|
 As the pet food recall reaches it's six week anniversary, there have been nine more recalls in the past 24 hours, Menu Foods and ChemNutra are pointing the finger of blame at each other, the federal government has quarantined more than 6,000 hogs on farms in eight states and pet owners across the country are readying to participate in the nationwide march for pets organized by Pets Need A Voice Too to be held Saturday, April 28 in numerous cities.
Menu Foods, the company that began the nationwide pet food recall in mid-March with the recall of nearly a 100 brands of wet canned and pouched pet foods, totaling 60 million containers, has sued its supplier, ChemNutra, for allegedly sending contaminated wheat gluten to its plant in Emporia, Kansas.
The lawsuit has been filed in Lyon County District Court and is seeking a judgment "substantially in excess $75,000". Menu is asking that that ChemNutra protect Menu Foods from all costs associated with the recall and any related lawsuits.
"Menu Foods prides itself on providing customers with wet pet food products made with high quality ingredients," the company's attorneys stated in the court petition. "In 2006, ChemNutra promised Menu Foods that it could supply one such high quality ingredient, wheat gluten, to Menu Foods. ChemNutra breached its promise."
Menu Foods president Paul Henderson testified before a Congressional hearing earlier this week, saying that melamine could have been intentionally added to wheat gluten in order to increase its protein content. Henderson told the House committee that "what this appears to be is a case of deliberate contamination of wheat gluten in order to pass off substandard product". Pointing the finger at ChemNutra, Henderson said that "for a seller who knows how industry testing methods work, this would allow them to cheat the buyers".
ChemNutra shot back that the company has been "the victim of deliberate and mercenary contamination" by its supplier, XuZhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd. Of China and said in a letter posted on the company's website that ChemNutra would never do business again with the company. http://www.chemnutra.com/chairman's%20letter.htm
According to published reports, the FDA raided the Las Vegas office of ChemNutra, armed with search warrants, and says the company could be held legally accountable for importing the melamine-tainted wheat gluten that was found in the contaminated pet food. FDA agents also reportedly searched Menu's production facility in Emporia, Kansas and according to the Associated Press, the U.S. Attorney's offices having opened investigations to determine if Menu and ChemNutra may have violated the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act as the sale of adulterated or contaminated food is a misdemeanor.
China has also now banned the use of melamine from its food products but China's officials continue to deny charges that the chemical caused the deaths and illness of numerous pets. Although the FDA has still not confirmed more than 16 deaths related to the pet food contamination, the Pet Connection is reported that deaths number more than 4,500. China's Foreign Ministry said that "at present, there is no clear evidence showing that melamine is the direct cause of the poisoning or death of the pets".
On Saturday, pet owners will be "marching in memory of our pets that have lost their lives, we are marching in memory of those pets that are fighting for their lives, we march as pet owners, dog lovers, cat lovers and average citizens that are tired of the lowered safety standards for goods coming in to this country".
The march is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Central time in Austin, Atlanta, Boston, Baton Rouge, Chicago, Southern California area, Santa Fe, Dallas, New Jersey area, Raleigh, Jacksonville, and Columbus.
More information can be found at http://keepourpetssafe.bravehost.com/new_events.html and
http://www.pnv2.com/.
New recalls have been made by Mulligan Stew and Canine Caviar, two flavors of canned food; Harmony Farms, canned dog food and biscuits; Blue Buffalo, all canned food and treats; Natural Balance recalling more cans of canned cat and dog foods; Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul, wet kitten and puppy food; Diamond canned dog food; Lick Your Chops dry cat food; Costco/Kirkland Signature canned food and Drs. Foster and Smith.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/2007/042607EuthanizePigs.html
http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html
http://www.avma.org/aa/menufoodsrecall/default.asp
Menu Foods, Del Monte Pet Products, Hills Pet Nutrition, Nestle Purina Pet Care, Company, Sunshine Mills Inc., Natural Balance Pet Foods Inc., Royal Canin USA and Canada, Blue Buffalo Company, SmartPak, Chenango Valley Pet Foods Diamond Pet Foods have all recalled pet food products in the past six weeks.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service and the Food and Drug Administration announced Friday that more swine farms have been affected by melamine-contaminated salvage feed, raising the number of farms to eight from the previously reported five. The government agencies also announced that swine fed on the farms will not be approved for human consumption.
