More Recalled Menu Foods Pet Food Found In Wal-Mart
Yesterday we posted about Sheri McComber, an Alabama cat owner, who bought recalled Special Kitty cat food from a Wal-Mart store. She claims that four of her cats are sick from eating the recalled cat food.
This was not just an isolated incident in one Wal-Mart store. There is still more recalled cat food on shelves in another Wal-Mart store. A TV news team in Alabama went to the Clanton Wal-Mart and found dozens of Special Kitty Pouches just like the ones McComber had purchased.
Initially, the product code checks out as safe, but if the sticker is peeled off, there is another product code underneath. The original UPC code underneath the sticker matches the ones on the pet food recall list.
Because the stickers are over the recalled product code, the items can be purchased by consumers. The news investigator left one of the stickers off of the packages. When the cashier scanned the label on the package, it said do not sell and the cashier would not let him purchase it.
Calls were made to Menu Foods and Wal-Mart in regards to the recalled cat food still on shelves. Wal-Mart issued a statement: “We have worked with our supplier to investigate the concerns raised by WSFA 12 News. Menu Foods, the manufacturer of Special Kitty products, assures us that the products currently available in Wal-Mart stores are, indeed, safe.”
A spokeswoman for Wal-Mart said the problem is with the packaging, and not the product. In regards to the packaging problems, she said Menu Foods would have to answer that question. There has been no comment from Menu Foods.
Source: WSFA TV
(Thanks menusux)
August 24th, 2007 at 6:50 am
Even though I’m suing Kroger, I’ll give them credit where credit is due. The last time I was in the store that sold me the Menu Foods poison that killed my cat, there wasn’t a single can of Menu Foods’ product on the shelf.
Kroger deserves to be sued. There is no doubt in my mind about that. They cut the deals. They made the guarantees. They made the profit.
With that said, Walmart deserves it a hundred fold over Kroger.
It is now over 5 months since the recall was announced and they are still selling poisoned pet food. That goes so far beyond outrage I have no words.
August 24th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Ya know, I’m not even surprised. We have suspected that the food would show up somewhere in some form at some time. It’s just plain criminal! Walmart is history in my books!
August 24th, 2007 at 8:36 am
[…] should go to jail over this. I’m just going to quote Itchmo again: There is still more recalled cat food on shelves in another Wal-Mart store. A TV news team […]
August 24th, 2007 at 8:37 am
What’s even worse is that the only story about Walmart is the lead poison toys, why isn’t this in the news?
I am not a big Walmart fan but I have shopped there on occasion but I sure would not buy any pet food there ever again.
In my local grocery store I had returned a banned can of cat food and the next time I went in the can was on the shelf. Needless to say I caused quite a scene and when I returned any other “banned” food I took a permanent marker and wrote banned all over the cans.
August 24th, 2007 at 8:41 am
Yes, more tainted pet foods on ALL Wal-marts pet department shelves. We knew it was an ongoing issue, yet so many people will not find out because of the HUGE coverup by criminal Wal Mart. More suffering and dying poisoned pets. I am sure it has been happening everyday for months now. No reporting. Just horrible suffering and dying. Now who is going to sue the GIANT Walmart? They have become purveyors of death like Petco and Petsmart.
August 24th, 2007 at 9:11 am
I’ll be taking a ride this am to the Walmart store where I had bought recalled food in February and prior and if I see this coverup of the upc I will be calling my local tv station and then the attorney general’s office as selling this product before any info was discovered is completely different than knowingly selling contaminated (poisoned) food. I’ll be happy to make a complete scene as I saw first hand what this poison does to two happy cats…
August 24th, 2007 at 9:30 am
I hope the selling of recalled food and toys brings Walmart down. Why do you think everything is made in China? That corporation is responsible for more lost US jobs and more lost lives than any other I can think of. Walmart is evil.
