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Diamond Pulls Premium Edge Cat Food from Shelves

Thiamine deficiency found in some bags of the product

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com

October 5, 2009

Deficiencies in the thiamine levels of certain bags of Premium Edge Finicky Adult and Premium Edge Hairball cat food have prompted Diamond Pet Foods to pull the products from distribution.

The company made that announcement Premium Edge’s Web site.

The action comes just days after Nutro Products quietly removed from the market three types of its puppy food because of a production error.

Nutro confirmed its decision to “voluntarily withdrawal” the puppy food on its Web site last Wednesday, saying it had discovered pieces of melted plastic in the “production line of select varieties of NUTRO dry dog and cat food products.”

In this latest product withdrawal, Diamond said it is pulling from the market Premium Edge Finicky Adult and Hairball cat foods that have the following date codes: RAF0501A22X 18lb., RAF0501A2X 6 lb., RAH0501A22X 18 lb., RAH0501A2X 6lb.

“Product testing proved no contaminants were discovered in the cat food; however the cat foods were deficient in thiamine,” the company wrote on its Web site. “Diamond tracked the vitamin premix lot number that was utilized in these particular cat foods and have performed testing on another lot of Premium Edge cat food that used the same vitamin premix, and it was not deficient in thiamine.”

Symptoms of thiamine deficiency will be neurological in nature, according to the company. “Any cats fed these date codes that display these symptoms should be immediately taken to a veterinarian,” the company said, adding it has received calls about these health issues from pet owners or veterinarians primarily in the Rochester, New York, area.

The company said it asked all stores that received the cat food to pull the products off the shelves. “The retailers were also asked to contact their customers via email or telephone requesting them to check the date code of the food,” the company said.

Pet owners who have any of the Premium Edge cat foods involved in this action should return the products to the store, the company said.

For more information, contact Premium Edge at 1-800-977-8797.

The Nutro puppy food items quietly pulled off the market last week are:

• NUTRO ULTRA Puppy food for dogs, 4.5 pound bag, best buy date of 9/10/10, and a UPC of 79105 51313;

• NUTRO NATURAL CHOICE Chicken Meal, Rice and Oatmeal Formula Small Bites Puppy, 5 pound bag, best buy date of 9/10/10 and a UPC 79105 23050

Nutro said it shipped those bags of puppy food to PetSmart stores in California, Arizona, Colorado, Texas and New Mexico.

The pet food maker also pulled select 30 pound bags of NUTRO ULTRA puppy food, which were distributed to PETCO stores in California, Nevada, Hawaii, and Utah. Those bags of food have a best buy date of 9/10/10 and a UPC of 79105 51315.

A Nutro representative told ConsumerAffairs.com last week that the company pulled the puppy food off the market after learning a worker’s plastic hard hat was “sucked” into the machinery.

“Based on our extensive review, it is highly unlikely that any pieces of plastic made it into finished product,” the company wrote on its Web site. “However, upon learning of the incident, we voluntarily retrieved all potentially affected products.”

Although Nutro said it found pieces of melted plastic in the production line for dry dog and cat food products, the company is not pulling any feline food off the market.

Customers who have any puppy food involved in this action can return the product to the store for a full refund or exchange, Nutro said.

For more information, pet owners can contact Nutro 1-800-833-5330.

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