Pet Food Recall: Menu Foods Adds More Cat & Dog Food to Recall

Pet food recall grows again - more dog and cat food added on Wednesday - Menu Foods has previously recalled wet cat and dog food produced with adulterated wheat gluten supplied by ChemNutra Inc. the company said on its website.  The list is now huge and this will cause even more confusion anger and panic for dog and cat lovers as they wonder if they are feeding their pets poisoned food.

Pet Food Recall: Menu Foods Adds More Cat and Dog Food to Recall

Menu Foods announced that is now expanding the recall to include cuts and gravy and select other products which do not include ChemNutra wheat gluten but which were manufactured at any of Menu Foods’ plants during the period that ChemNutra wheat gluten was used at that plant, to the extent they have not already been subject to a recall, due to the possibility of cross-contamination. 

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Menu Foods has received a report from a customer and has received study results, both of which indicate cross-contamination.  As a result, Menu advises the public:  Additional items in the United States and Canada have been added to the recall list as shown here.  A further two varieties for Europe have been added to the recall list.

The recall dates of those products previously recalled have been modified to include all dates during the period that ChemNutra wheat gluten was used in the applicable Menu plant.  All of these products, including the expanded dates, have previously been withdrawn from the market and should already be off the retailer shelves.

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Also - in response to the massive recall of cat and dog food, the Senate voted Wednesday in favor of stricter production and labeling standards so people have more information about what they are feeding their pets.

The 94-0 vote was on an amendment by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., to broader legislation related to the Food and Drug Administration.  The amendment would require the FDA to establish a registry to collect information on cases of suspected food contamination to improve surveillance and increase public awareness of potential problems with the food supply. Companies would face fines if they failed to report cases of suspected contamination for inclusion in the early warning system, a report from the Associated Press details.

“Today it was your cat or dog, tomorrow it could be someone in your family you love,” Durbin said in explaining the need to strengthen the food safety system.

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The FDA has confirmed the deaths of 16 pets that had eaten the contaminated food. The agency said, however, that pet owners have reported the deaths of about 1,950 cats and 2,200 dogs. It was not known how many of those were linked to the recalled pet food.