Another Pet Food Recall: American Nutrition dog food (4 varieties)

[catgirl]

Mulligan Stew Chicken 13.2oz
Mulligan Stew Turkey 13.2oz
Canine Caviar Gourmet Beaver 13.2oz
Canine Caviar Gourmet Turkey 13.2oz

http://www.itchmo.com/read/mulligan-stew-and-canine-caviar-dog-food-recalled_20070427

This is the sixth recall in 24 hours.

[mainegreen]

1. Just when you think thats it. This is unbelievable.n/t

[niyad]

2. does anybody have a complete list of all the recalled foods?

[jus_the_facts]

3. here ya go...

http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=recall

http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=recall_list

[Lobster Martini]

5. That's a good resource, but still...home made pet food is better

That list seems to be up to date, the list on the FDA Web site seems to be up to date--oddly, since the FDA normally moves at a snail's pace--but home made food is the way to fly. At the risk of stating the obvious, the pet foods that were added to the list today weren't safer yesterday.

[Lobster Martini]

6. Incidentally, that is the first time I've ever seen the phrase "gourmet beaver"

n/t

[magellan]

13. LOL!

Welcome, Lobster Martini! You'll be getting a bill for my screen. :)

I agree with you about homemade. If it isn't prepared by my fair hand my dogs don't get it. No more Russian Roulette.

[mikelgb]

14. lol

:rofl:

[DawnIsis]

4. Beyond the pet food the FDA is investigating pizza dough, baby formula,

bread, cereal, protein shakes, pigs and chickens.

http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2007/04/25/fda_more_animals_got_tainted_food/

I think the MSM needs to be held responsible for not covering this story more closely and warning the public. If the media would apply enough pressure to the FDA we could get some answers.

Hey Media! Why don't you investigate what the FDA officials are feeding their own family and pets? Just ask their housekeepers or follow them to the grocery store. Then confront these officials i.e. why do you buy organic milk if the FDA claims commercial milk to be safe? why did you switch pet food last December before the recall? why did you recently stop purchasing pork and chicken? etc etc etc

The MSM has blood on their hands and needs to be held responsible for spreading propaganda.

[catgirl]

10. MSM can only highlight one thing

Although the recent shooting is horrible, that seems to be all they
can cover.

[marions ghost]

7. This is Huge

http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2007/04/25/fda_more_animals_got_tainted_food/

Some pEople may still be unaware of the implications of the petfood recall--excerpt from this article:

(snip)
"The agency's theory is that rogue suppliers in China added melamine and other compounds to inferior protein products, artificially inflating their nitrogen content and price. In testimony yesterday before a US House of Representatives oversight panel, the company that imported contaminated wheat gluten from China and a pet food manufacturer whose use of the suspect ingredient led to one of the nation's largest recalls of pet food, called themselves victims of a "fraud" that likely would have gone undetected -- had dogs and cats not begun to die.

The ease with which an imported ingredient laced with industrial chemicals penetrated the pet food supply paints a "frighteningly easy" road map for would-be terrorists to strike America's food supply, said US Representative Janice D. Schakowsky , Democrat of Illinois . Schakowsky's comments came during sweeping and emotional testimony that linked faulty federal oversight to nationwide recalls of tainted peanut butter , suspect spinach, and lethal pet food .

While FDA inspections have steadily dropped in recent years, the proportion of imported food used in domestic manufacturing has skyrocketed. There is no requirement that the FDA conduct an in-person inspection before a foreign producer begins to ship ingredients to US suppliers seeking bargain-basement prices." (snip)

[DawnIsis]

9. The part that jumped out at me about the melamine being added to the gluten...

is that the FDA responds that they knew that melamine could be used to artifically increase the nitrogen (protein).

Questions a reporter (if there were any in this country) should ask the FDA:

1. How long have you known companies who manufacture gluten could add melamine to increase protein levels?

2. Why was the FDA not testing for melamine if it was known to be used in such a manner?

3. Has the FDA ever detected melamine in the food supply before?

4. What other chemicals could be used to spike protein levels?

[orleans]

30. good questions. & welcome to du (from one western suburbs girl to another) n/t

[catgirl]

11. Many people aren't alarmed due to the false number of deaths...

being reported. The FDA isn't trying to track down the real numbers?
And they only started an "investigation" after the 356 hogs went into
the human food supply. Our pets don't count I guess.

[Raine]

12. I don't think even

people count much with them...money is all that is important as far as they're concerned. :-(

[Morgana LaFey]

15. Here's a registry -- 4400+ so far -- here are several impt links

FDA recall site for both human and pet food recalls: http://www.fda.gov/opacom/7alerts.html

Pets killed: http://www.petconnection.com/
Safe foods: http://www.thepetfoodlist.com/
Recalled food: http://www.petfoodtracker.com/

[EFerrari]

8. Kick. I can't believe these people.

:mad:

[nicknameless]

16. The cost of being cheap. American companies save and consumers pay.

Pet food companies want to increase the *apparent* protein content of their food.
One way to do that is through these grain forms like glutens. It's a much cheaper source of protein than meat.
The problem is that they use nitrogen content as an indicator of protein.
So the cheapest supplier of glutens (Chinese) decided to artificially inflate the apparent nitrogen content by adding melamine.

