Pet food recall

[Chip's Mom]

In case anyone isn't aware of this

Chemical found in second pet-food ingredient

Nationwide recall expands to include rice protein, FDA says

Updated: 10:40 a.m. ET April 18, 2007

WASHINGTON - An industrial chemical that led to a nationwide recall of more than 100 brands of cat and dog foods has been found to contaminate a second pet food ingredient, expanding the recall further.

The chemical, melamine, is believed to have contaminated rice protein concentrate

used to make a variety of Natural Balance Pet Foods products for both dogs and cats, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday. Previously, the chemical was found to contaminate another ingredient, wheat gluten, used by at least six other pet food and treat manufacturers.
Natural Balance said it was recalling all its Venison and Brown Rice canned and bagged dog foods, its Venison and Brown Rice dog treats and its Venison and Green Pea dry cat food.
The Pacoima, Calif., company said recent laboratory tests showed the products contain melamine. It believes the source of the contaminant was rice protein concentrate, which the company recently added to the dry venison formulas. Natural Balance does not use wheat gluten, which was associated with the previous melamine contamination, it said.
Last month, Menu Foods recalled 60 million cans of dog and cat food after the deaths of 16 pets, mostly cats, that ate its products. The FDA said tests indicated the food was contaminated with melamine, used in making plastics and other industrial processes. Five other companies later recalled pet products also made with wheat gluten tainted by the chemical.
The FDA has since blocked Chinese imports of wheat gluten. An FDA spokeswoman did not immediately return messages left seeking comment.

[bajoiner]

Thanks ChipsMom, I had just changed Sassy to Natural Balance and had actually bought some of the Venison and Brown Rice treats but Sassy did not care for them so she had only eaten like 2 when this came out so I threw them away. I still have her on Natural Balance Organic dog food which she loves and I am just boiling liver and putting it with some green beans, carrots and white rice cooked into my food processor and making her own additives to the dry food. She loves it. I also made some with boiled chicken instead of the liver and she loves it also. She has hit a plateau at 32 pounds and has not dropped anymore weight but we are limiting her running because as soon as she runs she starts limping on her front leg so this could be contributing to her plateau of weight loss. The vet did not see anything on the x-ray so we are treating a pulled muscle type of thing which clears up and then she will see a squirrel and chase it and limp again. We are contemplating taking her out on a leash for a couple weeks to see if that will clear it up.

Barbara

[Louwants]

So, far, the Lassie Natural Way is still safe that I buy for Duncan and Chloe. In fact, as soon as the rice protrein hit the news, I called the company. They assured me that do not use rice protein and their rice supply was from America. A ease on my mind.