http://www.avma.org/

 

Questions for Dr. Oz

1. Could you recap for our readers/listeners the details of this national pet food recall?

2. What seems to be causing these cats and dogs to get sick and die?

3. What is melamine and how did it get into our nation’s pet food?

4. Even though it’s been three weeks since the initial announcement of the potentially tainted pet foods and treats, according to your press release, you’re still seeing patients in your veterinary practice who are still feeding the recalled products. Why is that?

5. Do you mean to say there are still places out there still selling the recalled product?

6. So what do you tell your clients?

7. Doctor Orzeck, what are your sources of information an this terrible crisis?



1. Could you recap for our readers/listeners the details of this national pet food recall?

Beginning on March 16th, Menu Foods of Toronto Canada Announced a Precautionary Dog and Cat Food Recall. The recall was limited to "cuts and gravy" style pet food in cans and pouches manufactured at two of the company’s United States facilities (one in Kansas and one in New Jersey) manufactured between December 3, 2006 and March 6, 2007. There were 95 name brands of dog and cat foods on their recall list.

On March 30th, after learning that wheat gluten contaminated with melamine was provided to Purina by the same company that also supplied Menu Foods, Nestlé Purina PetCare Company of St. Louis, Missouri, announced a voluntarily recall of all sizes and varieties of its ALPO® Prime Cuts in Gravy wet dog food with specific date codes. This involved about 30 different varieties.

On April 1st, Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc., voluntarily recalled the company’s Prescription Diet ™ m/d™ Feline Dry Food. Their reason for the recall was the same as the Nestlé Purina PetCare Company: wheat gluten for this product was provided by a company that also supplied wheat gluten to Menu Foods. As of this writing, THIS PRODUCT HAS BEEN THE ONLY DRY TYPE OF PET FOOD RECALLED.

On April 6th, Sunshine Mills of Red Bay, Alabama announced the recall that affected about 20 brands and varieties of the company’s dog biscuits. The company emphasized that the recall was a precautionary measure.

On April 6th, Del Monte Pet Products, of Pittsburg, PA announced voluntary recall of some of some of their pet treat products sold under the Jerky Treats®, Gravy Train® Beef Sticks and Pounce Meaty Morsels® brands as well as select dog snack and wet dog food products sold under private label brands being manufactured by their company.


2. What seems to be causing these cats and dogs to get sick and die?

On March 23rd, The New York State Department of Agriculture reported (prematurely as it turns out) that it identified the toxin Aminopterin in samples of recalled pet food. Aminopterin is a chemical compound that has been used as everything from a chemotheraputic cancer drug to an abortion agent to rat poison.

On April 2nd, researchers from Syntrix Biosystems, Inc. and The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) disproved this claim by announcing that there was no evidence of Aminopterin in the tissues of animals who had died from consuming food from Menu Foods.

Then the FDA announced on March 30th, that their scientists had identified a second possible chemical called melamine in tested samples of recalled pet foods from Menu Foods. As of this writing (April 11th) Melamine seems to be the chief causative agent in these animals sicknesses and deaths.


3. What is melamine and how did it get into our nation’s pet food?

The product is used in the manufacturing of plastics and in Asia, it is used as a fertilizer. It is this second use as a fertilizer that is the suspected source of the contaminated wheat gluten. How the contaminated wheat gluten got into the pet foods is still not determined. An article posted on wikipedia,
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_North_America_pet_food_recall ) traces the contaminated wheat gluten coming directly from China or through the Netherlands to the U.S. through ChemNutra, a Las Vegas based supply company for pet food manufacturers. On April 4, ChemNutra ordered a recall of all of the suspected wheat gluten batches.


4. Even though it’s been three weeks since the initial announcement of the potentially tainted pet foods and treats, according to your press release, you’re still seeing patients in your veterinary practice who are still feeding the recalled products. Why is that?

