Pet Food Recalls: Page 32

Petco recalls petfood bowls for potential contamination

Pet product retailer Petco is recalling certain stainless steel petfood bowls sold at its store due to the potential that the bowls may contain Cobalt-60, a radioactive material commonly used in industrial gauging equipment and other uses. Petco says it doesn't know how the radioactive material got into the petfood bowls, but believes that it may have come from scrap metal used by foreign suppliers that had Cobalt-60 accidentally mixed in, and which was found to emit low levels of radiation.

Class-action lawsuit filed over 2010 Kroger petfood recall

Macuga, Liddle & Dubin filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court against the Kroger Company on behalf of all customers who purchased recalled petfood contaminated with aflatoxin. Beginning December 18, 2010, Kroger recalled a total of 10 petfood brands, more than 68,300 bags, which were possibly contaiminated with aflatoxin.

Catswell VitaKitty cat treats recalled for potential health risk

Arthur Dogswell LLC is recalling 1,051 cartons packed as either 10 or 50 packages per case of Catswell brand VitaKitty Chicken Breast with Flaxseed and Vitamins because it has the potential to contain propylene glycol. The recall resulted from a routine surveillance sample collected by the company and the Food and Drug Administration, and the company has since ceased distribution of the affected cat treats.

Petfood safety: Fortify weak links in your supply chain

As the former director of both the US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine and Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, I have seen my share of pet and human food outbreaks caused by defective supply chains. In 2007, the largest petfood recall in history resulted from a single ingredient—wheat gluten—that had been intentionally adulterated with melamine for economic gains.

Even if you are fully confident in your supply chain to provide safe and wholesome products, how certain are you that there will not be disruptions when the new Food Safety Modernization Act takes effect?

CDC confirms 49 human Salmonella illnesses from recalled petfood

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that at least 49 people have been sickened since October 2011 from a Salmonella infantis outbreak linked to recalled petfood made at Diamond Pet Foods' manufacturing facility in Gaston, South Carolina, USA. In its final outbreak update, CDC increased the number of human Salmonella cases from 22, in its previous update on June 13, to at least 49 cases linked to the recalled dog food and cat food.

Nature's Variety recalls kibble dog food variety for 'off-odor' smell

Nature’s Variety petfood brand is recalling its Prairie Beef Meal & Barley Medley Kibble for dogs due to an "off-odor" smell that may develop over time. The company says the product is not contaminated in any way, but some products are not remaining fresh for the shelf life of the product.

PMI Nutrition recalls small animal, bird food

PMI Nutrition International has initiated a voluntary recall of select varieties of the Aquamax, LabDiet and Mazuri animal feed products, due to the potential for an elevated vitamin D level in these products. The products recalled by PMI include Aquamax, LabDiet and Mazuri foods for small birds, guinea pigs, wolves, primates, aquatic species and other exotic animals.

Court rules against petfood packaging company in insurance case

A petfood packaging company that damaged cans of dog food leading to a recall cannot seek compensation for damages under its commercial general liability policy, a US appeals court ruled. The petfood packaging company, Express Packaging of OH Inc., cannot seek reimbursement from its CGL policy with American States Insurance Co. after damaging cans of dog food belonging to petfood producer Mars Inc. during a packaging process, according to a ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.

FDA inspection at Diamond Pet Foods plant helps pet owner lawsuits

A US Food and Drug Administration inspection at Diamond Pet Foods' production plant found numerous health violations after a series of earlier petfood recalls for Salmonella contamination, which one expert says will be used to help support lawsuits against the company. The inspection, conducted six days after the first of eight recalls by Diamond Pet Foods, found violations at the Gaston, South Carolina, USA, facility such as failure to clean and maintain equipment and a lack of contaminant screenings on raw ingredients.

Pedigree recalls three canned dog foods for choking risk

Mars Petcare has issued a voluntary recall for three varieties in its Pedigree brand weight management line of canned dog food due to a potential choking risk. Cans of the recalled dog food may contain small pieces of blue plastic, which broke off a conveyor belt during the production process.

Pet Food Market

What's next for our industry after the latest petfood recalls?

The good news is that no further incidents from the Diamond Pet Foods recalls have come out since the end of May. The bad news, of course, is that the recalls happened at all and especially that people and pets were sickened by Salmonella-contaminated petfoods produced at Diamond's Gaston, South Carolina, USA, plant.

Man suing Diamond Pet Foods over dry dog food recall

A father in New Jersey is reportedly suing Diamond Pet Foods and the place of purchase, Costco, claiming that his 8-week-old son was sickened by recently recalled Salmonella-tainted dry dog food he purchased. Lawyers for Nevin Eisenberg of Marlboro, New Jersey, USA, filed a lawsuit in a New Jersey federal court that alleges his infant son was hospitalized by a strain of Salmonella infantis that was found in petfood made at Diamond’s Gaston, South Carolina, USA, manufacturing plant.

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