Author Topic: PET FOOD RECALL - Acetaminophen !  (Read 26334 times)

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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Please Read Updates! People food too?!?
« Reply #50 on: May 04, 2007, 05:09:10 PM »
The New York Times

May 4, 2007
China Makes Arrest in Pet Food Case
By DAVID BARBOZA

SHANGHAI, May 3 — The general manager of a Chinese company accused of selling contaminated wheat gluten to pet food suppliers in the United States has been detained by the Chinese authorities, according to police officials here and a person who was briefed on the investigation.

The manager, Mao Lijun, head of the Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company, is being held in coastal Jiangsu Province, about 320 miles northwest of Shanghai, though a police spokesman in the area, Pei County, declined to say on what charges.

In a telephone interview a few weeks ago, Mr. Mao denied any knowledge of how melamine, an industrial chemical, had been mixed into pet food supplies sold under his company label earlier this year. He also insisted that his company had never exported any wheat gluten and that his products were sold only on the domestic market.

But regulators in the United States identified Xuzhou Anying and another Chinese company in nearby Shandong Province as the only sources of the contaminated ingredients that killed 16 dogs and cats, sickened thousands of others and led to one of the biggest pet food recalls in American history.

Calls made to the other Chinese supplier under suspicion, the Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Company, went unanswered.

Scientists are still trying to explain how melamine, a chemical used to make plastics, fertilizer and surface coatings but not considered very toxic, ended up in some of the leading American pet food brands.

The arrest of Mr. Mao may be an indication that the Chinese government is stepping up its own investigation into the scandal. It also seems to be trying to show a willingness to cooperate with investigators from the Food and Drug Administration, who finally arrived in China on Monday — after China had initially refused to issue them visas.

Concerns about the quality and safety of China’s agriculture exports have prompted agency regulators to ban all wheat gluten from China and to warn importers to sample or test all food and feed additives coming from there.

Last month, South Africa also announced a pet food recall after more than 30 dogs died from eating food contaminated with melamine-tainted ingredients imported from China.

The Chinese government had initially reacted angrily to suggestions that Chinese food exports could have been the cause of death or sickness in so many American pets. At one point, the Chinese government even insisted that the country had not exported any wheat gluten to the United States this year.

People briefed on the United States investigation also complained that the Chinese government was reacting slowly to efforts by American regulators to obtain information, in addition to visas for entry.

But last week, with the contaminant in pet food spreading to hogs in the United States, the government dropped the denial and insisted only that it was unlikely melamine could cause such harm in pets. Last Friday, China also banned the use of melamine in vegetable proteins that are made for export or for use in domestic food.

There is still some question over the role of the Xuzhou company. Last week, the F.D.A. issued an import alert saying that the Chinese government had evidence that Xuzhou Anying was not the manufacturer of the tainted wheat gluten but may have had as many as 25 wheat gluten suppliers.

ChemNutra, a Las Vegas company that bought the wheat gluten and resold it to pet food makers in the United States, said it thought that Xuzhou was the manufacturer.

Regulators also said that Xuzhou had failed to disclose to China’s export authorities that it was shipping food or feed products to the United States and thereby avoided having its goods checked by food inspectors.

The Xuzhou shipments to ChemNutra were made through another Chinese company, the Suzhou Textiles Silk Light Industrial Company.

Despite its denials of knowing anything about melamine contamination, Xuzhou appears to have sought to buy large supplies of melamine, even in the weeks after the pet food recall.

The company had posted more than a dozen advertisements on the Internet seeking supplies of melamine scrap, the impure waste of an industrial chemical that animal feed producers here often mix into the feed to artificially increase the reading of the protein.

Chinese producers use this practice, local experts here say, in an effort to elevate the level of protein to make a higher grade feed, even though the melamine has no nutritional value.

On March 21, Xuzhou Anying had posted this message on an Internet trading site called EC21: “We urgently need a lot of melamine scrap.”

Despite the ban on melamine in vegetable protein, chemical companies in China continue to say they sell melamine scrap to animal feed companies and even to food companies that make bakery items.

“Our chemical products are mostly used for additives, not for animal feed,” said Li Xiuping, manager at the Henan Xinxiang Huaxing Chemical Company in central Henan Province. “Melamine is mainly used in the chemical industry, but it can also be used in making cakes.”


