Dry Dog Food (Nutra Nuggets) Not On Recall List Test Positive For Melamine
A central California vet is reporting that tests on a bag of Nutra Nuggets-brand dog food purchased from Costco tested positive for melamine. Nutra Nuggets is not on any current recall list. We are working on getting more specifics from the vet.
Nutra Nuggets is a brand of Premium Edge Pet Foods and is made by Diamond Pet Foods. A month ago, Diamond claimed that they did not use rice protein concentrate in their own foods. Dozens of brands have been recalled due to cross-contamination of pet food ingredients.
Veterinarian Dr. Matt Humason says “We began asking questions…we found the dogs all ate the same food from the same store at the same time… so we sent a sample to get it tested and it came back positive with melamine.”
All four dogs ate Nutra Nuggets brand food.
A sample was sent to a lab at UC Davis and [the pet owner’s] fears were confirmed. “All I’m trying to get people to do is notify the people and let them know we may have problem. Unfortunately I feel Costco has been very hesitant to do that.”
…
They’re working with the distributor to track down the specific batch number. A Costco representative tells KSEE 24 news once it’s been tracked, they will immediately yank the product in question.
(Thanks mikescats)
May 22nd, 2007 at 2:35 am
speechless….
just…
no words….
May 22nd, 2007 at 2:55 am
CostCo: You need a NUMBER in order to do the right thing?
Wow. New corporate low.
May 22nd, 2007 at 3:17 am
[…] Ben at itchmo.com, this report from KSEE 24 News in California’s Central Valley: Dog owners are being warned […]
May 22nd, 2007 at 3:22 am
Kellie- I think we have the words. It’s just, we all know someone is going to top this.
FDA press briefing today, right?
Good job Dr. Humason and UC Davis.
May 22nd, 2007 at 3:42 am
Why can’t they pull it first and ask questions later???? Corporate greedy slime pigs.
May 22nd, 2007 at 3:50 am
kellie and xyz
i’m wondering the exact same thing. scary as all hell that none of these companies seem to want to do the right thing!! what the heck is wrong with them?!!!
*silent scream*
May 22nd, 2007 at 3:51 am
sorry, that should have been kim. anger has a way of clouding my vision . . .
May 22nd, 2007 at 4:11 am
[…] News: California vet claims Nutra Nugget-brand food — made by Diamond Pet Foods — contains melamine. We’ll keep you posted […]
May 22nd, 2007 at 4:37 am
Why is any of the contaminated food still on the shelves? These companies have no shame and no heart to let our fur babies be harmed and harmed again because of their greediness. Well when no one at all is buying any of this franken food you will be out of business and we wont have to worry about one more lying company. You do not endear yourselves to us - no quite the opposite. Step out in the back with a few of us and we’ll tell you what’s really on our minds. PULL ALL THE FOOD OFF THE SHELVES AND PUT AN END TO THE POISONING OF OUR PETS.
May 22nd, 2007 at 5:00 am
Maybe the FDA should be making sure these company’s test for this poison in the pet foods, because there sure not going to do it on there own. I guess only if there caught.
Maybe they know once they hit the list there done.
May 22nd, 2007 at 5:38 am
time to jump on costco, folks. call them up and demand that they pull this food immediately, regardless of batch number. then call diamond and holler on them for awhile. let’s get off the charts on these people.
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:27 am
Two years ago I bought a bag of Costco’s Kirkland brand dry cat food, which is made by Diamond. Shortly after opening the bag the cats refused to eat it. I noticed that the food smelled odd, like sewage. I called the number on the bag which was to Diamond. They apologized and offered me a refund. A week later they called me and asked me to send a sample of the food because a few other customers made the same complaints about the same batch of food. I waited to see if they would recall the food and they never did. I thought that was weird because the food smelled like sewage, the cats wouldn’t eat it, and other people made the same complaint, it certainly indicated something was wrong with the food. Months later, they had a recall on several of their dry cat and dog foods due to aflatoxin. The batch I had a problem with was not listed.
