you’re feeding your cat this product, stop now.

I just looked at three of the pet foods we’ve got around here.  One contained wheat gluten (a dry food).  Two did not (a wet and a dry).  This does make you think.

I continue to think that large as this story is it has even larger implications in law, consumer product safety, national security, etc.  For example, when the various ingredients of the food that you or your pet eats originate in a dozen different countries with a dozen different consumer protection laws (including none at all), how is a consumer to know how much to trust it?  How is the fabricator (like Menu Foods)?  Does using ingredients from some sources impose a heightened responsibility for testing by the fabricator?  Should it?  I’ll be posting more on these subjects as I order my thoughts.