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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Please Read Updates! People food too?!?
« Reply #51 on: May 07, 2007, 04:09:25 AM »
How Two Innocuous Compounds Combined to Kill Pets

Monday, May 7, 2007

What do a dead cat in Ontario and a motel swimming pool in Phoenix have in common?
In certain circumstances, they both contain melamine-cyanuric acid crystals.
 
Scientists seeking the chemical culprits in the widening pet food scare have come across some unusual chemistry that may help them understand how two largely nontoxic compounds ended up killing an unknown number of cats and dogs.

At the end of March, investigators detected a man-made compound called melamine in wheat gluten produced in China and sold to U.S. manufacturers as a pet food thickener. The contaminated samples contained various amounts -- from 0.2 percent to 8 percent -- of the chemical.

Melamine has been used for decades in manufacturing. In its chainlike "polymerized" form, it is used to make dishes, flame-retardant fibers and industrial coatings.

Also found in the gluten in smaller concentrations was cyanuric acid. The man-made chemical is used to stabilize chlorine in outdoor swimming pools, especially in regions such as the American Southwest where the sun's rays are quick to dissipate that disinfectant. Two other compounds, ammeline and ammelide, were present in even smaller amounts.

The four compounds have similar chemical structures. One can easily be made into another with the right chemical reaction. All contain relatively large amounts of the element nitrogen. Of the 15 atoms in a molecule of melamine, six are nitrogen. It also has three atoms of carbon and six of hydrogen. Ammeline has five nitrogen atoms, ammelide has four, and cyanuric acid has three.

All living things need nitrogen. The element is an essential ingredient of proteins, which make up most of the human body that isn't bone or water. It is an essential ingredient of DNA as well.

Organisms can survive for short periods on carbon, oxygen and hydrogen -- sugar. But if they want to grow or reproduce, they need nitrogen. Plants can get nitrogen out of the soil or the air, but animals have a harder time. They must take in protein already made by plants or other animals. That's what the female mosquito is seeking when she's out for blood -- a source of abundant nitrogen with which to make the protein and DNA in her eggs.

If you add melamine to almost anything, the amount of nitrogen in the final mixture will rise simply because, gram for gram, melamine contains so much of the element. Since the food industry generally measures total "nitrogen content" and equates it with "protein content," a few shovelfuls of melamine can appear to turn a low-protein meal into a high-protein one.

And what's wrong with that? Can't the body use the nitrogen in melamine?

Actually, it can't.

Melamine is an extremely small molecule, and most of it is absorbed through the intestinal tract before it is digested. It circulates in the bloodstream until it gets to the kidneys, where it slips easily into the fluid that eventually becomes urine. Melamine can also enter other organs. That is how it could have ended up in the tissue of farm animals that ate scraps of melamine-laced pet food -- as apparently was the case in 2.7 million chickens and 345 pigs slaughtered and consumed in recent months.

(Late last week, the federal government identified another 20 million chickens that had eaten tainted feed and took steps to keep them off the market.)
 
As a practical matter, though, only a small amount of melamine would ever end up in Buffalo wings or pulled pork. Melamine's chemical structure makes it water-soluble, and it doesn't accumulate in fat. After an oral dose of melamine, more than half is out of the bloodstream and into the urine in three hours.

The purpose of urine is to concentrate water-soluble waste products and to keep them dissolved. But water's dissolving power has its limits. Melamine and other chemicals can reach concentrations that exceed those limits. When the water can't hold any more, the chemical substance begins to form crystals.

Studies done decades ago found that rats fed melamine for two years developed stones in their urine, which led to bladder cancer in some. When rats were fed in one serving a large amount of melamine -- the equivalent of a 150-pound person eating a pound -- about half died.

At low doses, however, melamine is nontoxic. In fact, microcapsules and chains made of melamine have been used experimentally in animals as vehicles for delivering long-acting drugs.

Veterinarians investigating the mysterious pet deaths realized that most of the animals died of kidney failure and had kidney stones containing melamine. Although little is known about melamine toxicity in cats and dogs, it seems unlikely, based on the rat studies, that the pets could have consumed fatal amounts of the chemical.

