An in-depth look into a 2003 recall

A reader asked me to comment on Petcurean’s Go! Natural Cat Food.  I expected to review the ingredients, and will, in a separate post.  But what I found was such an interesting case study into a very serious pet food recall, the FDA’s involvement, the research, and the company’s response, that I wrote an entirely different article.  Here you go.

Petcurean is a Canadian pet food manufacturer founded in 1999.  Their core values emphasize fresh farm grown, hormone free meat, with fresh, locally sourced fruits & vegetables.  Their products are sold in the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe.  Their manufacturing process is low temperature, slow cook, and they do appear to market very fine, all natural pet foods.

They have been ranked as one of the Top Eight Dog Foods by the Whole Dog Journal every year since 2003, which I am curious about because of the story I am about to tell you.  In 2004, after knowing of the recall in late 2003 and the not insignificant numbers of dog deaths, why do you give a small company a top rating?  I know of one magazine that at least SAYS it does not allow advertising of any pet food that has been recalled.  So their rating process is suspect, at the very least.

I want my readers to know that, while I have never, myself, used this pet food, you should not throw the baby out with the bathwater.  Quality problems happen.  What’s important is how the company deals with it. 

Please note that the incident in 2003 was the ONLY incident, it came out of a Merrick pet food manufacturing facility, and Petcurean was not at all impacted by the massive pet food recalls of 2007.

Recall in 2003

This natural health, green values-based company experienced a very unfortunate voluntary recall in 2003 where veterinarians persistently reported an association between this pet food and liver disease or liver failure in dogs.   At the time, all lot codes were voluntarily withdrawn from the market and the FDA recommended that pet owners take their dogs to their vets to be checked for liver disease and anemia. 

Initially, the FDA classified this as a Class I recall, meaning there was potential for serious injury or death.  Several months later, they re-classified it as a “Market Withdrawal”, meaning, the manufacturer had a minor violation, without evidence, that would not be subject to FDA legal action.  This is because, as shown in court documents, a contamination or source of the problem was never found.  BHA was found in the pet food — a preservative not listed on the label, and in a quantity higher than usual — but it was not believed that this was the cause of any problems. 

You may note that most natural, holistic pet foods companies avoid the use of BHA.

Petcurean initiated extensive independent testing of ingredients and production operations for Texas-manufactured product after receiving reports of symptoms. One single lot, the equivalent of 53 30-lb (dry pet food) bags was suspected as the source.  This food was made at a Merrick Pet Food plant.   Petcurean ceased making pet food at that plant.  To this day, they retain control and oversight of their dry food manufacturing closer to their home base in Canada.

Legally, it was reported that thirteen dogs and cats were reported to have gotten sick and six died.  Many of the pet owners filed a class action lawsuit against Petcurean and Pet Food Express, who marketed the food.  (More legal info here).  One dog owner whose dog survived wrote that 23 dogs died in the Bay area and that the suspected cause was a heavy metal, although it was never proven.

Lest you conclude that this was a small recall, Pet Food Express paid over $700,000 in refunds and veterinary bills to distressed pet owners.

The class action lawsuit was thrown out of court but it was reported that both companies settled individually with pet owners.

Pet Food Express later filed their own lawsuit against Petcurean, seeking reimbursement of the $700,000 it had paid out and several million dollars in lost revenue.

Petcurean’s attorney said, of this lawsuit:

“After many years of testing the food and review by some of the country’s top toxicologists and the food and drug administration, nothing has been found wrong with the pet food,” he said. “The case that goes to trial next week does not involve any claims of any pet owners but involves a business dispute that involves a pet food that was sold many years ago.”

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find the outcome of the Petfood Express lawsuit against Petcurean.  If anyone knows anything, please steer me in the direction of a link.

Not involved in 2007 Menu Foods Recall

The Pet Food List provides the following, and you should note that it has been reported that Menu Foods, at the time, made 90% of canned pet foods in America, including some of the top holistic brands.  Their involvement should never turn one away from the pet food because problems typically come out of one plant with flawed quality assurance or ingredient sourcing.

Petcurean Pet Nutrition (verified by company 3/31/07, updated 4/22/07)

• Brands include Go! Natural, Foundations, Summit
• Menu Foods manufactures wet food but are not involved in the recall
• Dry foods manufactured at various Canadian Mills.
• Neither wheat gluten nor rice protein concentrate is used in any Petcurean products. (from website 4/22/07)

Conclusion

Perhaps back in 2003, we American consumers were quite naive as to the FDA and pet food ingredients and toxic substances in pet foods.  But after the 2007 recalls, we are all much more savvy.

I think that, any time you have documented stories of large numbers of animals dying from the same, very unusual disease (liver failure), you have to look at the pet food.  That a toxic substance was never actually found does not surprise me.  We learned in last year’s recall that researchers have to know what to go looking for.  They may have some vast “survey” tests but if a contaminant falls out of the range of their experience, they’re not likely to find it.

I would have liked to know the source of the ingredients and whether or not any other products manufactured by Merrick were evaluated. 

Petcurean took a safe, legal route.  Individual consumers appear to have been compensated.  But I think it’s clear that, behind the scenes, they thought that one batch had a big problem.  After all, they terminated their relationship with Merrick and have not trusted U.S. manufacturing, since. 

I hope that Pet Food Express was compensated and that SOMEBODY took Merrick to task for both including a contaminated ingredient and for adding something that wasn’t on the label (BHA).   

It makes those of us who care about the pet foods we feed our pets a bit more wary, seeing that this sort of thing can happen, that pets can die, and that it can fly under the radar without anyone finding the problem or taking responsibility for it.

Copyright 2008 Teresa Holladay
The Holistic Pet Food Blog at
http://IsYourPetFoodSafe.com
This article may be re-posted on other blogs as long as all the links and credits remain intact.

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