August 24th, 2007 at 9:35 am
Carol, I’m right behind you. Walmart has clearly established itself as a Menu Foods soul-mate, in ethics and in morality. Not only will I be checking every store within an hour’s ride of my home for the poisoned food (how could they DO that?!), Walmart has lost my patronage forever. The suffering and deaths of our furkids MUST be acknowledged and honored.
August 24th, 2007 at 9:46 am
I wonder who is responsible for the new stickers…….is Menu putting new stickers on the recalled food & sending it back to the stores? Or is Wallys putting new stickers on it & trying to sell it? I sure would like to know who is trying to resell recalled pet food. This is beyond even my wildest imagination……this saga seems to have no end.
I don’t know what to say about this……I honestly couldn’t even imagine any of the PF companies putting the crap in the food that they’ve been doing probably for years so everything that followed just boggled my mind. Then these companies never bothered to go public to apologize & voluntarily pay the vet bills for all these pet parents who fed their friggin poison to their babies, the FDA covering up for their buds, the poisoners…….I mean, nobody but nobody did the RIGHT thing. Then comes salmonella, more dry food recalled, treats……after months of wondering exactly what happened to the recalled food, we hear about Darling getting melamine tainted “meat scraps” from Menu & that info covered up for months & now new stickers on recalled pet food. This is like the worst nightmare I’ve ever had & can’t wake up from……so it goes on & on. I can’t even imagine what might be coming next.
All this causes one to wonder: what’s in the “new” bags of recalled dry food? Or in the “new” all natural food from these companies that had recalls. Are they rebagging the recalled poison in pretty new packaging? Wouldn’t surprise me.
Buyer beware…….
August 24th, 2007 at 11:02 am
I’m going to guess the PF company will come out and say it’s “new” food in “old” bags. If they had to reprint the bags they would have to raise the price. This from the people who made up the six month rule on packaging. As if they didn’t have a credibility problem already. Hitler wrote it in “Mein Kampf”: the big lie technique. To paraphrase, if you tell a big enough lie often enough, people will start to believe it. That must be this industry’s motto.
August 24th, 2007 at 11:10 am
wow. and to blame it on the packaging?! WTF?! the food is poison. period. end of story.
both Menu and Walmart have the ability to put the new UPC code stickers on. it will be interesting to see who’s the guilty party.
August 24th, 2007 at 11:13 am
From the WalMart Corporate website:
http://www.walmartfacts.com/articles/4932.aspx
Statement on Manufacturers’ Pet Food Recalls
Last Updated: Thursday, May 03, 2007
“At Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, we want our customers and members to have total confidence in their pet food choices. That’s why, in addition to directing all of our locations to immediately remove all recalled items, we took the extra precaution of placing a computerized block on all recalled products so they cannot pass through the cash register.
“In addition, Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club have been in touch with our pet food suppliers and they’ve assured us that the pet food products available for sale are contaminant-free.
“Pet food safety is a top priority at Wal-Mart as we understand the important role that pets play in the lives of our customers and members. ”
Note date was May 3–not one word about this or Bestros.
August 24th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Sounds to me that Menu foods was useing their old packages and putting a new code over them. After all I am sure they are losing a lot of money lately! Wal Mart did test those treats and found melamine in them so I would say this is a Menu foods thing. Each Wal Mart is run by its own manager and each one is ran differently. Some good. Some are ran badly. I do not think Wal Mart would cover up its labels. It would be unlawful to do that. This is a Menu Foods thing. They have lost a lot of business lately by different companies pulling out. Their cost is way down. They were using old packaging to save money. Pretty stupid to do!!! They figured it would go unnoticed I am sure. I would not think they would continue to sell tainted food because it has already been recalled and of course this could get them into big trouble. But in big business I sure would not put anything past Menu Foods with trying to get away with murder.
August 24th, 2007 at 11:53 am
Walmart sold a treat that they KNEW was poison for 27 days, this sticker crap is just more of the same, this is CRIMINAL behavior.
If you, or I, sold such a thing we would be in the handcuffs before you could blink!