Last month, however, toxicologists at the University of Guelph in Ontario detected another compound in the stones from cats suffering kidney failure -- cyanuric acid. Initially, the ratio was thought to be about two parts melamine to one part cyanuric acid. More recent and more precise measurements suggest an even split.

Ten days ago, Guelph scientists Brent Hoff and Grant Maxie combined melamine and cyanuric acid in a sample of cat urine. They produced crystals that, when examined for their chemical and physical properties, were virtually identical to the stones taken from the ill or dead cats.

The crystals are a lattice of six molecules -- three of melamine and three of cyanuric acid -- held together by weak links called hydrogen bonds.

When melamine is added to water that contains cyanuric acid, the reaction clouds the solution. It's that reaction -- and the degree of cloudiness -- that tells pool maintenance workers how much cyanuric acid is in the water, and whether more is needed. When the reaction occurs in a pet's kidneys, however, it can have altogether different and deadly effects.

So how might a plastic and a pool chemical (and their cousins, ammeline and ammelide) have gotten into pet food?

Nobody knows.

But one theory is that they were leftovers from a chemical company's production of something else. In an act of fraud that substituted cheap scrap for more expensive protein, someone put the compounds into the wheat gluten, thinking they would never be discovered and never cause a problem.

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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Please Read Updates! People food too?!?
« Reply #52 on: May 11, 2007, 03:52:24 PM »
latimes.com    
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-petfood9may09,0,6710026.story?coll=la-ho
FOOD PRODUCTS

Gluten factory had a toxic history
By Don Lee and Abigail Goldman

May 9, 2007

XUZHOU, CHINA — Before Mao Lijun's business exported tainted wheat products that may have killed American pets, his factory sickened people and plants around here for years.

Farmers in this poor rural area about 400 miles northwest of Shanghai had complained to local government officials since 2004 that Mao's factory was spewing noxious fumes that made their eyes tear up and the poplar trees nearby shed their leaves prematurely. Yet no one stopped Mao's company from churning out bags of food powders and belching smoke — until one day last month when, in the middle of the night, bulldozers arrived and tore down the facility.

It wasn't authorities that finally acted: Mao himself razed the brick factory — days before the investigators from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration arrived in China on a mission to track down the source of the tainted pet food ingredients.

In the end, Chinese authorities caught up with Mao and arrested him. And Tuesday, after weeks of denials, China acknowledged that Mao's company and another Chinese business had illegally exported wheat and rice products spiked with melamine, a chemical used in making plastics and fertilizers. That chemical is banned in foods in the U.S.

China's watchdog agency said the businesses had added melamine to the food ingredients "in a bid to meet the contractual demand for the amount of protein in the products." Melamine can make animal feed appear to have more protein than it actually does.

Besides turning up in pet food, melamine has been found in feed for thousands of hogs and millions of chickens in the U.S. The FDA said Tuesday that melamine-contaminated foods also were fed to fish raised for human consumption. But in each case, U.S. officials said there was little risk to human health.

The FDA also said that although the tainted Chinese products were labeled as wheat gluten and rice protein, they were actually ordinary wheat flour — with melamine and related nitrogen-rich compounds.

Melamine producers in China have said that melamine scrap, a cheaper form of the chemical, has been widely sold to entrepreneurs who use it to fool farmers into thinking that they are getting higher-nutrient animal feeds. Among the apparent buyers of melamine scrap were Mao, head of Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co., and Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Co. in Shandong province.

Liu Zhaoyi, 64, a farmer who lives next to Mao's now-demolished factory, recalled seeing globs of white and yellowish scrap, which may have included melamine, piled in the yard behind the plant.

One season after rains, Liu said, water with residue from the compound flowed into his family's cornfields and killed the crops.

"He gave me only 100 yuan when my corn was all dead," Liu said of Mao. That is the equivalent of about $13 today.

Few people in town, which has a large food manufacturing industry, seemed to know what Mao's factory made.

An Environment Protection Bureau official in Pei county, which is a part of Xuzhou, said one of his colleagues had visited Mao's facility in recent years when it was processing yeast and wheat. The inspection did not turn up any serious violations, and neighbors were told to complain to a court or another agency.

In recent days, Mao's company removed wheat gluten from the product offerings on its website. It also deleted something called ESB protein powder.

