Pet Food Recall Expands to Natural Balance-Rice ingredient

[memyselfI]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18173908/

I remember in the 'what do you feed your pet' there were a few who fed Natural Balance.

[Lzen]

!@#$

I just started my dogs on Natural Balance. The bag I bought is the Ultra Premium. Is this one affected?

[Smed1065]

WASHINGTON - An industrial chemical that led to a nationwide recall of more than 100 brands of cat and dog foods has been found to contaminate a second pet food ingredient, expanding the recall further.

The chemical, melamine, is believed to have contaminated rice protein concentrate used to make a variety of Natural Balance Pet Foods products for both dogs and cats, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday. Previously, the chemical was found to contaminate another ingredient, wheat gluten, used by at least six other pet food and treat manufacturers.

Natural Balance said it was recalling all its Venison and Brown Rice canned and bagged dog foods, its Venison and Brown Rice dog treats and its Venison and Green Pea dry cat food.

[stlchiefs]

I saw this and was going to post it too. This is getting crazy. I do find it ironic that last week there were a few talking about how good Nat. Balance is, but who knows maybe they are just the 1st to admit the problem?

[Lzen]

Natural Balance Pet Foods,® Inc. Issues A Voluntary Nationwide Recall on Specific Venison Dog & Cat Food Products


Contact:
Consumer Inquiries:
(800) 829-4493
Media Inquiries:
Daniel Bernstein
310-275-0777

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Pacoima, CA -- April 17, 2007-- Natural Balance, Pacoima, CA, is issuing a voluntary nationwide recall for all of its Venison dog products and the dry Venison cat food only, regardless of date codes. The recalled products include Venison and Brown Rice canned and bagged dog foods, Venison and Brown Rice dog treats, and Venison and Green Pea dry cat food. Recent laboratory results show that the products contain melamine. We believe the source of the melamine is a rice protein concentrate. Natural Balance has confirmed this morning that some production batches of these products may contain melamine.

The recall was prompted by consumer complaints received by Natural Balance involving a small number of cats and dogs that developed kidney failure after eating the affected product.

Dogs or cats who have consumed the suspect food and show signs of kidney failure (such as loss of appetite, lethargy and vomiting) should be seen by a veterinarian. We recommend our customers immediately stop feeding our recalled venison products regardless of date code and return unused product to their retailer for a full refund.

The products are packaged in bags, cans and zip lock treat bags and sold in pet specialty stores and PetCo nationally.
No other Natural Balance products are involved in this voluntary recall as none of our other formulas include the rice protein concentrate.

Although the problems seem to be focused on a particular production period of the venison products, over the last four days we have notified our distributors and retailers by phone and e-mail to immediately stop selling and return all recalled Venison dog foods and treats and the Venison dry cat food. Venison canned cat food is not involved.

The source of the melamine appears to be a rice protein concentrate, which was recently added to the dry venison formulas. Natural Balance does not use wheat gluten, which was associated with the previous melamine contamination.

None of Natural Balance’s other dry formulas, none of our other canned or roll products and none of our other treats are involved with this voluntary recall.

We continue to work closely with the FDA in their ongoing investigation.

Consumers with questions may contact the company at 1-800-829-4493 or email info@naturalblanceinc.com.

[Lzen]

WTF is up with these ingredients from China being contaminated? There is something seriously wrong going on here.

[Joie]

Why can they not just use American ingredients with American standards? This is getting scary. I don't have a pet myself, but it seems weekly I'm having to warn my parents about a dog food. They are still feeding their dogs the biscuits I thought were affected because it turns out they weren't on the list. That scares the hell outta me. It's hitting a point where it may be worth the money to feed your dogs chicken, hamburger and eggs for awhile.

[Redrum_69]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18173908/

I remember in the 'what do you feed your pet' there were a few who fed Natural Balance.



YOu eat dog food?

[stlchiefs]

Joie makes a good point. I might start feeding my dog live chickens. Not only could this be a healthy alternative, but it could provide a fair amount of cheap entertainment watching her try to catch a chicken.

[memyselfI]

WTF is up with these ingredients from China being contaminated? There is something seriously wrong going on here.

Well, it makes one wonder how the human food supply could be immune and if it really is. :hmmm:

[CosmicPal]

Thanks for the post!

I've fed my dog Natural Balance!!! It's good dog food and he loves it. However, thankfully, it was just a change-of-pace dog food for him. His regular dog food is Innova, but I like to change it every once in awhile by getting a small bag of some other natural dog food, such as Natural Balance. Not any more.

Whew...

I've mentioned this before, but I'm big on feeding my dog a raw food diet and have since he was a pup. This morning, I made him a bowl of cooked chicken, chopped carrots, oatmeal, and peas. He loved it.

I don't feed him raw every day, just a few days a week. But, I'm beginning to wonder, if maybe I should just start feeding him raw foods from now on... :shake:

[B_Ambuehl]

A couple of weeks back there was someone saying that their vet had told them that this is a much bigger problem then what is really being said.....sounds like that is the truth.

[memyselfI]

A couple of weeks back there was someone saying that their vet had told them that this is a much bigger problem then what is really being said.....sounds like that is the truth.

That would have been me and it wasn't the Vet where I worked it was something I read on a veterinary web site.