Learning
fromasadand
messycrisis
Vast and confusing recalls beget misinformation
and threats to petfood brands
BY TIM PHILLIPS, DVM
Iknow how I would feel if my dog
died from eating contaminated petfood. I’d be sad, angry and looking
for ways to prevent such a thing
from happening again. That is how a
lot of pet owners are now. Beyond that
it’s a media and litigation circus.
Fast-breaking news, some inaccurate, from thousands of sources has a
huge downside: Brand equity that has
taken years to establish can be wiped
out in a few days. There are a number
of quality assurance systems you can
put in place to prevent such devastation. Many petfood companies will
likely work at improving vendor cer-
tification programs. Still, what if it
happens? How do you respond? When
something goes terribly wrong, you
best be prepared.
Recent petfood recalls left gaps on
retailers’ shelves.
Exhibit A: Menu Foods
On March 16, 2007, Menu Foods
announced a precautionary dog and
cat food recall. (The Menu recall list is
available at www.menufoods.com.) On
March 23, the New York State Depart-
ment of Agriculture said it had found
the toxin aminopterin in Menu petfoods. But, other scientists were unable
to validate the findings.
On March 30, the US Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) revealed
that a compound called melamine
may have caused the pet illnesses and
deaths. However, from what experts
know about melamine and its effects
after being ingested, pets shouldn’t
have died as a result. While melamine,
used as a fertilizer in Asia, should
certainly not be in petfoods, it’s not
known to be lethal. Why, then, have
pets died after eating contaminated
food? At press time we do not know.
Says Dr. Richard Goldstein, an internal medicine specialist and assistant
professor at Cornell University College
of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, New
York, USA, “We’re missing a piece of
the puzzle.”
Melamine was found in the wheat
gluten from a new Menu supplier in the
US, Las Vegas-based ChemNutra Inc.,
who sourced the wheat gluten in China.
This is the same ingredient that Menu
Foods made reference to in its recall
press release of March 16. Melamine
has not been found in the wheat gluten
that Menu obtains from other suppliers.
The FDA is blocking imports of wheat
gluten from a company in China: Xu-zhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. in Wangdien.