Xuzhou Anying had advertised the powder as its "latest researched, developed and produced" item and touted it as "a new way to solve the problem of shortage of protein resource." Several people with experience in China's food industry say such powders are invariably made with melamine.

Melamine itself isn't considered particularly toxic, but researchers believe that another compound, cyanuric acid, may also have been added to the pet food ingredients by Chinese firms or formed as a byproduct. Combined with melamine, it can cause a chemical reaction — forming crystals and blocking kidney function in some animals.

Cai Kesen, president of No. 1 Flour Factory of Pei county, said unadulterated wheat gluten from China certainly would not have caused a scandal. The quality of the region's wheat last year was the best in a decade, he said.

Cai vaguely recalled meeting Mao once. His company was small, he said, and it was common for such businesses to add words like "biologic" and "technology" to their names to get government subsidies intended for advanced enterprises.

Xuzhou Anying's website posted certificates claiming, among other things, that it had won top quality grades from various organizations, none of which could be verified.

China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said Tuesday that Xuzhou Anying and Binzhou Futian had evaded quality checks by labeling their products as exports not subject to inspection.

Farmer Liu said it was a shame that officials failed to heed earlier complaints. "If they had done more, this company won't have such a big problem."

don.lee@latimes.com

abigail.goldman@latimes.com

Lee reported from Xuzhou and Goldman from Los Angeles.




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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Updates! Claims!
« Reply #53 on: May 16, 2007, 07:14:01 AM »
Menu foods has done a press release that they are getting ready to send out claim forms, notices, etc. to those who lost pets due to contaminated Menu pet foods.

GENERAL INFORMATION:
http://menufoods.com/recall/Claim%20Settlement%20Process.pdf

FOR US RESIDENTS:
http://menufoods.com/recall/United%20States%20Residents.pdf

FOR CANADIAN RESIDENTS:
http://menufoods.com/recall/Canadian%20Residents.pdf

If anyone has questions, they are to call (toll free): 1-866-895-2708

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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Updates! Claims!
« Reply #54 on: May 26, 2007, 05:41:19 PM »
Records Say Company Harassed Pet Owners
By Elizabeth Weise
USA Today
(May 26) - The pet food company that recalled six million cans of contaminated dog and cat food made repeated harassing phone calls to pet owners who had lawyers and said they didn't want to talk, even after a judge ordered it to leave them alone, court records show.

Lawyers from six of the more than 80 law firms representing clients who believed their pets were harmed by Menu's pet food brought a motion in federal court in New Jersey Wednesday seeking to stop Menu from "bullying" people who had called the company since the recall was first announced two and a half months ago.

U.S. District Judge Noel Hillman in Camden, New Jersey agreed with them.

"It's one thing for two people to sit down at the table and voluntarily agree to settle their case, it's another thing to harass people on weekends through automated phone calls," Hillman said to Edward Ruff of Pretzel & Stouffer, Menu's lawyer.

Hillman entered a consent degree on Wednesday ordering Menu Foods to have no contact with anyone who believes their animal was injured by its product without a lawyer being involved.

Calls to Ruff on Friday by USA TODAY were not returned.

Menu Foods has hired Crawford & Company of Atlanta, an insurance adjustment company, to contact pet owners who called the company to report animal illnesses or deaths. Operators at the company directed USA TODAY to call back Tuesday after the holiday.

Jay Edelson, a lawyer with Chicago-based Blim & Edelson which represents over 400 owners, says he believes Menu has received close to 30,000 calls from owners across North America who claim their pets were injured.

At a previous hearing on May 18, the judge had cautioned Menu and Crawford that they should not contact people who had joined one of the lawsuits against the company. Legally, Menu cannot contact those plaintiffs directly but must go through their lawyers.

But affidavits presented in court on the 23rd showing that even pet owners who clearly told Crawford representatives they had retained a lawyer were being called both personally and by what the judge described as 'blaster' computerized phone banks, sometimes numerous times.

Ruff blamed the problem on the fact that Monday, May 21 was a holiday - Victoria Day - in Canada. Menu is based in Ontario, Canada.

Hillman was unyielding.

"It seems to me that Menu Food is out to do whatever Menu Foods wants to do in a way that could adversely impact the rights of (possible members of the class action suit," he said.