I stopped buying anything made by Diamond Pet Foods. They obviously can’t be trusted and make garbage for food.
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:28 am
It’s too bad the FDA and PFI didn’t have the same “hysterical” concern (like all of us have been accused of) back in March—maybe this would have been eradicated back then—mandatory testing of all the foods now seems the only moral thing to do. Thanks for the peristence of the CA vet—wish he were closer!
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:41 am
I hope someone sends this info to Nutro—their website still says all dry food is safe! Wouldn’t you think they would post something about this breaking news?? But of course we know they’ll hem and haw and then after many more pets could be sickened, they’ll announce this as “breaking news”. Pardon me, I’m going to send them an email—-
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:48 am
And people wonder why I have drastically changed my pets and MY diet….
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:53 am
In my opinion Diamond foods have always been garbage.
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:57 am
“apologies” to Nutro–I realize it’s Premium Edge NutrA nuggets—but the end result will probably be the same (see my post above)
May 22nd, 2007 at 7:25 am
Well if it wasn’t rice protein, Diamond foods, then just exactly what ingredient was it that had the melamine in it? Or are you just adding it to the food without the filler part, ie RPC, freely?
Grrr. I lost my cat to this poisoned pet food. My dog will not be a victim. She eats only a raw meaty bone diet. Period. There will none of this not only inferior food but poisoned food in this house ever. I have quit supporting the people who kill pets with their food.
The news that they will not use Chinese suppliments or other food does not make me feel better either. They can still buy their rendered meats from companies in the US that use dead, diseased and euthanized pets! They can also substitute plant protein which is inferior to meat protein in their food and your pet will still not be as healthy as it should be. Dogs and cats need meat to be healthy. And lately that is the only way.
grrrrrrrr.
May 22nd, 2007 at 7:28 am
Nutro’s Dry Pet Food Products Are Safe
Nutro’s dry dog and cat food kibble not part of recent dry food recall
City of Industry, CA (May 15, 2007) — In light of recent announcements that other pet food companies have recalled some of their products, Nutro wishes to reassure its customers that Nutro’s dry dog and cat foods are safe to feed their pets and that:
None of Nutro’s dry pet foods are involved in the latest dry pet food recall announcements involving contaminated rice protein from China.
None of Nutro’s dry dog or cat foods have been involved in any of the melamine related recalls.
Nutro has never purchased rice protein from Cereal Byproducts, the supplier named in connection with the most recent recall.
An independent testing laboratory has tested the rice protein used in Nutro’s dry pet foods and no melamine was detected.
http://www.nutroproducts.com/mfrecall.shtml
May 22nd, 2007 at 8:29 am
Hate to say it, but this looks like cross-contamination at a Diamond plant.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/.....lled_N.htm
USA Today April 17, 2007
Natural Balance pet food recalled
“Wilbur-Ellis CEO John Thacher said his company sold the concentrate to five pet-food makers, but that most of it went to two firms. One of the primary companies was Diamond Pet Foods, which packs some of the Natural Balance product but doesn’t use the concentrate in any Diamond-made foods, says Diamond spokesman Jim Fallon. ”
http://www.ksee24.com/Story.as.....oryID=6812
KSEE-24 May 21, 2007
Dog owners warned about potentially contaminated food
“Dog owners are being warned about a batch of possibly contaminated food, sold at a Visalia Costco around mid-April, after at least four dogs fell ill.
“All four dogs ate Nutra Nuggets brand food.”
Nutra Nuggets are made by Diamond, just as NB dry was–NB recalled in April and from the timeframe in the KSEE story, it sure seems like the Nutra Nuggets were contaminated by the NB dry which was recalled then. If this is so, then there shouldprobably be more recalls from Diamond.
