Friday, May 11, 2007

2nd Rice Protein Distributor -Refuses to name companies & Summary of Who got What

I've said it before, I'll say it again. It is UNACCEPTABLE to not name the pet food companies that received poisonous rice protein.

Some good news though - in this article from the Chicago Tribune, we at least have an explanation for something else. We couldn't figure out the discrepancies as far as which companies got the rice protein - because they'd all mentioned Wilbur-Ellis. This explains it. Wilbur-Ellis sold it to Cereal Byproducts, who then resold it. Read the rest of the article below.
The contaminated products were imported by ChemNutra Inc. and Wilbur-Ellis Co. They were more widely distributed by Menu Foods, a pet food manufacturer, and Cereal Byproducts.

Here's my summary of Who Got What (originally posted April 26th), updated to reflect this new information. Based on deduction and something I found on google that was apparently deleted from the article below (see quotes just under this), I've assumed that Royal Canin is one of the companies that received RPC directly from Cereal Byproducts. (Added: I left a message for Royal Canin asking for confirmation, I'll update this when I hear back from them.) UPDATE: Royal Canin just recalled more food, and confirmed that Cereal Byproducts was their supplier. See my latest post for more.

From my Google search of "royal canine cereal byproducts" (yes, Royal Canin is mispelled). This content is no longer in the article.

Chicago-area company implicated in tainted pet food | Chicago Tribune

A congressional source familiar with the pet food contamination issue said that Cereal Byproducts shipped tainted rice protein to Royal Canine, which issued ...
www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-070510food,1,2765210.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed - May 10, 2007 -

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Who got What Protein (Updated May 11th 10am)

Wheat Gluten (4):
1. Menu Foods (countless wet cat and dog foods)
2. Del Monte (Pet Treats, wet dog food)
3. Sunshine Mills (dog biscuits)
4. Hill's Pet Nutrition (dry cat food)


Rice Protein (5)
(Received by distributor Wilbur-Ellis, who said that 5 pet food manufacturers received the product - in Kansas, Missouri, Missouri, New York and Utah)

1. Diamond -plant in Missouri
- Natural Balance (DRY food)

2. CJ Foods, plant in Kansas
- Blue Buffalo

3. Cereal Byproducts in Missouri
- Royal Canin - plant in Missouri (formerly listed as receiving it directly from W-E)
- UNKNOWN Company
- UNKNOWN Company

4. Chenango Valley Pet Foods -plant in New York
- SmartPak/LiveSmart
- Drs Foster and Smith
- Lick Your Chops (*just announced today*)

5. American Nutrition – in Utah
- Natural Balance WET food
- Kirkland (Costco Brand) WET food (*announced today*)
- Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul Kitten and Puppy canned food
- Diamond canned dog food
- Blue Buffalo canned dog and cat food and treats

Corn Gluten (1)
- Royal Canin South Africa

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The rest of the article mentioned above...
Chicago-area firm recalls rice products

By Stephen J. Hedges
 Washington Bureau
 Published May 11, 2007, 12:46 AM CDT

WASHINGTON -- A Chicago-area feed supply company is the latest U.S. business to find itself implicated in the distribution of tainted rice protein from China, the Food and Drug Administration confirmed Thursday, raising the specter that customers of the firm may have unwittingly spread the contaminant melamine in pet food.

Cereal Byproducts Co., which has plants in five states and a headquarters in Mt. Prospect, issued a recall for the rice protein products on May 4. The company's products went to three pet food manufacturers.

Word that yet another company has been implicated two months into the pet food contamination scare suggests that the scope of the problem is expanding, despite an FDA investigation. Since the first discovery of tainted pet food after numerous reports of cat and dog illnesses and deaths in early March, the FDA has determined that the same contaminated ingredients from China have also been used in chicken, hog and fish feed.

That raises the possibility that more of the contamination has found its way into human food.

So far, FDA officials said, there have been no reports of human illness, and they have suggested that the levels of melamine, a compound found in plastics, would be greatly diluted by the time the compound reached human food.

Michael Kirwan, Cereal Byproducts' treasurer, declined to discuss the recall at length, and would not name the companies that received the tainted rice protein. He said that his company has not distributed the tainted rice protein to manufacturers of human food.

Cereal Byproducts has established a Web site to explain the recall at riceproteinrecall.com, Kirwan said.

The contaminated products were imported by ChemNutra Inc. and Wilbur-Ellis Co. They were more widely distributed by Menu Foods, a pet food manufacturer, and Cereal Byproducts. So far, the pet food recall includes more than 100 brands, which are listed on the FDA's Web site.

The Chinese companies involved are Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co., which sold products labeled as wheat gluten, and Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Co. Ltd., which sold Wilbur-Ellis and Cereal Byproducts the products labeled as rice protein.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

thank you so much for what you do.
i cannot put into words how much it means to me. i love my cat with all my heart. he is a unique, intelligent and loving animal. my life would be very empty without his unconditional love everyday. i check this site and itchmo's site several times a day. i will be composing an email about a non recalled dry food that affected my kitty for a couple of days. thank god he only ate 2 servings of this. i will write it after work and send it to help with your research.

May 11, 2007 at 10:56 AM
Mary said...

Thankyou for what you are doing.
Many of us love our animals like children.
I have been home-preparing my dogs' food for years and am thankful that they were not on any of the nastiest foods out there.
I recently lost a dog, at 15 1/2, and the other became sick with renal failure at 12 1/2. The death of the one dog pushed the other one over the edge.
Anyway, the vet's office is still selling Science Diet and I find it disgusting that they were trying to give my dog SD treats when in their office.
I take my own treats now.
Thanks again for all of you hard work and if I can help, please let me know.
M

May 11, 2007 at 3:25 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