Menu's representatives asked owners to sign releases which waived their right to get advice from a lawyer," Edelson said.

"It appears that the company was engaging in a cynical strategy, designed to settle some of the strongest claims cheaply and induce pet owners to give up information it might be able to use to defend against others," his firm said in a letter released to pet owners on Friday.

At the end of May a federal multi-district litigation panel will meet in Las Vegas to determine which court the more than 800 cases against Menu will be heard in. The panel is expected to announce a decision by mid summer.


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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Acetaminophen and Cyanuric Acid now!
« Reply #55 on: June 13, 2007, 07:33:51 AM »
New Contaminant Found In More Pet Food

ASPCA Sheds Light on Toxicity of Acetaminophen—Reminds Pet Parents to Stay Alert


ASPCA Media Contact

NEW YORK, June 6, 2007—With reports that acetaminophen has been found in brands of cat and dog food not included on the Menu Foods recall list, the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) today reminded pet parents that vigilance is the key to keeping their pets safe and healthy—coupled with a strong dose of common sense.

“Though reports of dogs and cats poisoned from the Menu Foods recall seem to have abated, this news is extremely worrying,” said Dr. Steven Hansen, a board-certified toxicologist and senior vice president with the ASPCA, who manages the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center (APCC), located in its Midwest Office in Urbana, Ill.

“Our data show that if an average-sized cat ingests as little as one extra-strength acetaminophen pain-reliever caplet and is not treated in time, it can suffer fatal consequences,” continued Dr. Hansen. “Depending on the amount ingested, clinical effects can include a condition called ‘methemoglobinemia,’ which affects the ability of blood cells to deliver oxygen to vital organs, or even liver damage.”

“At this point, we have very little information as to the actual level and concentration of this reported contamination, so it’s extremely important to be able to recognize any potential warning signs of this kind of poisoning.” However, early information on this contamination suggests that concentration levels are not high enough to have an adverse effect on most dogs; cats are more at-risk.

Dr. Louise Murray, director of medicine at the ASPCA’s Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital (BMAH) in New York City, and a board-certified internist, elaborates further. “Cats are especially sensitive to acetaminophen toxicity for two reasons. First, they don’t have enough of a specific enzyme that enables the body to metabolize the drug well. Second, cats are typically more susceptible to red blood cell damage than certain other species of animals. Put these together with a high dose of acetaminophen, and you have a potentially deadly combination.”

The most common effects of acetaminophen poisoning in cats include swelling of the face and paws; depression; weakness; and difficulty in breathing. “We also see a condition called ‘cyanosis,’” said Dr. Hansen, “which is literally when their gums and tongue start turning a muddy color due to the lack of oxygen.”

In 2006, the APCC received more than 78,000 calls to its hotline involving common human drugs such as painkillers, cold medications, antidepressants and dietary supplements—a 69 percent increase over 2005.

Until more information is provided by the U. S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), the ASPCA urges pet parents to keep an eye out for any signs of illness in their pets, and also report any changes in dietary consumption or behavior to their veterinarian immediately. Those considering a home-cooked diet for their pets should do so in consultation with their veterinarian, or visit the ASPCA’s Web site for more information.

“It is important to remember to never give any medication to your pet without first talking to your veterinarian, and always store potentially poisonous substances in a secure cabinet above the countertop and out of the reach of pets,” said Dr. Hansen. “If you think your pet has ingested a poisonous substance, you should take her to your veterinarian immediately.”

The ASPCA continues to monitor the pet food recall situation, and is providing regular updates and advice for pet parents, at its Pet Food Recall Resource Center at www.aspca.org/recall.

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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Acetaminophen and Cyanuric Acid now!
« Reply #56 on: June 13, 2007, 07:37:01 AM »
        

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Texas lab finds pain medicine in pet food

By Karen Roebuck
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, June 5, 2007

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating a Texas laboratory's finding of acetaminophen in dog and cat food, an agency spokesman said Monday.

"We're very interested in being able to test these samples ourselves to determine the levels of those contaminants," said FDA spokesman Doug Arbesfeld. "What's significant is these things are there. They don't belong there."

The pain medication is the fifth contaminant found in pet foods during the past 2 1/2 months and can be toxic or lethal to pets, especially cats. It is not known if any animals became sick with acetaminophen poisoning, or died from it.

