Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Menu Foods recalls additional pet food made with ChemNutra wheat gluten

Tainted food expands to 3rd Menu Foods Plant... Recall expanded

Pet food maker Menu Foods Income Fund has voluntarily
recalled additional products made with tainted wheat gluten at its
Canadian plant, the company said late on Tuesday.

The move was prompted by reports from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration identifying the presence of the industrial chemical melamine in "cuts and gravy" style pet food produced in Menu Foods' Mississauga, Ontario, facility.

Menu Foods said it "undertook an accounting of all recalled wheat gluten supplied by ChemNutra Inc. to Menu Foods in the United States."

Based on that review, Menu Foods said it identified a "single interplant transfer" of the wheat gluten, shipped from Menu Foods' plant in Emporia, Kansas, to its plant in Mississauga.

This wheat gluten was subsequently used in the production of pet food in December 2006 and January 2007, which is now being recalled. "Menu Foods transfers ingredients among its four plants," company spokesman Sam Bornstein wrote in an e-mail. "The adulterated wheat gluten was moved during one such transfer."

Menu Foods' recall list was originally announced on March 16. It was updated late last week to cover foods produced between Nov. 8 to March 6. The latest update -- the first to involve its Ontario plant -- comes amid news that the the chief financial officer of Menu Foods Income Fund sold nearly half his units in the pet food maker less than three weeks before it announced its massive product recall, according to insider trading reports.

The new varieties in the United States and Canada have been added to the recall list. The latest recall group is listed below, and a complete list of recalled products, including the new items can be reviewed at http://www.menufoods.com.

Here's a good list of the new products added to the recall.

Any one think it's a coincidence that this happened today, just after the news about melamine found in Nutro cans in California was made public?

And isn't it amazing that Menu just happened to have all this information handy, when it's taken them days to get the information together in the past?

My question to Menu Foods - how long have you really known?

And, why would we believe the South Dakota plant is also not affected?

And yes, I'll be updating the Pet Food Trackers for the 3rd time in 2 days .
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3 comments:

phoenix22 said...

not only how long have the canucks known.........what exactly did they have knowledge of as well!

April 11, 2007 at 9:41 AM
Anonymous said...

You are right on the money! And after seeing the Nutro recall list I have to add: Why should we believe the wheat gluten is limited to 3-ounce cans?!

April 11, 2007 at 1:32 PM
Anonymous said...

Royal Canin feline dissolution canned (Rx diet) recalled 4/11/07

Haven't yet confirmed this elsewhere, but it was reported on Las Vegas, NV's Ch 3
http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?s=6356140

"Canadian pet food added to recall list

April 11, 2007 11:29 AM

A Canadian firm that produced tainted pet food is once again expanding its recall. Menu Foods previously recalled cat and dog food made at its plants in New Jersey and Kansas because of contamination by an industrial chemical.

The Food and Drug Administration has told Menu that tests detected the chemical in pet foods made at its Streetsville, Ontario, plant.

A Menu spokesman says that the amount accounted for just one percent of the adulterated Chinese wheat gluten purchased by Menu Foods. It was used in pet foods made in December and January.

Among the products covered by the expanded recall is Royal Canin Canada's Medi-Cal Feline Dissolution Formula canned diet. It's sold only through veterinarians. The company says a single production lot contained the contaminated wheat gluten.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)"

April 11, 2007 at 6:16 PM

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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