I need your help with preparing a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. I need information on
every pet food recall since 2000 that you're aware of. Why? This committee, Stupak, Dingell, are considering
evidence for giving the FDA mandatory recall power, and I want to be sure pet food is included. So help me
by giving dates, company, and links to pet food recall dates since 2000 that you're aware of, and thank you very much.

If you read the list of the 49 food companies that are included here, you will recognize the names of many pet food
companies. If you read the list of 313 food recalls, you will see pet food is not included. Please help me to compose
this letter with your knowledge and assistance.
 
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_110/110nr258.shtml
NEWS RELEASE
Committee on Energy and Commerce
Rep. John D. Dingell, Chairman

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Immediate Release: May 8, 2008
Contact: Jodi Seth or Brin Frazier / 202-225-5735

 

Dingell, Stupak ask Multinational
Food Processors about Contamination
Reps. John D. Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce and Bart Stupak, Chairman of its Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, sent a letter of inquiry today to 49 large food processing firms regarding their history of recalls, food safety alerts and all instances of known chemical or microbiological contamination of their products since January 1, 2000. These requests are part of an effort by the Committee to determine the source of safety threats to the American food supply.

“We are asking the largest food providers how often they have identified contamination by chemicals such as mercury and microorganisms such as E. coli and salmonella during their quality control testing procedures,” said Dingell. “We know from the Peter Pan peanut butter case and others that internal testing by food processors often fails to detect contaminants. Now we want to know what exactly is reported to the FDA or state public health authorities when companies actually find dangerous chemicals and bacteria in our food.”

Last week the Committee sent letters to private testing labs to determine the extent of adulterated imported food. This food may have found its way to American grocery stores as a result of food import firms hiding from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lab results that show food to be unsafe. The Committee has been conducting an intensive investigation of the safety of the food supply that has resulted in six congressional hearings and has involved the gathering of information from both the FDA and private firms.

“Food processors have, for the most part, avoided the kind of regulation and inspections that are imposed on drug and medical device manufacturers,” said Stupak. “We intend to determine exactly how rigorous these large multinational corporations have been in protecting the health of the American consumers.” He continued, “The FDA has failed to protect Americans from food poisoning and we have all witnessed the cascade of recalls and outbreaks of food-borne illnesses that resulted. Our investigation has examined many of these breakdowns in the food safety net. Now it is time to determine if the owners of the largest brand names on supermarket shelves have been forthcoming with the American people about the safety of their products.”

“Americans are rightly concerned that the food they feed their families may not always be safe,” said Dingell. “Our investigation has clearly established that the FDA lacks the leadership and the resources to keep bad food off our grocery shelves and dinning room tables.”

Attached is a list of the 313 food recalls that have occurred over the past 16 months according to the FDA and company released notices.
 

Prepared by the Committee on Energy and Commerce
2125 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515

49 food companies to which letters were sent:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_110/110-ltr.050808.50cos.FoodSafety.pdf

link to 313 food recalls:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_110/050808.RecallLists.pdf

 

Mandatory recall authority given to the FDA in one area would certainly be a goal we all need to achieve
for better consumer safety on food products I believe, Arlo. So if it happens, it would be an improvement
in my opinion. I have trouble with the FDA site, too. That's why I'm asking for help, so as not to miss
anything.

this website has some good info to start with. never saw it before today.

http://www.petfoodfreebies.com/petrecalls.html

Don't know if this counts, since there was never an official recall in the US, but there were the Asian recalls of Mars products in 2004 that were first labeled as aflatoxin and then turned out to have been melamine:

http://itchmoforums.com/news-recall-related/melamine-and-cyanuric-acid-in-dogs-and-cats-in-2004-and-2007-t2150.0.html

(IMO the bad food was in the US too--just not recalled adn sneaked under the radar)

Sorry for any repeats - recalls and alerts listed by the Humane Society of Canada with links to original sources:

Current: http://www.humanesociety.com/current_pet_product_recalls_and_alerts.html

April 2008: Nature's Variety: Prairie Lamb and Oatmeal Medley for Cats -  unacceptable level of oxidized fat
March 2008: Instinct Chicken Meal Forumla - product differences due to changes in production facilities
March 2008: Roll Over Pork Tenders Premium Dog Treat - salmonella
March 2008: Hartz Vitamin Care for Cats - salmonella
Jan 2008: alert posted that Texas dog Owner reports finding piece Of plastic In Beef N’ More Dog Food

Continues on for 2007 (not including Menu Foods & related):

http://www.humanesociety.com/2007_pet_product_recalls_and_alerts.html

Nov 2007: PetEdge Toothpaste - diethylene glycol
Sep 2007: Bravo! poultry products for cats - salmonella & listeria
Aug 2007; Mars Petcare - Krasdale Gravy & Red Flannel Large Breed Adult Formula dry dog food- Salmonella
Jul 2007: Castleberry - Natural Balance - Botulism
Apr 2007: American Bullie A.B. Bull Pizzle Puppy Chews and Dog Chews - salmonella
Mar 2007: Eight In One, Inc.: Dingo® CHICK'N JERKY - salmonella
Mar 2007: Petrapport, Inc: more Pig Ear dog treats - salmonella
Mar 2007: BJ's Wholesale Club: "Berkley & Jensen" Full-Cut Pig Ears - salmonella
Feb 2007: Wild Kitty Cat Food All Natural, Frozen Cat Food – Raw Chicken with Clam Recipe - salmonella

1 quarter = 3 months

5 years = 20 quarters

over 20 recalls in 5 years = average 1 every 3 months

Now, if you look more closely at the pattern of recalls, the majority have taken place in the past 2 years. The average for that period is more like 1 every 6-8 weeks. In other words, the problem is getting worse, not better.

The sad part is you're probably on the right track, that without a $10 billion study, by a lemming herd of government types with cow college Phd.s, most congress critters would probably have trouble working out the numbers. Sigh.

I happened to be doing some research on the FDA and have come across a number of recent reports indicating that the GAO and other oversight committees are more than aware of FDA deficiencies.  For example, take a look at the FDA briefing listing at:

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/07/briefing/2007-4329b_02_00_index.html

The Report on FDA Science and Technology is scathing... it repeatedly uses phrases like "cannot fulfill its mission" and "has inadequate" this or that.

Their Center for Veterinary Medicine covers not only "food producing animals", but pets.

It seems like they have huge problems, let's hope that all the attention focused on the FDA throughout the last year will lead to some productive and helpful action and not just a Keystone Cops exercise.