"We were looking for cyanuric acid and melamine, and the acetaminophen just popped up," Donna Coneley, lab operations manager for ExperTox Inc. in Deer Park, Texas, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review yesterday. "It definitely was a surprise to find that in several samples."

At least five dog and cat food samples submitted by worried pet owners and pet food manufacturers contained varying levels of the pain reliever, she said. Only the food, not individual ingredients, were tested.

The medication was found most often with cyanuric acid, a chemical used in pool chlorination, Coneley said. Varying levels of melamine, a chemical used to make plastics, also were found among the hundreds of samples ExperTox tested, she said.

The contaminants were found in foods that are not among the more than 150 brands recalled since March 16, Coneley said. The highest level of acetaminophen was found in a dog food sample submitted by a manufacturer, she said. Coneley declined to identify the company but said its officials were given the results "well over a month ago."

That company should have -- but did not -- notify the FDA, which first learned of the acetaminophen findings after pet owners posted lab reports on the Internet, Arbesfeld said.

"With any poison, it's the amount that matters." said Dr. Wilson Rumbeiha, a Michigan State University pathologist who is working with the FDA on the pet food contamination investigation. His lab has screened for acetaminophen but found none, he said.

The highest level of acetaminophen found by the Texas lab -- 2 milligrams per gram of dog food -- is a large amount, Rumbeiha said. That is eight times what a 10-pound cat could safely consume, he said.

However, a 20-pound dog would have to eat more than 6.5 pounds of food in 24 hours to be poisoned, unless it ate the same contaminated food daily, Rumbeiha said.

A still-unmeasured amount of acetaminophen and cyanuric acid were found in cat food submitted by Don Earl, 52, of Port Townsend, Wash., whose 6-year-old cat, Chuckles, died in January.

He said he was suspicious of two flavors of Chuckles' Pet Pride food because his other two cats refused to eat it and because Chuckles, strictly an indoor girl, had been healthy.

Karen Roebuck can be reached at kroebuck@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7939.



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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Acetaminophen and Cyanuric Acid now!
« Reply #57 on: June 13, 2007, 07:41:25 AM »
http://www.itchmo.com/read/lab-find-toxin-in-unopened-unrecalled-pet-food_20070612


Exclusive: Lab Finds Toxin In Unopened, Unrecalled Pet Food

The same Texas lab that has reported acetaminophen in pet food, has reported finding cyanuric acid after receiving an unopened container of Hills Science Diet Light Adult canned dog formula. This is the first report we have received that was tested from an unopened container. The picture above (*attached below) shows 2 more cans from the same batch.

Science Diet Light Adult formula has not been recalled by the manufacturer.

The lab report from Expertox obtained by Itchmo states that the tested product had a best before date of 01 2009 and had the lot number T0520917 7048. Cyanuric acid was reportedly found in concentrations of more than 400 ug/g — that’s micrograms/gram.

Hill’s representatives declined to be interviewed over the phone and emailed questions were not returned in time for this deadline.

An Itchmo reader tested the food based on veterinary tests on a dog. The reader’s email is after the jump. It has been edited to remove personal information.


Reader’s email:

    I received today the test results on the canned food from the case lot my 4-year old Shih Tzu was eating from when her blood work indicated that she was in kidney failure. We did IV for 4 days, antibiotics for one month, and now fluid therapy once a week. She is still alive, eating home cooked food, has a good appetite, but I don’t know where her kidney levels are at present. Her BUN was 160 before the IV therapy. The BUN came down following 4 days on IV, but was still high when I brought her home.

The reader also said that another dog that did not eat the canned food had normal blood tests.



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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Acetaminophen !
« Reply #58 on: June 14, 2007, 01:06:37 AM »
It really really bothers me that the melamine cases have circulated rather quickly among the veterinarian community, but the reports of acetaminophen and cyanuric acid seem to have not.   I belong to a online veterinary group (in addition to V.I.N.) who sends me frequent posts/press releases on these cases.   However, when I talked to one of the hospitals I do consulting work with back in Ohio earlier today, they had heard absolutely nothing about the possibility of Acetaminophen in pet foods.   

