Know More about Pet Food Recalls
Defining Menu Foods
Menu Foods Limited, an Ontario, Canada based company is the largest manufacturers of dog and wet cat food in North America. These pet foods are available in fewer than 90 brand names at pet product retailers, wholesale companies and grocery stores.
In March 2007, many animals fell sick after their owners fed them with Menu Food products. Therefore, company announced voluntarily withdrawal of 65 million containers of food.
According to the U.S Food and Drug Administration, wheat gluten from Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd, a trading company in China is the major source of contamination. Xuzhou Anying’s general manager states that they never exported goods and are looking into who exported their product to the United States. ChemNutra imported and distributed wheat gluten to Menu Foods. Wheat gluten acts as a protein and filler source in pet foods. On March 23, 2007, compound aminopterin, rat poison was discovered in the samples of withdrawal pet food. However, according to the Animal Poison Control Center, the source of contagion may not be completely understood since the “clinical signs reported in cats affected by the contaminated foods are not fully consistent with the ingestion of the rat poison containing aminopterin.”
On March 30, 2007, FDA discovered a form of melamine in the food samples of wheat gluten. According to the FDA officials, this melamine is one of the major sources of contamination and found in the urine and kidney of affected animals. In a news conference on March 31, FDA announced that some of the wheat glutted analyzed contained more than 6.6 percent of melamine. Melamine is considered as low risk in its toxicity. According to the reports of previous studies, conducted melamine shows little effect on dogs and rats. However, when manufacturing pet foods, nitrogen is lost from melamine, thus, leaving guanidine and ammonia. Guanidine is a muscle stimulant and ammonia is a poison used as a drug. The Food and Drug Administration restricted the import of wheat gluten from Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd. Menu firms confirmed the FDA’s finding about the presence of melamine and assured that new pet food is made without the tainted wheat gluten and is safe healthy and safe.
Following Cat Foods Were Affected With Recall
Forty-two different type of cat food were withdrawn including the following:
- Presidents Choice
- Preferred Pets
- Special Kitty
- Winn Dixie
- Loving Meals
- Americas Choice
- Preferred Pets
- White Rose
- Authority
- My True Friend
- Best Choice
- Paws
- Good n Meaty
- Nutro Natural Choice
- Western Family
- Price Chopper
- Compliments
- Wegmans Demoulas Market Basket
- Springfield Pride
- Fine Feline Cat
- Food town
- Shep Dog
Recall Affected Following Dog Food
Of the 53 dog foods recalled, some of them are given below:
- Total Pet
- Bruiser
- Companion
- Best Choice
- Roche Bros
- Nutro Natural Choice
- Key Food
- Schnucks
- Price Chopper
- Giant Companion
- Paws
- Big Red
- Laura Lynn
- Big Bet
- Cadillac
- Alpo Prime Cuts
- White Rose
- Your Pet
- Main Choice
- Ol’Roy
- Demoulas Market Basket
- Food Lion
- Hannaford
- Pet Pride
- America’s Choice
- President’s Choice
- Winn Dixie
- Hill Country
The company recalled all the pet foods sold in North America. Iams released a press release to Japanese and Australian customers announcing that that the pet food withdrawal in the United States does not affect the pet food items sold in these countries.
Symptoms of Consuming Recalled Products
If your pet shows, any signs and symptoms of kidney failure then immediately take him to the veterinarian. Following are the signs of kidney failure:
- Changes in amount or frequency of urination
- Diarrhea
- Depression
- Loss of appetite
- Vomiting
- Lethargy
- Changes in thirst levels
Number of Animals Affected
According to the Animal Medical Center in New York City, a well known veterinary hospital, there were more than 200 cases of pets affected by consuming tainted food until March 22 and they expect thousand more cases. Approximately 470 cases of poisoning have been reported and 100 animals died of it. According to the United States Food and Drug Administration, they have received over 12,000 complaints of ill animals. In fact, one human who mistakenly ate tainted food also fell sick.
If in case your cat or dog died or sickened after eating contaminated food then immediately take him to a veterinary hospital. Thereafter, you may seek the advice of an experienced unsafe product attorney. He will suggest you whether you are eligible for filing a lawsuit that will help you recover medical costs, damages and expenses associated with your pet animal’s injury or death.