Thursday, April 5, 2007

Menu Foods recall affects Europe

Okay, maybe it's just me, but I missed this until now. In the following press release (not posted on the Menu Foods website by the way) it says "a further seven varieties for Europe have been added to the recall list."

EUROPE? Since when is there a recall list for Europe?! Um. Since March 22nd. Didn't hear about it? Neither had we. Found it over at http://www.felinecrf.org/food_recall.htm#europe (thanks!)

On Saturday, 24 March 2007, I was alerted by a Dutch friend to a press release from a Belgian goverment agency, the FAVV (Federal Food Standards Agency) which reports on the import of affected Nutro products into Europe. Translated from Dutch, the relevant part of the press release reads:

"Belgium has imported 40 boxes each containing 24 items. The Food Agency is trying to find out where these products have been sold but has not received any information from the USA supplier as yet. It is also possible that there is more than this amount on the Belgian market, possibly through import from other EU countries. Europe has imported a total of 3440 boxes".

In a later press release dated 27 March, FAVV stated that it had been told by the European Union that Belgium did not need to be concerned because only 160 boxes in total have been imported into Europe, and none of these have been distributed apart from a few to southern Italy. Be that as it may, I have heard of one person buying affected food in Holland and two buying affected foods in Germany. Based on the limited information available to date, I advise people in Europe to follow the suggestions on this page, because there is no absolute guarantee that affected foods are not in Europe.

A friend called Nutro in the UK on Monday 26 March, and was told that Nutro UK did not believe any affected foods were in the UK. My contact has informed DEFRA, who were going to inform the British Food Standards Agency.

Here's the Dutch link:
http://www.favv-afsca.fgov.be/home/press/doc07/2007-03-22_Menu_foods_nl.pdf

So, what are the 7 new 'varieties' sold in Europe? Since I haven't seen the original list I couldn't even being to guess. If I can find it I'll do a Pet Food Tracker Europe edition.

**Added Monday: Pulling this out of the comments - thanks Paige!** Anyone else have more information?

I don't know if you found this beforere, but there are 7 varieties of Choice Complete Care cat and kitten food that have been recalled in Europe. The lab breeder in Belgium and dalmation breeder in Holland have not heard of any dog food being recalled, just the cat foods. Hope this helps

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4 comments:

clow said...

Forwarding this to my freind in the UK just in case.

April 6, 2007 at 12:31 AM
Anonymous said...

thank you so much.

April 6, 2007 at 12:47 AM
paige said...

Thanks for finding that. Hubby and I are in the Netherlands for the next 3 years (military) and I thought I was safe buying food here. We get a lab puppy Friday and a Dalmation in a few weeks. Now I don't know what to feed them. I can't find info anywhere about which "7" it is.

April 9, 2007 at 3:09 AM
paige said...

I don't know if you found this beforere, but there are 7 varieties of Choice Complete Care cat and kitten food that have been recalled in Europe. The lab breeder in Belgium and dalmation breeder in Holland have not heard of any dog food being recalled, just the cat foods. Hope this helps

April 9, 2007 at 3:30 AM

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Volunteers Needed! Get food off shelves...

howl911.com, itchmo.com, thepetfoodlist.com, petconnection.com, petfoodtracker.com and spockosbrain.com have joined together to ask for your help.
Update 6-10: Recalled food was purchased from a California store on 5-29th – this stuff is still out there!
We need Volunteers to help get recalled food off store shelves. Read this post at Spocko’s Brain for instructions. Print a list (or two) on this site. Visit stores, then report safe stores here at Itchmo.com.

Printing Information:
1. Print the main FDA Pet Food Recall page http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html – this will be handy to show retailers who haven’t heard anything about the recall. (3 pages)

2. Print the list of 14 Major National Brands - it includes flavors and date information where applicable so you can tell if specific products for these brands have been recalled. The brands are: Alpo Prime Cuts, Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul, Doctors Foster and Smith, Eukanuba, Gravy Train, Hill’s Science Diet, Iams, Jerky Treats, Lick Your Chops, Mighty Dog Pouches, Natural Balance, Nutro, Pounce, Royal Canin. (It’s 7 pages and includes FDA contact information.)

3. Print the List of All Brands – it will remind you what products have been recalled - but it does not give you date and flavor information, there is just too much to put in one document. (7 pages, but the 7th page is links to more detailed information so you don’t need to print it)

If you want, and are going to a store that you know has store brands that have been recalled (such as Walmart), go to that recall information at the links on the summary or at the FDA site and print it out. Some of the information is formatted in ways that make it difficult to read (one of the main reasons for this site), but it’s better than nothing.

Note: The FDA is the official source for all recall information and recalled products. This is an unofficial volunteer effort to help get the word out and get recalled foods off of shelves. We’re doing the best we can but can’t guarantee these lists are completely accurate. Again, here is the official recall site: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html