Today’s Update on the Pet Food Recall—5/15/2007

Costco’s house brand dog food, Kirkland Signature Lamb and Rice canned dog food, has been added to the recall list:

KIRKLAND, Wash. – Kirkland-based Costco has announced the recall of one of its pet foods after the manufacturer announced that it contained rice protein that may be contaminated.

American Nutrition says the rice protein concentrate in Costco’s “Kirkland Signature Lamb and Rice canned dog food” may contain melamine, an industrial chemical that was found in other recently recalled pet foods. The chemical used to make plastics and fertilizers may be harmful to animals if eaten.

The dog food is sold as part of the Kirkland Signature Premium Dog Food 2-Flavor Variety Pack, item #38436, with a specific code on the package that reads, “Best if used by Apr 15 09.”

This is, apparently, one of the foods made with contaminated ingredients purchased from Cereal Byproducts.(Correction: per information in comments this is not the case. I apologize to Cereal Byproducts for my error)

The FDA has put its statement on the relatively low risk to humans of foods contaminated with melamine on their web site. I still fail to see how this is consistent with the apparent reproduction in vitro of the crystals that killed the cats and dogs so quickly in the Menu Foods labs and also killed some unknown number of pets who ate food contaminated with some unknown substance or combination of substances (but which looks increasingly like a combination of melamine and cyanuric acid).

China is responding to the concerns about its food exports:

Safety bodies in Shanghai hope to hit back at growing international concern over Chinese food safety practices with its new food testing system, say media reports in the country.

China’s growing presence within global trade has seen increasing scrutiny both at home and abroad for its products, with recent scares over contaminated pet foods raising further industry and consumer concern over the quality of certain consumables.

In response, a new initiative in Shanghai will establish a rapid response food testing system to step up the tracking and prevention of harmful food and beverage products.

“The system can tell the safety of most food products within 30 minutes,” said Li Jie, deputy director of the Shanghai Food and drugs supervision institute in an interview with the Xinhua news agency. Each of the city’s districts will be equipped with safety testing vehicles and personnel to carry out the monitoring.

Unfortunately, no rapid response teams seem to have been available to keep the Chinese exporters who shipped adulterated products to the United States from bugging out, leaving the FDA inspectors to stare at empty buildings (and, in one case I’m told, at a razed structure).

Companies in the U. S. are responding, too. Some are seeing the elevated concern about the safety of pet fods as an opportunity. IMI Global, a company that specializes in product and process verification and supplier validation, has announced a new venture specializing in the verification and validation of pet foods and pet food ingredients:

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. – Integrated Management Information, Inc. (IMI Global) (OTCBB: INMG), a leading provider of verification and Internet solutions for the agricultural/livestock industry, today announced the launch of Pet Supply Verified™, a comprehensive new pet food verification system designed to build consumer confidence in pet food products.

John Saunders, president and CEO of IMI Global, said Pet Supply Verified was developed in response to the recent nationwide pet food recalls that resulted from a wave of pet sickness and death due to the manufacture and distribution of tainted pet food. More information is available on www.petsupplyverified.com.

“Pet Supply Verified, which is modeled on our industry leading USVerified and Supply Verified services for the cattle and livestock industry, enables pet food suppliers and manufacturers to build consumer confidence in the origin and safety of pet food products,” said John Saunders, president and CEO of IMI Global. “The recent recalls and related consumer confusion in the marketplace underscore the need for a more comprehensive and reliable pet food verification system. Our verification processes, which are setting the standard for verification of meat products for human consumption, are ideally suited for the pet food industry.”

The new venture’s web site may become a good resource for information on pet food safety. Right now it’s a little behind the curve.

Natura, producer of the INNOVA, EVO, California Natural, Healthwise, Karma, and Mother Nature brands, has had their products tested by an independent laboratory and is advertising that their products have been certified as melamine-free:

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 14, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Although Natura Pet Products has not been implicated in recalls associated with wheat gluten or melamine contaminated rice protein, the company believes customers deserve absolute certainty that pet food products are safe. Therefore, Natura has directed an independent laboratory to continually test all of its ingredients and finished products to guarantee that they are free from any melamine contamination.
“Over the past few weeks, Midwest Laboratories has tested our ingredients and ALL of our finished products for melamine contamination – this includes dry, canned and baked treats,” said Natura President Peter Atkins, in a message to Natura customers. “As expected, all tests have confirmed that there is no melamine in our foods. Furthermore, Natura Pet Products has incorporated melamine testing as a standard part of our expanded, 120-point ingredient quality control program. This means that all Natura pet foods will be tested and confirmed to be melamine-free before being released.”

This is the most recent action taken by Natura to ensure its products’ complete safety. In March, Menu Foods, a major manufacturer of pet foods, was forced to recall many canned pet food products because of contaminated wheat gluten from China. At that time, Atkins reassured customers that Natura canned products contained no wheat gluten from China or wheat of any kind. He pledged that Natura would institute a policy of having at least one Quality Control employee present for every production run at their Menu Foods plant. He also pledged that Natura would either acquire or build a canning plant so it could exercise complete control over its product lines.

“We appreciate the trust that you place in us,” said Atkins. “All of us here at Natura Pet Products give you our absolute commitment that we will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure your pet’s nutritional health and safety.”

I suspect that an increasing number of pet foods will begin to advertise that they’re made without Chinese ingredients, that they’ve been certified as melamine-free, and so on. Whether that can be believed remains to be seen.