Most important is that PETS ARE STILL DYING FROM POISONED FOOD AND TREATS. We have to reach as many as we can with the news and wasting time trying to get the mainstream media to do it is not something the pets who will die tomorrow can afford. If WE don’t do it, it will NOT get done.
And more pets will die or suffer.
There are radio talk shows all OVER this country, we need to be calling and talking about this! Post on groups where you can , email, you know the drill.
If you are online reading a story and it has a comment section, then comment.
August 24th, 2007 at 11:54 am
this is actionable. the atty general should find out who did this and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. i doubt that it’s new food… i think someone’s recycling the tainted food and figures that when the pets die people will think it’s something else, because after all, the poison food was recalled, right?
knowingly selling poison as food is a crime, and should be treated that way. the people responsible should *go to jail*.
August 24th, 2007 at 11:59 am
you would think if Menu was using old packaging for new food, they would have been very quick to respond. in fact, they should have been prepared up front for questions regarding the stickers. and you would think they would have informed all their customers of what they were doing because of the register issue and well, the fact they were using recalled packaging. is the company really THAT stupid?!
August 24th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Tell WalMart on the corporate level what you think:
http://walmartstores.com/Globa.....o?catg=221
August 24th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
I too would like to know who put the new stickers over the old ones. That will tell us who is responsible. As much as I dislike Walmart, its hard to believe that they would be the ones to relabel the bags. What would they gain? Companies do things the Walmart way and if they don’t comply they’re out. So I have no doubt that Menu Foods would reimburse Walmart for returns.
My bets are on Menu Foods. Menu Foods has shown itself to be dishonest, untrustworthy actors numerous times. Just like they thought they could wait out the poisonings, they probably figured that no body would notice the new stickers.
The question still remains - is this old bad food relabelled, or is there a new/continuing problem with melamine contamination of Menu Foods products.
August 24th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Yesterday I got a rescued dog, owner surrender into my shop. 13 yr old Bichon Frise named Bogey Guess what…Bogey came with some dog food, pouched Ol’Roy…I looked it up..the upc number is different and so is the date…so it’s NOT on the recall list, but then I felt the label, and it was a STICKER…so I peeled it off and guess what…the recalled upc is under the sticker…hmm….
I called menu foods, they said they had a similar complaint yesterday…and do not feed the food…
I called the FDA they are going to be looking into this
I called walmart corporate office, they will also be looking into this. All have my contact info.
Until this happened to me I didn’t know about yesterdays recall….of course I wouldn’t feed this crap food to any animal ….but it frosts me to see this. Menu claims Walmart did this…who knows.
It is a different date so could be safe….and maybe they were too cheap to change the packaging, cheap fix is put a new sticker on it…but like the other person…I’m suspect when I find stickers…
And they wonder why consumer confidence is down??????
August 24th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
off topic, but has anyone heard of the baby carrot recall in the western states?
August 24th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
Just got back from my local Walmart and sure enough I bought one packet of each flavor of Special Kitty with a sticker over the old upc and I’ll check it out with my list of recalled dates and upc’s and post back in a little while—this is in southern RI by the way.
August 24th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
Well it appears as though the upc that is covered up is the same as on the recall list however the dates that are stamped on the pouches are jun/jul 09 but what really troubles me is the new upc code that is scanned doesn’t have the date in it so who is responsible for making certain that the dates are indeed safe??? I did notice that the packaging has changed and have one of the old package looks on the mixed grill and I also have one tuna with new packaging in my freezer that was bad—this is really troubling and I think I’ll call my attorney general’s consumer complaint line and see what they think—I’m now going to put these double bagged right next to my 17 frozen Special Kitty packs from March!!!
August 24th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Carol, did you also check the special kitty canadian recalls? i can’t imagine new packaging with old UPC codes.
August 24th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
straybaby: I finally got info because I just bought carrots for my dog. It’s the baby carrots only……if you need more info, I can find it for you.