IMO, it's probably a good idea to avoid all grain-containing pet foods for the time being.

[Shallah Kali]

17. Avoiding grain won't work when American Nutrition added it without permission

the scum. I have been avoiding grains but now worry about either the manufactuer lying and/or the pet Co.

[nicknameless]

18. They added grains to their products without labeling them???

[Shallah Kali]

21. Natural Balance never ordered rice protein to be in their food. AmericanNutrition added it without

permission:

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/

Our canned food manufacturer, American Nutrition, from Ogden Utah, just informed us that they are recalling all canned products made in their plant that contain rice protein concentrate. American Nutrition continued by telling us that they added this ingredient to four of our canned products without our knowledge or consent.

Same with several other companies:

Another pet-food recall in recent months
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0427biz-ogdenpetfood27-ON.html

However, several of the companies recalling food contend in statements on their Web sites that American Nutrition added the rice protein concentrate to their products without their knowledge or approval.

"It appears that ANI had been adding the unauthorized rice protein concentrate to Harmony Farms products for some time and only told the company when the FDA was about to conclude that some of ANI's rice protein concentrate (supplied by Wilber-Ellis) was contaminated with melamine," said a statement on the Harmony Farms site.

Other companies making similar allegations are The Blue Buffalo Co., Natural Balance, Canine Caviar, Diamond Pet Foods and Mulligan Stew Pet Food.

[nicknameless]

26. How effing outrageous!

Again, it's probably an issue of trying to cheaply inflate the protein content of the food.

Natural Balance lists that variety as having: "crude protein 9% minimum"
The ingredients do include "brown rice flour" -- so at least that's still a labeled/avoidable grain.
But the protein-spiked rice concentrate isn't listed.

My cat ate the Turkey and the Chicken formulas by Natural Balance. Both list "brown rice flour" and "crude protein 9% minimum"

Will we be hearing that these products are also contaminated?

Hopefully, ANI will be sued into oblivion.

_________________

* A general aside: Tests for nitrogen content only reveal nitrogen content. They're a lousy indicator (obviously) of protein content.

[Shallah Kali]

28. I agree it is a cheap filler so ANI could make a few more bucks. the scum.

Frankly at this point I think pet food - all food - should be tested first on the manufacturerss and companies' bigwigs. Every freaking batch! the scum.

[nicknameless]

20. I don't understand what you're saying. Their food is being recalled due to

tainted rice protein.

What "permission"?
Isn't their food labeled as containing grain, such as rice protein?
That appears to be the contaminated ingredient that was identified in their products.

:shrug:

[Princess Turandot]

23. They are saying..

that the recipe/formula which NB gave to American Nutrition to manufacture on their behalf did not included rice protein concentrate. I.E. American Nutrition added the ingredient w/o consulting with Natural Balance. It's not totally unbelievable, since they may have had more of the stuff on hand than they needed and decided to add it for some reason. (Pure conjecture on my part would be that they were short some other veg protein and added the rice in its place to a particular production batch.)

[nicknameless]

27. Thanks

Unfortunately, it's very believable.
Vegetable protein is, of course, cheaper than meat protein. The label lists 9% minimum crude protein.

[WA98296]

19. "Gourmet Beaver"....this is a joke, right? Isn't it?

[Lobster Martini]

32. It's not ...really...

I didn't make that up. It's on the recall list.

[Kool Kitty]

22. Wonder what is in our food.

This is a disgrace and it is frightening. Every day-more recalls. And when you go to the grocery store, some of the food that you know has been recalled is still on the shelves! My local Stop & Shop still has the Iams that has been recalled for sale, and it has been marked down to half price. I asked the manager why it hasn't been removed from the sale floor and he said that was what he was told to do. Tomorrow I call the company.

Gourmet BEAVER?

[Princess Turandot]

24. Does anyone have a theory on why this problem suddenly..

err, cropped up?

Three* different Chinese companies suddenly adulterating three different veg proteins, including the tainted corn gluten sold in South Africa? Or did they suddenly have a need to use more melamine as fertilizer in China? If it was added purely to scam a chemical analysis, why did it happen now with 3 different products produced in 3 different places? Or has this been going on for awhile and someone just overdid the adulteration making it toxic enough to cause enough deaths for people to notice?

*I am just assuming that the SA source was a different company.

[DawnIsis]

25. I think there has always been melamine in the gluten...

all of the gluten... human and pet food. When it 1st surfaced the FDA immediately said that China must have been spiking the protein levels with melamine. So to me that shows the FDA knew all along melamine was being used in that way and if the FDA knew the risks then why weren't they testing for it?

I wish an independent source would do some product testing and find out what is contaminated, especially on baby formula....that's just sad to think babies have been getting poisoned.

[Shallah Kali]

29. Yes it is 3 different companies.

sorry to lazy just now to find links. I think you last guess might be right. they finally added too much so animals died quickly instead of slowly growing ill.

[orleans]

31. kick & r n/t