Did you know that a massive pet food recall has been in place since March 16th? I sure didn’t, but I’m glad to know that, out of all of our pet food, only one bag of cat treats may have been contaminated, and all of our cats are fine. In response to reported pet deaths, the FDA has been testing pet food for a variety of contaminants, so the whole issue is rather confusing. I’ll try to summarize it as best I can.
On March 16th, Menu Foods recalled most of its wet cat and dog food products after reports of kidney failure and some deaths in an unknown number of cats and dogs. On March 23rd, Menu Foods expanded its recall to include products from 95 brands of its wet cat and dog food products after the discovery of aminopterin, a cancer drug used to induce abortions and also used as rat poison, in some of the recalled products. On March 30th, the recall was expanded to include some dry cat food products from Hill’s Pet Nutrition after the FDA discovered melamine, a chemical used to make plastics, in the wheat gluten of Menu Foods’ recalled products. On April 5th, Sunshine Mills recalled various dog biscuit products that had been produced with melamine-contaminated wheat gluten, and Menu Foods expanded its recall to include over 100 brands of pet food and treats. Both Menu Foods and Sunshine Mills produce a wide variety of branded and private-lable pet food products for major retailers.
For more information on the pet food recall and lists of recalled products, see the FDA’s Pet Food Recall page. If you have any of the recalled products, dispose of them immediately, and give careful consideration to any pet food product containing wheat gluten, even if it is not part of the recall.