More information on the pet food ingredient fiasco.

This article by Elizabeth Wise of USA TODAY gives more insight into the cause of the problems.

Tainted pet food: Lab says melamine not only culprit

Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY
Created: 5/8/2007 9:46:43 AM
Updated: 5/8/2007 9:47:12 AMMelamine combined with a related chemical — rather than melamine alone — likely caused the kidney damage in pets that ate tainted food, one lab investigating the case has found.
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Melamine combined with a related chemical - rather than melamine alone - likely caused the kidney damage in pets that ate tainted food, one lab investigating the case has found.The finding by a laboratory in Ontario, Canada, appears to substantiate many scientists' theory that the melamine found in wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate used in recalled pet food did not fully explain the foods' apparent toxic effects on some animals that ate it.The other chemical, cyanuric acid, can be produced during the making of melamine.Used in pool cleaning, it has also been found in samples of recalled pet food.A team at the University of Guelph showed crystals formed in the kidneys of pets that ate food with the tainted ingredients are close to 50% melamine and 50% cyanuric acid."We took some ordinary cat urine and added three drops of melamine and three drops of cyanuric acid, and we got the identical crystals that we see in the kidneys" of the affected cats, said team leader Brent Hoff, a clinical toxicologist and pathologist at the university's Animal Health Laboratory.Previous research had found melamine alone to be relatively non-toxic. It is used to make plastic.The formation of these crystals in the kidneys appears to be the primary cause of renal failure in the affected animals, said Wilson Rumbeiha, a toxicologist at Michigan State University who is reviewing pathology reports on animal deaths related to melamine.The FDA says melamine was added to two food ingredients, wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate, because it is high in nitrogen and makes the grain product look as if it is higher in protein - and therefore worth more - than it actually is. The ingredients were imported from China.Pure melamine makes clear, rectangular or needle-like crystals. The melamine-cyanuric acid mix forms crystals that are round and yellow to dark brown, said Hoff.Melamine is composed of carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen. In China, it is often made from coal, said James Kapin, a member of the American Chemical Society's chemical health and safety committee.The coal is turned to a gas, and nitrogen-rich compounds are extracted from it. After more steps, the end result is melamine.Melamine and cyanuric acid are chemically very closely related, said Kapin. So cyanuric acid could be created at several points in the processing of melamine.As melamine prices have risen, melamine scrap may been substituted for pure melamine.The Chinese company that sold the tainted wheat gluten had advertised for melamine scrap on websites before the pet-food recall.

More Recalls and Speculation

More pet food brands are being recalled, but the most disturbing news is that the FDA is seriously reviewing whether the addition of the tainted ingredient was intentional or not.
The melamine may have been added to boost the perceived protein value of the ingredient.
For a full story on this go to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18210224/wid/11915773?GT1=9303
Again, whatever brand of pet food you feed, make sure that you add Vetraceuticals.

New Pet Food Recall

More bad news on the pet food front.
Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance pet Foods has recalled two kinds of it food after receiving reports of vomiting and kidney problems.The foods in question are:
Venison & Brown Rice Dry Dog Food and Venison & Green Pea Dry Cat Food.

The cause of the problems with these products are not known but are not believed to be related to the Menu Foods recall which involved some 60 brands of pet food.

We at Vetraceuticals are urging all dog owners to supplement their dog's commercial food with Vetraceuticals Daily Canine Health System in order to provide the additional nutrients so necessary for good nutrition.

Foe more information on ingredients and their benefits go to www.vetraceuticals.com

All's Well That Ends Well

This heart warming story is some good news relating to the pet food recall...but what a close call!

Here's one individual's personal experience...fortunately it turned out to be a good one.

This email was sent to Dr. Christianne Schelling, the Veterinarian who developed Vetraceuticals and is the company's co-founder and President

“Thank You for saving my puppy’s life”

Dear Dr. Schelling,
I have been feeding my puppy, Noni Marie, a very high quality pet food called Bone Appetit and also giving her Vetraceuticals for the added nutrition. I decide to give her an extra “treat” and was putting some Old Roy dog food with gravy on top of her regular food as I thought she would like the flavor.
Noni Marie was not her usual self. She was acting all depressed and lethargic. When I heard about the pet food recall I was shocked. The Old Roy was on the list and Noni Marie was sick. I called my vet and he said to watch her overnight and bring her in the next day if she was still acting poorly. The next morning Noni Marie was throwing up and had diarrhea so I rushed her to the vet.
My vet asked me what I was feeding her and I told him. He asked me what the Vetraceuticals was and I was surprised because I had shown him the ingredient list before. I got the ingredient list and showed it to him. He said that Vetraceuticals was “good stuff” and that it had saved Noni Marie because the Vetraceuticals had enabled her to process the Old Roy food through her system more quickly and had enabled her to get more nutrients from the Bone Appetit to help keep her strong enough to overcome the toxins in the Old Roy.
Now that I have found out that the problem with the Old Roy was rat poison I know how lucky I was to have been giving Noni Marie her Vetraceuticals.
Thank you so much for saving my puppy’s life. I can’t tell you how happy I am that she is alive and healthy.

Debbie Bancheek, Chatsworth California. March 23rd 2007

Pet Food Recall

The pet food recall has been news for many weeks now and we are still all left wondering what happened, how it could have happened and if it will happen again.

As someone who has run a manufacturing operation (albeit not in the pet food industry) I know full well that standard Good Manufacturing Procedures should call for the quality control of incoming raw materials and of completed batches of product. So what happened here?

Obviously nothing. These problems were not caught when the raw materials arrived at the manufacturer, nor after the batches had been processed. Is there any QC at all in the pet food business? One certainly has to wonder.

And what of the fact that so many major brands were effected. Are they all from one huge batch with a few extra ingredients thrown in too differentiate brands? Could they possibly have QC'd all of these batches and missed the problem?

Does anyone out there have any inside information as to what actually happened?

If so, please let me know.