While the government has quarantined more than 6,000 hogs, it is being reported that meat from 345 hogs from Kansas and Utah that consumed feed that contained the melamine-tainted rice protein has entered the nation's food supply.
Officials said that pork products processed and inspected in federally licensed plants have not been found to contain melamine. And while officials said the likelihood of illness from eating contaminated pork is very low, they are controlling the movement of swine on the farms, nonetheless.
The contamination occurred when 'salvage' feed made from pet food byproducts was determined to contain adulterated rice protein imported from China. The rice protein, according to the FDA, was contaminated with melamine and melamine-related products. Melamine is not an approved food ingredient for animals or humans, and is used to make fertilizer and plastics.
According to the FDA, China has granted visas to U.S. food inspectors who will visit the facilities where the tainted rice protein and wheat gluten was manufactured.
This measure affects about 6,000 hogs, according to FSIS and FDA. Swine farms in four of the states - California, North Carolina, South Carolina and New York - have been quarantined. Farms in three other states - Kansas, Oklahoma and Utah - have agreed to place a hold on their animals until further notice.
The USDA and FDA said feed contaminated with either melamine or melamine-related compounds, including cyanuric acid, reached swine farms in each of the states. They are also investigating potential exposure to poultry in Missouri. The livestock on the affected farms will most likely be humanely euthanized and disposed of, according to officials.
Ohio, which was included on a previous list of states affected by the contaminated salvage feed, has since been removed from the list because the farm there received its food before the contaminated food made it to the area, officials said.
On Thursday, Diamond Foods announced it was withdrawing a limited number of canned products manufactured by American Nutrition after that company initiated a recall. Diamond said their action was limited to three specific canned products: Diamond Lamb & Rice Formula for Dogs 13 oz. cans, Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul Kitten Formula 5.5 oz. cans, and Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul Puppy Formula 13 oz. cans.
Diamond said it was taking this voluntary action after learning the FDA confirmed rice protein concentrate used by American Nutrition (ANI) contained melamine, a substance not approved for use in food.
Diamond said it not received any indication of quality or safety issues, including pet illness. Diamond said that the products being withdrawn were not formulated or labeled to contain rice protein concentrate. While the FDA is investigating this, current information indicates this error is a result of a manufacturing deviation by American Nutrition.
In a related move, Blue Buffalo Company lashed out at American Nutrition, saying that they had just learned that ANI, the manufacturer of "all our cans and biscuits, has been adding rice protein concentrate to our can formulas without our knowledge and without our approval. This is product tampering, and it apparently has been going on for some time. The can formulas that we developed, and trusted them to produce, never contained any rice protein concentrate. It appears that only an FDA investigation of ANI's rice protein concentrate supplies forced them to reveal this product tampering to us.
"While this activity by ANI is in itself unlawful, the situation is further clouded by the fact that ANI has been receiving rice protein concentrate from Wilber-Ellis, some of which the FDA has determined to be contaminated with melamine", a news release by Blue Buffalo said.
"So while no Blue or Spa Select canned product has tested positive for the presence of melamine, and there has been no reported illness due to any of our canned products, we simply cannot be sure of what ANI has been including in our formulas. For this reason, we have decided to remove all of our canned and biscuit products from retail distribution. While this may seem to many to be a major over-reaction, as other ANI customers will probably only recall the products that tested positive for melamine, we see this as a matter of integrity. 4-27-07
© 2007 North
Country Gazette
|