May 22nd, 2007 at 8:30 am
Does anyone know who makes NutrO? I still have 2; 25lbs bags of Nutro Max Dry food I refuse to feed my furbaby. When I heard in March there were problems I started homecooking and I’ve posted here recently that I have discovered that when I was feeding Nutro Dry that my baby was vomiting frequently and I thought it was due to long hair (he’s a Shih tzu). So now I have to ask, have their been any reports in regards to Nutro Dry that I missed? Is there any relation to the discovery today? I would so love to return these bags I have but I didn’t think there was any official word on the Nutro dry. All in All, I can’t believe what is happening here. We need to do something to stop this and it is apparent the FDA isn’t going to do anything to help!!!!! This is a disgrace to this nation and we’re going down fast.
May 22nd, 2007 at 8:33 am
Does anyone know when and what station that FDA press conference is going to be?
I think this might be a good time to email some reporters who frequent these press conferences this information and put the FDA on the hot seat. I hope someone asks them about this right after the FDA gets done telling us all is well. I enjoy seeing them stutter. :-)
Also we can’t forget to email this info to Sen. Durbin! http://durbin.senate.gov/
And sign up for COOL! (Country of Origin Labeling) www.foodandwaterwatch.org
May 22nd, 2007 at 8:40 am
The follwing is excepted from Fox News this morning. Is China out to get the world? Why would anyone continue to do business with them.
“Chen Yaozu, general manager of Danyang Chengshi Household Chemical Co., said Tuesday his firm had exported toothpaste to Panama containing diethylene glycol, a chemical blamed for the deaths of at least 51 people in the Central American country after it was mixed into cough syrup.
However, Chen said the chemical, a thickening agent often used as a low-cost substitute for glycerin, was permitted under Chinese rules and was safe in small amounts.
“I can say I am very confident about our product’s quality,” Chen said in a telephone interview from his company’s headquarters in the eastern province of Jiangsu. He said company managers were cooperating with investigators.
The safety of Chinese food and pharmaceutical exports has come into question in recent months amid allegations that tainted ingredients from local suppliers ended up in products blamed for the deaths in Panama and for killing pets in North America.”
May 22nd, 2007 at 8:48 am
Good luck getting anyone’s trust with this never ending nightmare. No words from any pet company can make this go away. As soon as I can research enough and know what I am doing, commercial dog food will be a thing of the past. I am working to get there with half kibble and half home cooked. I did have hopes though… I wish Natura would give more information as to where they get their ingredients from - in detail!
May 22nd, 2007 at 8:58 am
Carol Says:
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:41 am
I hope someone sends this info to Nutro—their website still says all dry food is safe!
NutrO and NutrA are Not the same!
Christine
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:06 am
Because Natura is one of the few companies to test ALL their products & will continue to test, they are really the only one I’m comfortable with right now. If you want my personal opinion (& I know many will agree with me), I believe there is still a lot of contaminated dry food on the shelves right now. Whether it’s cross contamination or the makers of the pet food sprinkling RPC like fairy dust on all the food, I still think there’s plenty out there & I believe these dirtbags know it. Scary part is that most of them probably don’t show any RPC on the label. Buyer beware.
I bought a premium dry food (not knowing it was made at Diamond) & started my dog on it. Every time I tried to add a little more, she either got the runs or threw it up. It took me a few days to catch on but it freaked me out. This brand has not been recalled in any way, shape or form so I’m not naming names……because my dog may just have been allergic to one of the ingredients, who knows. Then I found out it was made at Diamond & was thankful I pulled her off it. Buyer beware……Diamond, ANI or MF are on my fecal roster right now & probably forever.
Now a lot of food is being recalled for cross contamination……I personally think that means “we added RPC/wheat gluten even though the recipe doesn’t call for it & we did it when nobody was looking” At least that’s what I think.