Back on topic: I actually can’t imagine either Menu or Wallys intentionally covering up the UPC of recalled pf w/new stickers & trying to sell it. I’m no lawyer but I would think this is highly illegal & would open them up to a heap of lawsuits. If it’s happening in more than one store, which it appears to be, more animals are going to die. This is a tragedy (all over again)…..
August 24th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
I have the UPC printed out for US and sure enough they’re the same—the packets look different except I got an old mixed grill and I posted before one of the tuma flavor that I had in Feb was a “new” packet so I wonder if they were changing the look before this disaster? I called the RI atty general’s office (consumer complaint) who said to call US Product Safety Commish who told me to call the FDA Ctr for Vet Med and if any of you have been around since April you willl remember my first encounter with the FDA—this wasn’t their problem she said!!! What should we do!!! How are the people at the registers know if the dates are okay??? I will never feed this to my cats but as we all know there are so many people who have no idea of this!!!
August 24th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Did I understand right that some of you think Menu food is re-using the bags to save money? Or did you mean that they are using un-used bags from an old supply of bags? As Straybaby said, that would be easy and quick to explain, and customers would understand.
Consider that so far these companies have gotten away with criminal behavior. Either WalMart shipped the product back to Menu and Menu relabeled it, 0r——Menu sent WalMart new labels to relabel!
Why would they throw away food that they had spent their dollars to make, that would cost them way more money than printing up labels to relabel!? They have gotten away with killing thousands of dogs and cats and sickening thousands of others, so why stop now?
August 24th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
thanks Pukanuba, but i’m on the east coast :) got the info from my mom and was just wondering if it was out in the media there. of course the recall was issued 6 days after the sell by date . . .
my farm fresh carrots are making m extra happy since i share them with the dog! this treat recall had me thinking about all the treats people don’t feed because they *didn’t agree with their dog*. pig ears come to mind. . . .
August 24th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
I think that Menu Foods made the packets I bought today as the dates were not on the recall food and were felt to be okay as they stopped using the tainted gluten by that date (?) and maybe WalMart has had to put a different upc sticker as the old ones are supposed to scan as do not sell—but my concern is who is checking the dates which are stamped on the packets and not part of the UPC?? Especially since there is a woman who thinks her cats were made ill !!
August 24th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
I just called my local NBC station and gave them a heads up–and told them about the stickers over the UPC’s and the woman with the possible sick cats who just bought the cat food (in another state)—they covered my cats’ illnesses that Sunday of the recall so hopefully they won’t think I’m just some wack-job!!–Although after 5 months of taking care of my sick cats and also Harry my golden with cancer, I probably am a wack-job!!!
August 24th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
This may be the most vile, evil thing I’ve heard since this started; this is INTENTIONAL MURDER. Where are the prison terms? Where is the US justice department?? Where is the media??
August 24th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
I did not say I believed that Menu is using old bags. I said I would not be surprised if they claimed that. All they have done for the past five months is whine that they’re victims of importers and “over-the-top” bloggers. Why would anyone expect them to change their tune now? What I believe is the only epiphany these companies will have, will be the one that happens in bankruptcy court. Food and feed companies have been getting away with this for decades. My wife found this article:
http://www.everything2.com/ind.....=printable
Sounds just like Menu Foods and ChemNutra.
August 24th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Roberto P: Its sound exactly like Menu Foods and ChemNutra and the FDA and the Department of Ag. Business as usual.
August 24th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Yes, 2CatMom, and the courts found in their favor, not the victims. And the children of those people that ate the contaminated meat and milk are having health problems today. Didn’t you love the “secret testing” part? This could be Menu’s script.
August 24th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
I just read an article that WSFA 12 got a statement from Menu Foods that the re-labeling is intentional—there is a Q OK imprint on the food that is safe—I googled Menu Foods news and found it there.
August 24th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
I just came back from Jefferson City, MO Walmart. the shelves are full with these packets with the stickers over the old UPC code, both the Old Roy & Special Kitty packets. I picked up a flaver of each just in case they are needed for anyone for testing.
