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Many Pet Foods Still Missing From Store Shelves

Sales remain sluggish after last year's pet poisonings

By D.O. Volente
ConsumerAffairs.com

March 25, 2008

• Report Finds Toxins Common in Products for Children, Pets • Feds Bar Teva Animal Health From Selling Veterinary Drugs • FDA Confirms Probe of NUTRO Pet Food Deaths, Illnesses • Evidence Destroyed in Menu Foods Case May Hamper Other Lawsuits • Pet Food Class Action Preemptively Thrown Out • More Pet Foods Added to Salmonella Recall • Lawsuits On the Trail of Nutro, Canidae Pet Foods • FDA Halts Illegally Medicated Animal Feed • Pet Owners Warned about Chicken Jerky Products • Mars Extends Pet Food Recall; More Salmonella Found • Mars Recalls Cat Food Sold at Wal-Mart due to Salmonella • Hartz Recalls Rawhide Chips After Possible Salmonella Contamination • Pet Owners Eligible For $24 Million in Landmark Melamine Settlement • Internet Rumor Claims Cocoa Mulch Causes Dog Deaths • Mars Recalls More Pet Food; Possible Salmonella Contamination • Mars Petcare Recalls Some Pedigree Dog Food • Expert Finds Unexplained Pet Deaths 'Not Consistent' • Illness, Death Dog Nutro Pet Food • Feds Raid PETCO Warehouse in Illinois • Pet Owners Not Thrilled with Poison Food Settlement • CDC Links 2006 Salmonella Outbreak to Dog Food • FDA Orders Illinois Pet Food Maker to Clean Up Its Act • String of Illnesses Afflicts NUTRO-Fed Pets --- • More about Pet Food Recalls ...

Sales of wet pet food are still sluggish even though a year has passed since the biggest pet-food recall took place, reports USA Today.

About 20% of recalled products, mostly wet foods, have yet to return, and 10% of recalled products have been discontinued, says PetSmart,the nation's No. 1 pet-food chain in an article in the daily newspaper.

The paper quotes Dave Bolen, chief merchandising officer at Petco, as saying that while sales of dry food grow, sales of wet are still off about 25% from pre-recall levels.

Menu Foods, a contract manufacturer that made most of the recalled products, launched the recall a year ago after cats and dogs were sickened or died after eating food containing contaminated ingredients imported from China.

The recall affected hundreds of products, including high- and low-end brands. It was the first recall in a series involving imported products that focused attention on the safety of the U.S. food supply and how vigorously U.S. companies check suppliers, especially those from China.

Pet-food makers of all sizes say they've since tightened safeguards.

No. 1 Nestlé Purina PetCare, for instance, no longer imports Chinese wheat gluten, the tainted ingredient in many of the recalled foods. Like many, it also tests wheat gluten for the industrial chemical melamine, which sickened the animals. Melamine was added to wheat flour in China to make it appear to be the more valuable wheat gluten or rice protein concentrate, according to USA Today.

"We still have some work to do to win back some of the sales from the pet-food recall," PetSmart CEO Philip Francis told industry analysts this month.

Indictments

Last month, two Chinese companies -- and an American importer and its owners -- were indicted for their alleged roles in intentionally manufacturing and distributing melamine-tainted wheat gluten that was used to make dog and cat food.

"When I first read about these (indictments), I was crying because I was so happy," said pet owner Carol V. of Rhode Island, whose two cats became gravely ill last February after eating melamine-tainted pet food.

"It was one year ago yesterday that my nightmare started. It made me feel really good that something was being done. I was shocked because I had not idea that these criminal investigations were going on. I thought they had fizzled," she said.

But Carol and other pet owners are adamant that the investigation into last year's pet food recall -- the largest in U.S. history -- must continue.

They say more companies should be held accountable for their roles in the deaths and illnesses of pets nationwide.

"I don't think the American company that imported the wheat gluten should be alone in this investigation," Carol said.

More about pets ...

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