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FDA News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
P07-58
April 5, 2007
Media Inquiries:
301-827-6242
Consumer Inquiries:
888-INFO-FDA

FDA Issues Health Hazard Alert for Pet Chews Due to Contamination with Salmonella
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today warned consumers not to use American Bullie A.B. Bull Pizzle Puppy Chews and Dog Chews manufactured and distributed by T.W. Enterprises, Ferndale, WA, because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, which can cause serious infections in dogs and cats, and, if there is cross contamination, in people, especially children, the aged, and people with compromised immune systems. Consumers who have the pet treats manufactured or distributed by T.W. Enterprises listed below should not feed them to their pets, but instead dispose of them in a safe manner (e.g., in a securely covered trash receptacle).

Salmonella can potentially be transferred to people handling these pet treats, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surfaces exposed to these products. Healthy people infected with Salmonella should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. Rarely, Salmonella can result in more serious ailments, including arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation, and urinary tract symptoms. Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare providers.

Pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Well animals can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.

The products covered by this alert include all sizes and lots of:

American Bullie A.B. Bull Pizzle Puppy Chew and Dog Chew (made from all American beef pizzle)

Following is a list of the affected products:

A.B. Small Chew, small, 3-4 inch
A.B. Puppy Chew, 4-6 inch
A.B. Dog Chew Medium, 6 inch
A.B. Dog Chew Large, 10 inch
A.B. Dog Chew XL, 13 inch
A.B. Dog Chew Mega, 16 inch
A.B. Dog Chew Jumbo, 26 inch
FDA collected samples of packages of three different sizes of bull pizzle (beef) dog chews manufactured by T.W. Enterprises and, after analysis, found Salmonella in one of them. FDA is including in its alert all sizes and all lots of bull pizzle chews manufactured by T. W. Enterprises because pizzles used in manufacturing the chews are processed at the same time, cut into chews of the desired sizes, and then packaged for sale. Differently sized chews are thus obtained from the same batch or lot of pizzles and manufactured under conditions that facilitate cross-contamination within batches or lots. It is impossible to differentiate chews manufactured by T. W. Enterprises by lot or batch numbers or dates of manufacture because packages of the firm’s chews are not coded with batch or lot numbers, and do not specify the dates of manufacture or bear expiration dates.

FDA is actively investigating this matter to determine the source of this problem, and will issue future updates as appropriate.



(CNN) -- The Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday it has identified additional contaminated pet food products -- dog biscuits made by Sunshine Mills of Red Bay, Alabama.

The dog biscuits are contaminated with potentially toxic wheat gluten, said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine. He said more details on which products are affected would be available later Thursday.

Sunshine Mills did not immediately return calls from CNN seeking comment.

The FDA also said Menu Foods is expanding its recall of a wide variety of products by widening the range of manufacturing dates in the recall. The company said it will announce the new recall dates later Thursday.

Menu Foods recalled 60 million cans of wet pet food on March 16 after the chemical melamine, which can be toxic in high doses, showed up in federal testing of some of its cat and dog food varieties. (Details on recall)

Since then, Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, Del Monte Pet Products and Hill's Pet Nutrition have also recalled some products.

The FDA said it has no evidence that wheat gluten contaminated with melamine has entered the human food supply. Melamine is a toxic agent used to make fertilizers and plastic utensils.

Sundlof said the number of pet deaths confirmed as being related to the recall remains at 16 despite reports in the thousands from veterinarians across the country. Menu Foods spokeswoman Sarah Tuite told CNN that one dog and 15 cats have died.

The pet owner community Web site www.petconnection.com said it has received reports of 3,240 pet deaths related to the recall. The causes of those deaths have not been confirmed by government officials.

The Michigan Veterinary Medical Association said it suspects 46 animals -- 33 cats and 13 dogs -- in Michigan have died due to ingestion of the contaminated food, and Oregon's public health veterinarian, Dr. Emilio DeBess, said he suspects 38 pet deaths reported in that state are linked to the allegedly toxic food.

Both emphasized that the link between pet deaths in their states and the recalled food has not yet been confirmed.

Pets who have consumed products recalled by Menu Foods Inc. and who have experienced various stages of kidney dysfunction qualify as suspected cases, the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association said.

Glenn Kolb, executive director of the association, told CNN Thursday he thinks the number of new cases is dropping, but the numbers may still rise.

"What we're starting to find is that veterinarians are going into some of the back records where they had cases that were maybe puzzling to them. Now with the pet food recall information coming out, they're starting to look at those cases again," he said.

Wednesday, plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against Menu Foods related to the recall added fraud to the charges, their attorneys said. They are alleging the company may have known as early as December that there were problems with its product.

Menu Foods had no comment on the lawsuit.