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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Acetaminophen !
« Reply #59 on: June 14, 2007, 11:00:36 AM »
!!!  Sheesh! :(

Is the Chicken Soup line still considered safe?  I just bought a new bag today
R

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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Acetaminophen !
« Reply #60 on: June 14, 2007, 11:40:14 AM »
It really really bothers me that the melamine cases have circulated rather quickly among the veterinarian community, but the reports of acetaminophen and cyanuric acid seem to have not.   I belong to a online veterinary group (in addition to V.I.N.) who sends me frequent posts/press releases on these cases.   However, when I talked to one of the hospitals I do consulting work with back in Ohio earlier today, they had heard absolutely nothing about the possibility of Acetaminophen in pet foods.   

It took about 3 weeks for the public to get informed about the first recalls.  How many pets died or were injured because of that wait? 

  This was found in an independent lab.  I do see that it has been reported a number of places around the web, but nothing from the FDA yet.  I believe the lab results are being disputed.   


  this just in:    http://www.petfoodrecallfacts.com/lab.html

June 13, 2007: In the news today, with hundreds of pet owners across the country reporting acetaminophen poisoning like symptoms in their dead or dying pets, the FDA announces their official position is to stand down. Who didn't know that? Perhaps it would be best to disband the FDA. It would save tax payers several billion dollars a year. The savings to corporate America on lobbyists and the usuals could be passed on to consumers. And, the lack of oversight would be the same as it is now, with private citizens bearing the burden of testing the safety of products at their own expense as you see here.


FDA ACETAMINOPHEN CHALLENGE


As amazing as it may seem, after the announced FDA stand down on testing for acetaminophen, the FDA then snuck over to ExperTox to try to glom onto samples. I and at least 4 others I am aware of were contacted for permission to release samples to the FDA.

The one thing we know for sure at this point is the 5 samples the FDA earlier claimed to have tested for acetaminophen, were NOT those tested by ExperTox.

Several others, along with myself, refused permission for the FDA to take the samples off ExperTox premises. We did however agree to allow the FDA to test the samples under the supervision of ExperTox at the ExperTox lab.

So, here’s the challenge:

* Let the FDA rent the ExperTox facilities for one day to duplicate the ExperTox results on those samples which tested negative for melamine, but positive for cyanuric acid and/or acetaminophen.

* Let the FDA bring in the experts of its choice to participate in the tests.

* Let ExperTox personnel act in a supervisory and oversight capacity to make sure everything is done according to Hoyle.

* Let the media bring in as many camera crews as it is possible to squeeze into the room without interfering with the work.

* Let the games begin.



    acetaminophen test results:
  http://www.petfoodrecallfacts.com/acetaminophen.pdf

   cyanuric acid test results:
  http://www.petfoodrecallfacts.com/cyanuric.pdf

 acetaminophen/cyanuric acid in Hill's Science Diet Light Adult dry:
   http://www.petfoodrecallfacts.com/test2.jpg


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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Acetaminophen !
« Reply #61 on: June 14, 2007, 11:48:17 AM »
!!!  Sheesh! :(

Is the Chicken Soup line still considered safe?  I just bought a new bag today

  That has not been involved in any of the recalls, except for one canned line that was made in another factory.  They have since changed to making every line in their own factory from what I have heard, so added ingredients will not be a concern.

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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Acetaminophen !
« Reply #62 on: June 14, 2007, 11:56:25 AM »
Anybody feed this?:

EXCLUSIVE: Lab Reports Cyanuric Acid In Unrecalled Dry Food

UPDATE: The company that tested the food requested that we remove the image of the report from this post after being contacted by Proctor & Gamble, the parent company of Iams.

UPDATE 2: We received a call from an Iams spokesman. We have updated the story with their response.

UPDATE 3: We believe the bags in question are located in the Denver area.

ORIGINAL POST: Itchmo has learned that a toxicology test reported the presence of cyanuric acid in an opened bag of what is alleged to be Iams Large Breed dry dog food.

According to the report obtained by Itchmo, the results have been certified by a forensic toxicologist. We have obtained a copy of the toxicology report. Iams Large Breed does not list rice protein concentrate or wheat gluten as ingredients.

In response, Iams says they are “fully confident” that no cyanuric acid or melamine entered their products. They also defended their “exceptional response” to handling customer complaints. When asked if they were testing for melamine and cyanuric acid after the manufacture of their products, Iams said that they were “constantly improving their quality control processes.”