August 24th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
I just came back from Jefferson City, MO Walmart. the shelves are full with these packets with the stickers over the old UPC code, both the Old Roy & Special Kitty packets. I picked up a flaver of each just in case they are needed for anyone for testing.
August 24th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
I would not trust a word Menu Foods says. And if, a big IF, they really CARED what people thought about their deadly poison they would make better products and pay the vet bills for the pets THEY HAVE ALREADY KILLED.
If Vick can do jail time for animal abuse then SO CAN THEY!!
August 24th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Yep E. I agree Menu killed FAR more pets than Vic did!!
August 24th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
I hope somebody gets one of these bags tested. If it is tainted, we should be able to put Menu out of business.
August 24th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Walmart, advertizes in the Canadian Kennel Club magazine, Dogs in Canada. They have the inside cover two page spread sometimes more.
I am blown away that they are selling recalled pet foods, why is it even on the shelves! It tells a lot for sure……….advertize in a magazine that
reaches thousands of pet lovers, and here they are selling poison pet foods. Time to crush the big box imho. I so dislike big box stores, I’d rather pay a bit more for excellent service, and quality goods. Poison our kids, poison our pets, kill the small town businesses, what’s next?
August 24th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
I just went with a friend to Wal Mart in Elizebeth City, N.C. The shelves are loaded with Special kitty, but I just read this so i didn’t look at the ups codes yet. I’ll try to get a chance.
August 24th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Maybe I’ve been reading too much but I’m totally lost. Menu is sending out cans or pouches of pet food that was recalled in the old packaging but saying what’s inside is safe & putting a new UPC on it to prove it? Am I losing it or is this what we are being told? I guess I’m a wack job (as Carol so eloquently put it) but something doesn’t smell right. And to prove it, what about the lady who fed it to her cats & they are now sick. Or am I confusing one story with another? Wouldn’t surprise me as my brain is on overload & I think my forehead is flashing “TILT”…….
I swear, this stuff is coming at me so fast that I’m totally losing track of what’s what any more.
And……we are to believe that Menu Foods has turned over a new leaf, has totally tested all this “new” previously recalled pf, put their approval stamp on it & we are to believe them, trust them & immediately run out to buy some “new” previously recalled pf & feed it to our beloved fur kids. I think they have a screw loose. Like they’ve been honest with us in the past? I wouldn’t feed their quality tested crap to a rat much as I hate rats. Believe anything those liars have to say……not for a friggin second.
August 24th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Pukanuba im 100% in agreement with you.
August 24th, 2007 at 5:54 pm
So basically, Menu Foods put new stickers on unsold cans of recalled pet food and sent them out a new.
Isn’t that fraud?
August 24th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
Now hopefully all the people who reproached me for saying I will NEVER EVER buy another Menu Foods product again will understand why I said that.
Also, I want to say that I have refused to buy ANY pet-related product at Wal-Mart for the last 10 years because they still sell aquarium fish at a lot of their stores and they have no business selling live animals. All the fish tanks I’ve ever seen in any Wal-Mart except one (Angola, IN) were in deplorable condition, untrained personnel selling sick fish and giving people terrible advice about fishkeeping. Numerous letter, phone calls and emails have (of course) done nothing at all to stop the sales of fish in their stores, so I stopped buying any and all pet products from them.
I’m glad I did that.
August 24th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Like I said it looks like Menu foods was useing old packaging and putting new labels over them. What I find strange and I am not sure about this but I would think that all of the codes from all the recalled food would have already been used up. I would think they would have started with new cans and packages. Another thing don’t they stamp the dates on them? So.. if they stamp the dates on them then the code would only be the place of the canning and usp stamp. And… this may be true since all of the Wal Marts probably stopped all recall foods from being scanned then they would have to change the code or the computer would not except the new ones.
Now the big question is if this is true and this food really was made in july and not earlier and this made this ladies pets sick then that means there is new melamine food out there now and not from the old recall.