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:18 am
That is it, I am getting Pro Pac Dry Food for my kitties
Also, either Pro Pac Senior or Canidae for my dogs
I have had it, I do add veggies and some cooked meat
Sandi,
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:20 am
I bought a new bag of NutrO lamb & rice formula for my dog last winter and she immediately vomited it up twice. I called Nutro and got NO response and I sent an e-mail and got NO response. I would not trust them. Obviously something was wrong with that bag of food. I’ve held onto it just in case. Unfortunately I don’t have the $200 to spare to have it sent to a lab for analysis. I’ve already lost my kitty to this nightmare and over $600 in vet bills racked up. (P.S. I know NutrA is completely different than NutrO but this is for the blogger who has 2 bags NutrO that she won’t use…)
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:21 am
heres what my dog ate this morning - raw ground rabbit (with bone) baked sweet potato and well cooked brown rice. My cat got Aunt Jeni frozen raw cat food. As for us, we are vegetarians and altho we hardly ever eat them we are steering clear of any veggie fake meats etc that are made with glutens.
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:22 am
Great…my dog died last week (from separation anxiety causing her to bite the cage before surgery and bloat, not the dog food), but I want to get a cat soon…I was hoping this would calm down by July, but maybe not. I did used to buy the food from Costco….I feel the dog food was good because Nikki was always healthy…but this doesn’t make me feel super good.
To pp who wanted to return food, PetSmart will return it if you bought it there, recall or not…I did that. I was feeding Nikki Kumpi in the end…have to get it out and donate it to a shelter. :(
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:29 am
I believe, If anyone buys foods from any company that deals with Menu Foods or has had a recall of any kind in the past is taking a BIG RISK. I fear that there are other brands out there that could of slipped by the recall. A batch of food that escaped the FDA’s inspection is not impossible.
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:39 am
I don’t even have a Costco in my state, but I emailed them anyway about their inaction! …Just adding support for those with animals that ate that food.
We all need to help one another with emailing and calling companies, whether we buy that particular company’s food or not! It takes only a couple of minutes to do so.
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:41 am
When is all this gonna stop!!! This has been going on since Jan. you’d think they’d found it been done with it and food could be safe for our dogs and cats now……
I think we need to pay our farmers to grow our grains and STOP buying from China they are’nt worried about the safety here and all this so someone could save a few bucks! THIS IS nuts!!!!!!
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:45 am
I went to Nutra Nuggets website and tried to contact them to complain about them waiting for a lot number, and it kept coming back as “fatal error.” Tried a second time — same result. Called the 800 number and got a message that none of their dry food is recalled and that nothing tested positive for melamine. I pressed “one” for the recall center and got disconnected. It was 9:20 eastern time, which would be 8:20 central time, so their office should be open. If it isn’t for whatever reason, I should have been able to leave a message. You know, I hate these guys who love their stockholders and dis us pet-owners.
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:52 am
I emailed Costco, went under “membership/warehouse” and clicked “other” from the drop-down subjects menu and wrote in caps to forward my message to corporate headquarters. No phone or email address is listed for corporate, only a snail mail address.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:00 am
purringfur,
Here is what I found…
Costco Wholesale is the largest wholesale club operator in the US (ahead of Wal-Mart’s SAM’S CLUB). The company operates nearly 490 membership warehouse stores serving more than 47 million cardholders in 37 US states and Puerto Rico, Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, and the UK, primarily under the Costco Wholesale name. Stores offer discount prices on, on average, 4,000 products (many in bulk packaging), ranging from alcoholic beverages and appliances to fresh food, pharmaceuticals, and tires. Certain club memberships also offer products and services such as car and home insurance, mortgage and real estate services, and travel packages.
Contact Information
Address: 999 Lake Dr.
Issaquah, WA 98027
Phone:425-313-8100
Fax: 425-313-8103
Key People
•Chairman: Jeffrey H. (Jeff) Brotman
•President, CEO, and Director: James D. (Jim) Sinegal
•SEVP, COO, Global Operations, Distribution and Construction,: Richard D. DiCerchio
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:02 am
This vet is wonderful. I keep saying the good vets (most of them) don’t have to worry about any new laws. My brother went to a vet 2 weeks ago and his vet told him the food scare is all overblown only 16 died. He told him to use sciance diet or pro 1, it is American made. He has had no sick dogs or cats. He told him not to home cook. I tried to get him to buy Kumpi but he said he believed his vet and the people on the net ( which he doesn’t use) is over reacting. My brother is a hero from Nam, watched is buddies die. Loves Anerica loves his dog. He had a dog save his life in Nam and then could’t even bring it home.
