If you bought, or your pet ate, pet food recalled after March 17, 2007, keep tabs on this $24 million settlement. This would be the pet food purposely cut with melamine, a (poisonous) byproduct of coal production, because it made the food look it was higher in protein and was cheaper than actual protein. The case is called Re: Pet Food Products Liability Litigation, MDL Docket No. 1850, Civil Action No. 07-2867 (NLH). The final hearing is on October 14, 2008. The final date for submitting a claim form will be November 24, 2008. To see if you’re eligible, check the list of recalled products affected by the settlement (PDF). Food by Nestle-Purina, Royal Canin, Sierra Pet products, Chenangono Valley Pet Food, CJ Foods, Diamond Pet Food, Hill’s, American Nutrition, and Del Monte are on the list. Claim forms and more can be found at PetFoodSettlement.com.
pet food
U.S. Marshals Raid Rat-Infested PETCO Distribution Center
The FDA sent U.S. Marshals to seize “various animal food products” stored at a PETCO distribution center in Joliet, Illinois yesterday, because the storage conditions had been deemed unsanitary twice in a row:
Grocery Shrink Ray Hits "Science Diet" Cat Food
We’ve been getting quite a few complaints about Hill’s Science Diet Cat Food. It seems that they’ve shrunk their bag and (in some stores) the price went up too.
Del Monte Dog Treats Are Highly Inappropriate
Or as Alex put it so pithily in an email to us, “These dog treats are shaped like c*cks.” (Now you can’t tell what that word means!)
Melamine Found in Chinese-Made Walmart Dog Treats
Remember the dog treats that Walmart quietly pulled from its shelves instead of recalling? Walmart’s own tests have shown they were tainted with melamine, the same chemical that killed all those pets back in March. Fun.
Walmart Pet Food Recalled Due To Salmonella Contamination
Only one specific lot of 55 pound bonus bags of Ol’ Roy Complete Nutrition dry dog food was affected. Pets who eat the food or people who handle it could be infected with salmonella, so if you’ve purchased this dog food you’re going to want to throw it out and return the empty bag to Walmart for a refund.
Ohio Company Used Melamine In Animal Feed
A company in Ohio has voluntarily recalled a binding agent used to make “pellet” type feed for fish, goats, cows, and whathaveyou, because it contained melamine.
Walmart, Menu Foods, Del Monte Sued Over Pet Food Debacle
Schwinger alleges that his dog Sandy, an otherwise healthy 2-year-old, had to be euthanized as a result of eating Menu Foods’ Ol’ Roy Pet Food and Del Monte’s Canine Carry-out Bacon Bite, which were purchased at a Wal-Mart store in Cassville.
Tainted Chinese Product Was "Wheat Flour" And It Was Also Fed To Fish
We’ve decided to take a week off and let the chemical melamine write the blog, because our feeble minds can not comprehend the extent of the contamination that has entered our food supply. Today’s news is that it is not “wheat gluten” that contaminated the pet food that has killed thousands and thousands of pets, but “wheat flour.” What’s more, the wheat flour was also used as food for fish that were meant for human consumption.
USDA Denies Seal Of Inspection To 20 Million Chickens Fed Tainted Pet Food
Pet food tainted with melamine may have been consumed by up to 20 million chickens destined for your dinner plate. The federal government is not taking the matter lightly. The USDA, FDA, and EPA are conducting a risk assessment to determine if the chicken is safe for human consumption. Until the assessment is complete, the USDA will not issue the poultry a seal of inspection, which is required for the meat to be sold commercially. The results of the assessment should be announced early next week.
The Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said Thursday that no evidence indicated any harm to humans from chicken or pork that had entered the market after having eaten melamine-contaminated feed.
— CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER
Reported Pet Deaths Top 8,500
The FDA said yesterday that consumers have reported 8,500 pet deaths as a result of eating contaminated pet food. Of those, only 20 have been confirmed. However, that number should increase as officials work through a call backlog.
Manager of Chinese Wheat Gluten Manufacturer Arrested
The mystery of the poisoned pet food continues to unravel as Mao Lijun, head of the Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company, has been arrested and is being held “in coastal Jiangsu Province, about 320 miles northwest of Shanghai, though a police spokesman in Pei County declined to say on what charges,” according to the New York Times.
Chinese Frequently Cut Pet Food With Melamine
The melamine thought to be the cause of dozens of pet deaths is routinely added as a filler to food in China, New York Times reports.
FDA Serves Search Warrants On Two Pet Food Plants
The FDA served search warrants on two pet food plants that manufactured ingredients involved in the recall of millions of cans of pet food.
Purina On Virgin Mary-Esque Packaging: They "Reflect The Close Bond Between The Consumer And Their Pet."
We received a response tonight to the inquiry we sent Purina on 4/09/07 asking if there was any truth to the rumors (which we spread) that the recurrent “Woman And Kitty” imagery that bedecks numbers of their pet food packages seemed to recall, if not draw directly from, the “Madonna And Child” motif (undoubtedly to serve manipulative marketing ends).
Tainted Pet Food Hits Human Food Supply
California officials quarantined 1,500 animals at the American Hog Farm and are tracking who purchased nearly 100 hogs from the farm this month, when the animals’ feed included pet food that had been tainted with melamine.
Pet Food Recall: Second Tainted Ingredient Found, Recall Expanded Again
“This has exposed that the safety standards for pet foods are not in place in any significant way and the kind of drumbeat, day after day, of recalls has shaken consumers’ confidence in the pet food industry’s adherence to food safety standards,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive officer of the Humane Society of the United States.
