Sunshine Mills Inc. of Alabama recalled 21 types of its dog biscuits on April 5 after learning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that its mill had received some of the melamine-contaminated wheat gluten that has been linked to pet illnesses and renal failure.
Sunshine makes a variety of dog biscuits, including some private label products for national retailers, such as Wal-Mart. The recalled brands include Nurture Chicken & Rice Biscuit and Lamb & Rice Biscuit, several “large” varieties of Pet Life biscuits, Lassie Lamb and Rice Biscuits, several varieties of Ol’Roy biscuits and some Champion, Slater and Companion’s private label dog biscuits.
A complete list with UPC codes, product sizes and dates can be seen on the FDA website at http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/sunshinemills04_07.html.
Canadian pet food manufacturer Menu Foods also recalled an additional 20 varieties of pet food sold in Canada and the United States, including varieties of Petsmart’s Sophistacat, Nutro’s Max Cat, Pet Pride items and Hill’s Science Diet Feline Savory Cuts canned varieties.
A detailed list of the new items can be found at http://www.menufoods.com/recall/index.html.
It also expanded its previous March 16 recall of 95 brands of “cuts and gravy” wet-style pet food to include all of those named items manufactured between Nov. 8, 2006, and March 6, 2007. The previous recall included items manufactured between Dec. 3, 2006, and March 6, 2007. Menu updated its recall after one of its wheat gluten suppliers, ChemNutra Inc. of Las Vegas, recalled all of the wheat gluten it imported from a Chinese company, Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd.
The FDA announced a week ago that it had found melamine, a plastic used in some Asian fertilizers and in making dishware, in the contaminated wheat gluten used by Menu. Since last week’s discovery, additional pet food manufacturers including Nestle’s Purina and Del Monte Pet Food Products recalled items after the FDA alerted it that it too had received shipments of the same wheat gluten Menu Foods used in the pet food suspected to blame for last month’s dog and cat deaths.
The contaminated wheat gluten originated from Chinese supplier Xuzhou, the FDA said, and the Unites States has since suspended imports of wheat gluten from the company.
In a statement issued late Thursday evening, Sunshine said that no dog illnesses or deaths have been reported to date in connection with these dog biscuits.
The company asked that consumers stop feeding the recalled products to their dogs immediately but also noted that its other pet food products, including its small- and medium-sized biscuits are safe to consume and not affected by the recall.
For the latest updates on the dog food recall, visit http://www.dogchannel.com/dog-news/dog-food-recall-updates.aspx.