How many babies are sick or have died eating safe food because people didn’t have the money for a vet? What about our children and old people? I don’t believe our food is safe like the UGLY FDA is saving. Thanks to our debt China owns us our gov. and our babies. The watchdogs have been telling the gov. for a long time and all the gov takes care of is money and big company’s. I bet the stock market goes up again and PFI &FDA will say our food is safe. America will wake up but I don’t know when. I’m sorry but I am just so Pissed off.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:03 am
OOPS, “Anonymous” was me.
I hope the phone numbers help.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:12 am
Well, this is a precedent. If these companies KNOW they are going to be BUSTED BY VETS, maybe they WILL start testing ALL of their rotten food. I know I would NEVER buy anything made by a company who produced poison food they did not find and announce themselves!!!!!!! You stupid companies. That goes double for all of you who haven’t bothered to FIND all of your poison food yet. None of my money for you.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:13 am
Linda, if you want to go to www.pet-grub.com you can read on line ,for free, a book on how to home feed. It’s long but it’s excellent. The vet promotes raw food, but you can use the same principles in preparring cooked food. The big issue she stresses is the calcium-phosphrus balance. That is one teaspoon of powdered egg shells to one pound of meat. She even tells you how to make powdered egg shells and food sources of taurine. This on-line book is a must read for everyone. It’s long—just go to the bottom of each page and click continue. Some parts are dry reading , but keep going it is worth your while IMHO.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:20 am
What is the top secret 5th toxin the FDA identified by is refusing to reveal to save lives????
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:20 am
DebG: Don’t feed the Nutro. My cat got sick from this and when I complained they denied it was their dry food. They said their dry food was not on the recall list. They never responded to my second complaint, saying they need to TEST their food, but they DID send me a coupon for a free bag. I’m sure you can imagine what I did with the coupon. It has not been recalled. My cat did in fact recover eventually after the Nutro Max dry was removed. She had turned into a barfy old lady in a very short time, and now she thinks she is a kitten (she is nine). I am quite positive it was the Nutro Max (yes, my opinion, and I am not the only one who thinks so)
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:21 am
anneh…I dont eat meat either and have been staying away from fakey meat products too. I emailed Boca and asked them about their burgers and if they got any ingredients from china. They said no matter where there food comes from it is safe,,, I emailed them back and said a yes or no answer would of been nice. So take it for what it is. So I called garden burger and they said all their ingredients are from the u.s. and sometimes they get their wheat gluten from Canada.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:22 am
Nothing is safe until ALL the identified toxins are revealed. FDA release the identified 5th toxin to the public now.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:22 am
It’s so hard to understand how/why a country such as the United States would allow this travesty towards animals to advance to the state that it has, to an irreversible state. Someone once said “All that breathes is precious. Who is to say that the suffering of an animal is less worthy of solace than the pain of man? The spark of life is no dimmer simply because it is encased in fur or leather. All deserve to be treated with kindness and respect.” Apparently, no one with their hands in their money pockets are listening!
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:24 am
Helen said: I am quite positive it was the Nutro Max (yes, my opinion, and I am not the only one who thinks so)
No , Helen you certainly are not.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:24 am
Nutro will not recall, but their dry food has made some pets sick–recent batches after earlier ones were okay.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:26 am
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6678973.stm The head of the Chinese delegation… has warned the US against taking protectionist measures that she said would be irresponsible.
Um, well, please stick it.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:30 am
We’re all playing roulette until the FDA stops protecting big money interests and releases the identified 5th toxin to the public.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:32 am
I FOUND IT!
TRY THIS
Nutro Products, Inc. (same as Nutro Pet Products)
445 Wilson Way
City of Industry, CA 91744
Customer Service & Product Information: 800.833.5330
Jerry Sicherman
CEO