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Pet Food Recall Timeline

"Failures At Every Level," PETA Charges

April 3, 2007

• RECALL LIST • Consumer Complaints --- News • Mars Petcare Recalls Some Pedigree Dog Food • Expert Finds Unexplained Pet Deaths 'Not Consistent' • Illness, Death Dog Nutro Pet Food • Feds Raid PETCO Warehouse in Illinois • Pet Owners Not Thrilled with Poison Food Settlement • CDC Links 2006 Salmonella Outbreak to Dog Food • FDA Orders Illinois Pet Food Maker to Clean Up Its Act • String of Illnesses Afflicts NUTRO-Fed Pets • Pet Owners Not Thrilled with Poisoning Settlement • Menu Foods Settles Pet Food Class Action • Many Pet Foods Still Missing From Store Shelves • Pet Owners Cheer Indictments in Toxic Pet Food Case • Indictments in Toxic Pet Food Case • Diamond Pet Foods Agrees To $3.1 Million Settlement • Tests Find More Toxic Pet Toys • Finding Safe Toys to Give Your Pet • China Agrees to Stepped-Up Food, Drug Inspections • Menu Foods Denies Acetaminophen Found in its Cat Food • Veterinarians Solve Pet Food Death Puzzle • Menu Foods Agrees to Test for Pain Killer in its Cat Food • Lab Tests Again Find Acetaminophen in Pet Food • Toxic Pet Toys: A Doctor's Advice • Consumers Respond to Toxic Wal-Mart Pet Toy Stories • Federal Import Safety Panel Outlines Proposals • Pet Industry Agrees on Need for Toxicity Standards • Industry Responds to Reports of Lead in Wal-Mart Pet Toys • Wal-Mart Attacks Lab Tests that Found Lead, Chromium in Pet Toys • Wal-Mart Reviewing Results of Tests on China-Made Pet Toys • Lab Tests Find Lead, Other Toxins in Pet Toys Sold at Wal-Mart • CANIDAE Denies Reports of Painkiller in its Pet Food • Lab Tests Find Painkiller in Samples of Pet Food • Purina Denies Claim on Bichon Frise Deaths • FDA Blocks Nutro Pet Food Shipment from Entering U.S. • FDA Testing Dog Treats Pulled from Wal-Mart Shelves • Wal-Mart Finds Melamine in Chinese-Made Dog Treats --- • More about Pet Food Recalls ...

Here is the pet food recall timeline put together by People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), documenting what it calls "failures at every level."

• February 20, 2007: According to the FDA, the date on which Menu Foods knew that its products were likely to be making animals sick and/or killing them.

• February 27, 2007: Menu Foods initiates laboratory feeding experiment on 40-50 cats and dogs allegedly knowing that food may be contaminated. 1 in 6 of these animals died during this experiment.

• March 12, 2007: Approximate date that Menu Foods acknowledged the food was toxic and sent tissue and urine samples from affected animals to Cornell.

• March 16, 2007 (Friday): Menu Foods finally announces a recall of 60 million dog and cat food products. The release is on a Friday, the day companies traditionally release news they hope will get as little notice as possible. The FDA did not request this recall.

• March 22, 2007: Menu Foods CEO tells a reporter that "all the tests that we have done to date have indicated that there is nothing wrong with the product" (this is more than three weeks after a test that killed one in six of the animals fed contaminated food).

• March 23, 2007: In response to complaints about Iams dry food, PETA calls on Iams to recall dry foods.

• PETA calls for criminal investigations into Menu Foods and Iams, suggesting that the companies should be prosecuted if they intentionally allowed animals to die, delaying the recall for almost a month.

• Menu Foods declares that aminopterin, a rat poison, is the agent that has caused animals to get sick and die.

• Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) demands answers from Menu Foods.

• March 27, 2007: Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) write to the FDA saying that it is "very disconcerting" that pet food manufacturing facilities are not being inspected.

• March 28-29, 2007: In response to a growing number of dry food complaints, PETA contacts FDA Ombudsman Dr. Marcia Larkins, who confirms that the FDA has been receiving complaints about dry food. The FDA refuses to confirm dry food complaints to the media, at which point PETA sends a press release, "FDA Confirms Dry Food Complaints," to force the FDA to let consumers know about fears from dry food.

• March 30, 2007 (Friday): The FDA alone says it has received more than 8,000 complaints; Menu Foods, more than 300,000. Confronted with more evidence of dry food making animals sick, PETA holds an emergency press conference to demand that the FDA and pet food companies issue a dry food recall, and to call for a criminal investigation into pet food companies.

• The FDA again refuses to call for a pet food recall, as it announces that 1) it has not found aminopterin in tested food and does not believe that Menu Foods' previously stated cause is accurate; 2) it has found a toxic chemical called melamine in the food and animal tissue samples, but that it is not sure this is the cause of animal deaths; and 3) some of the chemical has been shipped to a dry food manufacturer. The FDA refuses to name the manufacturer and refuses to suggest a recall of possibly contaminated food.

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