The class action suit was filed March 20 in the Northern District of Illinois.

After the Food and Drug Administration and Menu Foods announced last week that melamine was found in the pet foods, the melamine was traced to wheat gluten imported from Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company Ltd., a company based in China's Jiangshu province. (Watch how the toxic food was traced to China )

The Chinese company distributed the wheat gluten with the help of U.S. nutritional and pharmaceutical chemical importer ChemNutra Inc., a Las Vegas-based company.

The company has said the claims of harmful substances in its product were "rumors." However, it added that it had sent samples of the substance to labs for testing.

The Food and Drug Administration has directed inspectors to halt all wheat gluten imports from the company.

The FDA said it has received more than 10,000 consumer complaints.

A list of the cat food and dog food products involved in the recall is online at www.menufoods.com/recall.



(CNN) -- Canadian pet food manufacturer Menu Foods has recalled numerous varieties of pet food made before March 6. Other companies have also issued alerts.

Federal testing of some of the cat and dog food and the wheat gluten used in their production turned up the chemical melamine, which can be toxic in high doses.

Earlier, the New York State Food Laboratory identified aminopterin, a cancer drug also used as rat poison, as the likely culprit in the pet food. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it could not confirm that finding. (Read the FDA's latest information on the pet food recall)

Menu Foods said the problem was traced to wheat gluten obtained from the Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company in China. The FDA has blocked further gluten imports from the company.

The Chinese company termed the reports of chemicals in its product "rumors," but says it is cooperating with the FDA investigation

Gluten brings elasticity and chewiness to baked products.

Menu Foods makes only "wet" pet food, such as "chunks and gravy" style varieties.

Nestle Purina also has recalled its Alpo Prime Cuts in Gravy dog food that was supplied with some of the suspect wheat gluten.

The only dry product affected is Prescription Diet dry cat food made by Hill's Pet Nutrition of Topeka, Kansas. Hill's obtained wheat gluten from the same supplier as Menu Foods.

Click on the links below for details from the manufacturers of brands, flavors and production batches affected by the recall.

Menu Foods -- cat products

Menu Foods -- dog products

Del Monte -- cat and dog products

Hill's Prescription Diet -- cat products

Purina -- dog products

Sunshine Mills -- dog products

The FDA said pet owners should consult a veterinarian if their animals show signs of loss of appetite, lethargy or vomiting.



Recalled Cat Product Information
Recall Information 1-866-895-2708
Variety or Multi-Packs:

If you are in possession of a variety or multi-pack, please be sure to check the individual can or pouch rather than relying solely on the date coding on the side of the carton.

Americas Choice, Preferred Pets
Authority Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Best Choice Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Companion Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Compliments Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Demoulas Market Basket
Eukanuba Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Fine Feline Cat
Food Lion
Foodtown
Giant Companion Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Hannaford
Hill Country Fare Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Hy-Vee
Iams Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Laura Lynn
Li'l Red
Loving Meals
Meijer's Main Choice
Nutriplan
Nutro Max Gourmet Classics Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Nutro Natural Choice Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Paws
Pet Pride Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Presidents Choice Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Price Chopper
Priority US
Save-A-Lot Special Blend
Schnucks
Science Diet Feline Savory Cuts Cans
Sophistacat Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Special Kitty Canada Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Special Kitty US Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Springfield Prize
Sprout
Stop & Shop Companion Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Tops Companion Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Wegmans Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Weis Total Pet
Western Family US
White Rose
Winn Dixie



Recalled Dog Product Information
Recall Information 1-866-895-2708
Variety or Multi-Packs:

If you are in possession of a variety or multi-pack, please be sure to check the individual can or pouch rather than relying solely on the date coding on the side of the carton.

Americas Choice, Preferred Pets
Authority
Award Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Best Choice
Big Bet
Big Red
Bloom
Cadillac
Companion Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Demoulas Market Basket
Eukanuba Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Food Lion
Giant Companion Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Grreat Choice Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Hannaford
Hill Country Fare Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Hy-Vee
Iams Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Laura Lynn
Loving Meals
Meijers Main Choice
Mighty Dog Pouch
Mixables Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Nutriplan
Nutro Max
Nutro Natural Choice Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Nutro Ultra Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Nutro
Ol'Roy Canada Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Ol'Roy US Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Paws
Pet Essentials
Pet Pride - Good n Meaty Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Presidents Choice Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Price Chopper
Priority Canada
Priority US Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Publix
Roche Brothers
Save-A-Lot Choice Morsels
Schnucks
Shep Dog
Springsfield Prize Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Sprout
Stater Brothers Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Stop & Shop Companion Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Tops Companion Last Updated: April 5, 2007
Wegmans Bruiser
Weis Total Pet
Western Family US
White Rose
Winn Dixie
Your Pet