I sort of believe this anyway. I did not believe the FDA when they said that the cattle, pigs, and chickens, and fish did not have enough melamine in them to harm us. I think they did not check enough of them and only a few to do this testing and confirmed it from small of ammount. I think there is still a lot of melamine in the pet food.
I wrote the FDA and ask them about the quanitity that could harm our pets and they only send me crap I have already read. Melamine has been tested in dogs but not cats. So.. they do not know how much can harm a cat and yet it will be in their food and the dogs food and each can may be different. One may have a low ammount and then aother could have a deadly ammount. There is no way of telling this.
The FDA left it up to each company to check their own products for melamine, etc. WEll they are certainly going to find it in the food!! So how much is too much?????
The FDA is not going to answer that question. Is there anyone that can?????????? WE need to know this question. Just how much is too Much????
I am sure it will be in all feed animals for some time to come. The adults will pass it on to the off spring for a while too. The chickens and young cattle will get more of it from the adults because of the blood they feed them. It will just go back and forth.
In the mean time pets will be eating it. Like I said some cans and packages could have much more melamine in them then others. Pets may still die and not from old recalled food but new food.
I could not believe what my girl friend told me just yesterday when I spoke to her about the treats being recalled. She said why do you get on this sight and read all of that stuff. It only makes you upset and if I were you I would not get on there any more.
I said well I would like to know what is going on in this world and I do not want to feed my baby or see anyone else feed their pet something that could kill them. She said well i would not do it cause it would only upset me.
How many people feel this way? I could not believe she said that.. She should not even have a pet if she is not going to try to feed it good quality products. I guess she would rather see her pet die of something she fed it! REALLY SICK!
August 24th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
I can’t speak for the American company as it is different than ours, but I know for a fact that Wal-Mart Canada pulled all tainted food at the very first indication there was problems with it AND flagged the UPC so it could not be sold.
IF tainted food is being sold in American Wal-Marts I would be very surprised. It is FAR more likely in a (perhaps unwise) effort to save money on reprinting all their packaging, Menu Foods is using old packaging and putting on new UPCs.
Also, with gentle respect to all, it is very easy for anyone to cry “Wolf” and say their pet died from tainted food. Without any substantiation they wont be able to do any criminal action, but they sure can wreak havoc with the resulting public outcry.
I suspect my own dear Dove (Belgian Shepherd who was my best friend for over 10 years) was hastened to the Rainbow Bridge because of the tainted food, though I have no proof because she passed away just after the recall and we had her cremated. I am furious that the tainted food made it to stores without any quality control agencies catching it along the way. I was intrigued to see how many companies’ foods were affected too. It was NOT just Wal-Mart brand foods that were tainted. So how is it Wal-Mart’s fault? They buy the food in good faith, even if they get it cheap they work under the assumption it is safe. The same with the Fisher Price toy recalls. Wal-Mart buys Fisher Price toys because the market wants them. If the product is defective (again) how is that Wal-Mart’s fault?
Many of you people really need to calm down and THINK about what you are saying. Be vigilant about the foods you choose for your pet, of course, but don’t be Vigilante in blaming the retailer for manufacturer failings! That is like trying to blame a local Ford dealer because the Pinto was defective.
Sheesh.
Try not to be sheep people.
Deb
August 24th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Deb, you need help. The retailer ismaking the profit so it is their job to also make shure it’s safe.
August 24th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
Help me out here, not being in the retail or wholesale business,—I thought the UPC codes changed for each shipment (or each batch) of food, that is why the recall is identified by the UPC number.
If this isn’t so, if UPC just identifies the product, then all the product, good and bad batches would contain the same UPC? For years? So how would they know what to recall?
I still think they are reselling the recalled pouches of food.
August 24th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Perhaps unwise? Perhaps unwise! Try absolutely totally moronic. Why would anyone trust Wally World at this point? That would be “perhaps unwise” of them to do so.