AP reports a second tainted pet food ingredient has been found; recall expanded.

[LiberalHeart]

Melamine-contaminated wheat gluten is only part of the problem with ingredients imported from China for use in pet foods. Now Melamine has also been found in rice protein concentrate -- and that, too, came from China.

http://newsgrinder.blogspot.com/2007/04/ap-reports-second-tainted-pet-food.html

[HCE SuiGeneris]

1. K&R for visibility. Thanks for the update.

[LiberalHeart]

2. You're welcome ... I'm hoping the hearings next week establish some standards at long last.

Two other unnamed companies besides Natural Balance got shipments of the product in question but haven't revealed their testing info yet.

[Gelliebeans]

4. K & R

I wonder who the other companies are that may have melamine in their products?

I replied in the wrong place, sorry :blush:

[HockeyMom]

3. I had thought about the products with rice

since China also produces rice, why wouldn't the rice also be contaminated?

It never ends. How about just plain banning all food products from China? When are we going to find out OUR food supply is also contaminated? After all, Del Monte is a major producer for human food.

[Shallah Kali]

5. why aren't companies testing themselves instead of waiting for animals to get sick

or others testing to find it? I will never trust any of these companies because they could have taken action before this instead of waiting until they had no other choice to tell people that their pets are in danger.

[SoCalDem]

6. Why? .. Here's why

A pet's life is not long, compared to a human's and in small doses, this stuff (probably been in the food a LONG time) may do minimal damage in a young animal, and as the animal ages, most people would attribute the failing health to old age..

It's a fluke that this even came out..

"Biddness-types" pretend to "LOVE" the critters, but truth be told, there are LOTS of "available" critters on earth, and most people willl cry when their dear pet dies, but do not have the money to spend on post-mortem toxicological testing.. they will grieve a while and then get another cat/dog..


So the greedy corporatists will "boost" the "protein" content with toxins that masquerade as protein...and they make more money..and most people will never know what killed their best friend..

[Shallah Kali]

7. I know corp. don't give a damn about anything but profits yet testing could save them from lawsuits

and keep customers. If Ford didn't care enough to recall those exploding tires in the 90s that were maiming and killing customers because it was cheeper to pay the hospital bills and give the grieving families a few $$$ then corps sure as heck won't care about pets. but how do they think they are going to keep customers now after repeatedly having to recall more and more food? I myself might give a company a chance if they had taken action right off recalled stuff and tested everything without waiting for the FDA or individuals with sick pets to do the testing. since they can't be bothered I can't trust them. I used to like nutro even suggesting it to friends and family. now I don't trust them and suggest the be avoided.

[piedmont]

8. "probably been in the food a LONG time"

Yep. I bet the only reason it came out was that someone finally goofed and put way too much in the hopper.

[Shallah Kali]

10. that is my fear. two of my cats have chronic renal failure diagnosed last summer

now I wonder if the food I thought was better than the average junk in pet foods slowly poisoned my furkids who trust me like I am their parent.

[piedmont]

11. That makes me wonder.

Our new vet last year recommended feeding wet food instead of dry. She said the wet food would help keep them hydrated, and that chronic dehydration could lead to kidney failure, which she said was a very common cause of death in cats. Now I wonder why renal failure is so common!

[StarryNite]

9. Some are

From Purina

~snip~
We also want you to know that our already rigorous evaluation and food safety program for our raw materials has been reviewed and enhanced to now detect melamine. Despite the fact that melamine is a completely foreign substance to food and should not be found in wheat gluten, we are now testing every lot of wheat gluten received for the presence of this contaminant. Further, we are implementing additional technology to further screen our pet food ingredients.
http://www.purina.com/

[havocmom]

12. Some do test. Menu did. They had a 35% death rate and the CFO sold his stock

THEN they went public that there was a problem.

When the story first broke, a DUer who watches stocks did some digging. Found two separate days when the volume of stocks went real high. Last week: news reports that the Chief Financial Officer had sold off a LOT of stock from the time they knew there were animals dying till they went public with the news.

They test, some. But they sell off their soon-to-be-worthless holdings before they warn you and I that our companion animals face grave danger, and graves.

Greedy bastards. Feed them to the dogs! :grr:

[Shallah Kali]

13. When I mean test I mean samples fed into lab machines not animals - unless it is the CFO of Menu Foo

, those involved in delaying the recall, etc. I have no problems with testing on pet food execs.