We cannot stress this point enough: This test was performed on a sample from an opened bag. We do not know if this is an isolated case of contamination before or after the sale, or if it is widespread.

This information requires verification and we are asking for your help.

Itchmo is asking you to find an unopened 20 lb. bag of Iams Large Breed dry dog food that matches the lot number: 260608 70574173 F4 US30940 with the expiration date of 6/26/08.

If you find an unopened bag, please email us at tips@itchmo.com and we will provide further instructions. If it’s the right bag, we will pay for the cost of the bag of food, shipping and testing. There will be no cost to you.

If an unopened bag is found and tested, we will release the results as soon as they become available regardless of the outcome.

Princess L

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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Acetaminophen !
« Reply #63 on: June 14, 2007, 08:44:06 PM »
!!!  Sheesh! :(

Is the Chicken Soup line still considered safe?  I just bought a new bag today

So did I
:

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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Acetaminophen !
« Reply #64 on: June 15, 2007, 05:18:03 AM »

So did I


  How's that working ladies?  Any probs?  Complaints?  Feedback in general?  Is it a good recommendation in your opinions?

Butterbean

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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Acetaminophen !
« Reply #65 on: June 15, 2007, 07:06:18 AM »
maybe she is trying to tell you that she doesn't want to eat in the dirty garage and is protecting her food.    ;D
It's not that dirty! ;D

I think she's trying to "bury" it or something
R

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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Acetaminophen !
« Reply #66 on: June 15, 2007, 07:16:06 AM »
It's not that dirty! ;D

I think she's trying to "bury" it or something

  When Emmett doesn't want to eat, or is dissatisfied with the main course, he will try and push his towel over it.  Or turn his bowl over.  Like I won't find out he didn't eat it.    ::)

Butterbean

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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Acetaminophen !
« Reply #67 on: June 15, 2007, 07:19:29 AM »
When Emmett doesn't want to eat, or is dissatisfied with the main course, he will try and push his towel over it.  Or turn his bowl over.  Like I won't find out he didn't eat it.    ::)
lol!  How about when you tell them to go potty and they "fake" it  ::)
R

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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Acetaminophen !
« Reply #68 on: June 15, 2007, 07:29:06 AM »
lol!  How about when you tell them to go potty and they "fake" it  ::)

Mine aren't that smart.   ::)   I swear I have stood outside in the rain for over 10mins waiting for Addie to pee. She doesn't like the wet, yet she won't just do it and get it over with.    If she goes behind the car and I can't see her, when she comes back I will ask her if she "went potty" and if she hasn't she will give me a look and go back to trying to find the perfect spot.  I wouldn't know if she had gone or not!    I have told her to just squat down and fake it or something!! 

  For a big sow dog, she is quite dainty as far as getting wet and dirty.
::)

 

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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Acetaminophen !
« Reply #69 on: June 15, 2007, 08:10:16 AM »
lol!  How about when you tell them to go potty and they "fake" it  ::)

hahahah Louie does that all the time because he thinks he will get a treat  ::)

Princess L

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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Acetaminophen !
« Reply #70 on: June 21, 2007, 07:02:40 PM »
  How's that working ladies?  Any probs?  Complaints?  Feedback in general?  Is it a good recommendation in your opinions?

Scout seems to love it.  "Things" are consistant.  ;)  I feed 3Xday.  The feeding guideline suggests WAY more than I think his stomach could possibly hold, not to mention he'd probably end up being a porker.  My only complaint is the dead grass  >:(  That was never a major problem with Keesha.
  :-\
:

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Re: PET FOOD RECALL - Acetaminophen !
« Reply #71 on: June 22, 2007, 05:24:40 AM »

Scout seems to love it.  "Things" are consistant.  ;)  I feed 3Xday.  The feeding guideline suggests WAY more than I think his stomach could possibly hold, not to mention he'd probably end up being a porker.  My only complaint is the dead grass  >:(  That was never a major problem with Keesha.
  :-\

  Have you tried something like this you spray on your lawn? I am considering treating my whole lawn:


  http://www.amazon.com/Peeeve-PP002-Ready-Lawn-Protectant-Concentrate/dp/B000LRFZ20