By now you’ve probably heard that the substance tainting all the Menu food is a drug used to fight cancer and outlawed for use on food products in the States. And the source country for this tainted wheat? China, a country not generally thought of as producing safe food products for export or being particularly dog-friendly.

Nikki Weidner of Howl911 barked in some thoughts with which I agree. BTW, Howl911 is doing a great job of staying on top of the Menu Recall!

Nikki Weidner wrote:
Hi Joy,
Is it any surprise that China is the source of the poisoning that caused so much death and tragedy for so many dogs and cats in this country & Canada? Combine this with China’s dog meat trade, pet fur trade and the brutal slaughter of tens of thousands of healthy, unaffected dogs as a “solution” to China’s rabies outbreak.

How in the world can the FDA approve any U.S. food production, be it for pets or humans, when some of the ingredients are coming from nations such as China, where poisons like aminopterin are allowed, yet are illegal in this country? Something is terribly, terribly wrong with this.

I am so ANGRY now I could just scream. Why would Menu Foods buy their wheat ingredients from China? Only one answer to that question: it was probably the CHEAPEST source they could find. So much for their statements regarding commitment to quality. Yeah, right.

I think you hit a lot of on-the-nose truth! Thanks!

Here’s an article discussing the poison found in the Menu pet food.

Thanks to MSNBC for this article.

Experts: More deaths from pet food are likely
Contamination still a mystery as at least 16 animal fatalities are reported

March 24, 2007
ALBANY, N.Y. – Pet owners were rechecking their cabinets and threatening legal action after state officials said rat poison was found in pet food blamed for the deaths of at least 16 cats and dogs.

It was unclear how many deaths would eventually be linked to the cuts and gravy style food produced by Menu Foods, but scientists said Friday they expected more would be announced.

The substance in the food was identified as aminopterin, a cancer drug that once was used to induce abortions in the United States and is still used to kill rats in some other countries, state Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker said.

The federal government prohibits using aminopterin for killing rodents in the U.S. State officials would not speculate on how the poison got into the pet food, but said no criminal investigations had been launched.

The pet deaths led to a recall of 60 million cans and pouches of dog and cat food the company produced and sold throughout North America.

After Fridays announcement, Menu Foods food advised retailers to remove all brands from their shelves, a company spokesman said, though the recall still applies only to the dog and cat foods identified on its Web site since March 16. Those cover cans and pouches of food packaged from Dec. 3 through March 6.

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