In spite of all of the publicity regarding this pet food recall, I’m daily seeing in my practice pets who are still being fed these potentially contaminated pet foods and treats. When asked why, I get may answers.

    --Some pet owners still haven’t gotten the warning. There are some people who don’t watch the evening news. Some don’t watch television at all. Some people only listen to talk radio. Some people can’t (or don’t) read their newspaper. Some people—and this is true in my area—like the Amish, don’t involve themselves overtly in world affairs at all.


    --Most pet owners give the following answer. Many people, especially in these days of higher gas prices, stock up at discount stores, or they take advantage of sales. During the initial Menu Foods recall, they dutifully checked their pet food supply and were assured that what they had in stock was not on the list. But over the next three weeks, either they didn’t pay attention to the Nestlé Purina PetCare, Hill’s, Sunshine Mills, or Del Monte recalls, or they were lulled into complacency because in their minds, they’d already checked. And even if they did pay attention, they may have missed, for example, the additional expanded recalls by Menu Foods on April 5th and April 11th.

    --A third group—and these are the really scary ones—are who’ve recently purchased the product that was never removed in the first place by the retail merchant.


5. Do you mean to say there are still places out there still selling the recalled product?

That’s exactly what I’m saying. When this problem first started, I felt comfortable enough to tell my clients that they could assume that if a tainted product was on the recall list, then they could believe that wherever they purchased their pet’s food, the management will have removed it from the shelves. And this is probably the case with most of the large grocery chains and major pet supply stores. For example, I had a client who received an e-mail from Pet Smart warning her to stop feeding her dog the food she’d just purchased.

But I’m no longer making this blanket recommendation. There are places where the recall may not be reaching anyone's attention via official communications between supplier and retailer. There are some small rural feed stores, pet shops, and privately owned grocery stores that are supplied by independent salesmen, and communications might not be getting made regarding the recall. There are also mini-marts, truck stops, ethnic markets, that supply themselves independently.

However, even if there is good communications, the enormity of this recall lends itself to confusion. Using the original Menu Foods recall as an example: Not only does a retailer need to know the list of brands that he sells that might be on the list, but the recall is specific with regards to various varieties of the brands, as well as package sizes, and manufacturing dates and codes. But assuming 100% compliance with the first recall, you cannot be assured that the second expanded recall with the widening of the affected date range would be as reliably adhered to. Finally, even after all that, can we be assured that the April 11th recall of ***26*** new Menu Food’s products will be completely fulfilled?

And let’s not forget the ever present mitigating circumstances that occur in our world. Can we depend on ethical retailers? Even with astute and compliant store owners, can we depend on their orders being adhered to? There are employees who are intoxicated, on drugs, who can’t read, who are lazy and apathetic, etc.


6. So what do you tell your clients?

I tell them firstly, that if their pets are willing, to feed only dry dog or cat food. If they insist on feeding canned food, I tell them to pay close attention to the recalls. Unfortunately in this regard, the only real source of complete up-to-date information is found on the internet. When asked what to do if they don’t have access, then I tell them to go to their library, or ask a friend, co-worker, grandchild, etc. Because this recall is keeping veterinarians busy with just the medical aspects of it all, I save telling them to call their vet as a last resort. There’s also toll free numbers on every pet food label they can call.


7. Doctor Orzeck, what are your sources of information on this terrible crisis?

My first and nearly exclusive information source is the American Veterinary Medical Association website: http://www.avma.org/ . It’s only logical! Go where the veterinarians get their information. The best feature of the website is that it has a ***complete*** updated list of all of the recalled products and links to all of the affected company’s websites.


Thank you.
Dr. Oz


 

Copyright © 2007 by Richard Orzeck, DVM
The information in this article is based upon the author’s personal experience and his best interpretation of veterinary data at the time of writing. It is not intended to render veterinary advice or service. Specific needs and questions concerning your pet’s health should always be addressed by his or her best friend, your local veterinarian.