Fatal Food: Keeping Your Pet Healthy As Pet Food Recalls Mount

by Deb Dempsey | Apr 30, 2007

It is estimated that thousands of pets are dead and the tainting of pet food may be intentional. Here is the lowdown on the pet food recall scandal and how you can protect your pets.

Pet lovers beware: 

The largest pet food recall in the history of the United States is ongoing, and your pet’s life is at stake. The FDA’s official count of deaths from the contaminated food stands at 16, although they acknowledge that there is no CDC for animals to follow up on the more than 15,000 calls that they have received. A popular website run by a respected, nationwide-known veterinarian puts the self-reported count at more than 4500 dead pets as this magazine goes to print. 

Because of sporadic reporting in the mainstream media, pet parents are still confused about the details as well as to what they should be feeding their pets during this frightening time. For those who have not spent countless hours pouring over the latest recall information on the web, here is a quick overview and information on how to protect your pets. 

It is currently being speculated that ingredients originating in China may have intentionally been spiked with melamine to boost its apparent protein content, since melamine can skew test results to make a product appear more protein-rich than it really is, thereby creating a more marketable, expensive product. But melamine has never been approved for use in food for companion animals. So far, melamine’s been found in both wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate imported from China. Media reports from South Africa suggest a third pet food ingredient, corn gluten, used in that country also was contaminated with melamine. That tainted ingredient has not been found in the United States. 

Officials from the FDA are awaiting visas to inspect the Chinese plants where the vegetable protein ingredients were produced. 

Recall Timeline

 In mid-March of this year, Menu Foods Income Fund, a pet food cannery for numerous well-known brands including Iams, Ol’Roy and Nutro, initiated a voluntary recall of nearly 100 brands of canned cat and dog food sold nationwide, which totaled approximately 60 million units. At the beginning of the recall, the company was not quite sure exactly what was wrong, the focal point, although labs across the country, including the FDA, were having trouble narrowing down the source of the problem.

But this preliminary recall was just the tip of the iceberg. Many other pet food manufacturers began recalling their canned brands as well, while labs frantically tried to identify the problem. Although initial lab tests showed that the food was tainted with rat poison, that result could not be duplicated in additional tests. Instead, labs began to find that the wheat gluten was tainted with melamine, an industrial chemical that, among other things, is used to make fertilizer and plastic. 

At the end of March, Hills Science Diet recalled a number of its dry foods, due to tainted wheat gluten. The following day, Del Monte recalled a number of their treats for dogs and cats for the same reason. Sunshine Mills followed suit soon after. No longer could consumers easily choose “safe” foods for their pets without reading labels. The ASPCA issued a warning, but knew that pets were falling ill and dying in live-animal tests after consuming their food. Wheat gluten seemed to be alerting pet owners to avoid wheat gluten (80% of which is imported from China) entirely.

 Just as pet owners began searching for the ingredient “wheat gluten” on pet food and treat labels, Natural Balance threw a curve ball, recalling a number of varieties of their cat and dog food products (dry, wet and treats) that contained tainted rice protein concentrate. Several days later, Mars Royal Canine recalled a huge amount of pet food in South Africa due to tainted corn gluten. The FDA has not yet begun testing corn gluten in this country. 

Protecting Your Pets 

The list of recalls seems to go on and on. At this point, many pet owners are throwing up their hands in disgust and wondering if they should just start cooking for their pets. Though a safer option, it is not a feasible choice for many working pet parents who barely have time to cook for themselves! So, just what should a pet caretaker do? 

First, pet food shoppers should begin scrutinizing the ingredients in their pets’ diet, just as parents already do with their two-legged children’s food. Similar to evaluating children’s food, the easier a label is to understand and the simpler the ingredients, the better the food. See Pointers in Selecting Nutritious Pet Food on the previous page for more information. 

Second, consider upgrading to premium pet food. Some pet lovers may not realize that there is a classification of pet foods that is aptly considered “premium”. How do you tell the difference though? How do you wade through the long lists of ingredients and fi nd a SAFE, high-quality food that your pet will thrive on? And how can you be sure that the new food you purchase won’t be the next food recalled? 

These premium foods contain quality proteins (not mystery meat meal and by-products), whole grains (not glutens & processed flours), fruits and vegetables (not artificial colors and flavors), skin conditioners and all necessary vitamins and minerals. They don’t contain BHA, BHT, Ethoxyquin or Meniodone, highly questionable preservatives that have been linked to tumors and cancer in pets. 

Unfortunately, rather than creating foods for the purpose of helping companion animals thrive, many pet food companies consider pet food as the recycling bin for the human food chain and agricultural industry. As family members, the country’s cats and dogs deserve safe, high- quality food that can be trusted.