Menu Foods expands pet food recall – Update 3

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(CCNMatthews – March 24, 2007) – As a result of reports from the FDA and various media outlets that some recalled lots of “cuts and gravy” style wet pet food remain on store shelves, Menu Foods has asked all retail outlets to immediately remove all impacted varieties of wet pet food posted at http://www.menufoods.com/,  regardless of the date code.

Menu Foods remains concerned that consumers are able to purchase recalled items.

There is no known risk from items not listed on the recall list but an abundance of caution is called for in this situation. FDA has been apprised of this action.

As well as pet owners are being asked to report to their veternarian, they are collecting data.
PetConnection.com has an on line self-reporting form, what to watch for with your pet. If you believe your cat or dog has eaten any of the recalled food, arrange for a blood test for your animal. If your pet has eaten recalled food and is showing any symptoms,  take your pet to your vet or animal clinic asap. From PetConnection:

Update: As of 11 a.m. PT, reports to our PetConnection database: 1626 deceased pets (941 cats and 685 dogs). Remember, these are self-reported numbers, and all previous caveats still apply.

16 deaths were reported to the FDA. The US Food and Drug administration told Bloomberg News it is focusing on finding the source of the contamination and getting information to consumers, and although it has received over 4 thousand phones calls, they are not able to provide the number of animals sickened.
The recall does not extend to dry dog or cat food sold in North America.

The Menu Foods recall centre has added staff to take calls -1-866-895-2706.
They received over 2 hundred thousand calls last week.
Menu Foods Emporia Kansas pet food plant has been temporarily shut down, the New Jersey and Canadian plants remain open.

Who are Menu Foods?  It was founded in 1971. According to The Globe and Mail:

In 2003, Menu Foods went into debt to buy a wet pet food plant from Procter & Gamble. The deal came with a five-year agreement to be the exclusive wet pet food supplier to P&G’s Iams division, but the $85-million in new debt came with financial thresholds Menu Foods had to meet before it could pay distributions to unitholders.

The units, which had launched at $10, briefly traded over $16 in 2004. The next year, the company stumbled from a stronger Canadian dollar and a difficulty of passing price increases on to its customers.

Things went from bad to worse when the company suspended distributions after announcing that it was in violation of its financial covenants on the debt issued to buy the P&G plant. Units fell to $3.

But by early 2007, things were looking up for Menu Foods. The Canadian dollar had given back some if its gains, and Menu Foods had been able to implement some price increases. The company was using its cash flow to pay down debt and analysts were expecting it to resume distributions in the near future.

Then tragedy struck.

Menu Foods has been of the most Googled companies this past week. Prior posts and information  here and here

Update: itchmo!seattle has a timeline of Menu Foods events from December 6, 2006 to present.

Update: TORONTO, ONTARIO  (CCNMatthews – March 26, 2007) -
NOT FOR RELEASE OVER US NEWSWIRE SERVICES
Media outlets have reported conflicting and incorrect information, including that Menu Foods has expanded its recall to include all products produced.
To clarify, late last week, the US Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”) and various media outlets reported that some retailers still had recalled product on their shelves. In response, Menu Foods issued instructions for retailers to remove from their shelves all cuts and gravy products of the flavours listed on the recall list, regardless of the dates produced. For many retailers, this had already been completed as their standard operating procedure.
This step did not expand the recall but provided the remaining retailers with an efficient means of withdrawing the recalled product. The full recall list is available at http://www.menufoods.com/.
In addition, Menu Foods reiterated that there is no evidence of any problems in any products manufactured at either its Streetsville, Ontario, facility or its North Sioux City, South Dakota, facility. Furthermore, there is no evidence of problems in any of the products not on the recall list produced at Emporia, Kansas, or Pennsauken, New Jersey.