E.V. stores spread word of major pet food recall

Pet owners were worried Saturday that the pet food in their cupboards could be deadly after millions of containers of dog and cat food sold at major retailers across North America were recalled.

But many pet owners in the East Valley still weren’t aware of the recall on Saturday evening. And that gave Mesa resident Cathy Hounshell another reason to worry.

“It’s shocking because they’re the top pet foods people use,” said Hounshell, who operates a nonprofit group called Missing Mutts, Cats, Etc. “A lot of people don’t really know about it.”

Jill McClimon of Gilbert shopped Saturday at PetSmart and said she hadn’t heard the news. She said she serves her cats Dora and Tiny Nutro’s wet food, but not the kind being recalled: the “cuts and gravy” style, which consists of chunks of meat in gravy.

The recall applies to cans and small foil pouches manufactured between Dec. 3 and March 6.

PetSmart clerk Jamie Forbes of Mesa said managers informed her about the recall when she arrived at work early Saturday morning. The store at 1733 S. Stapley Drive in Mesa had already removed the recalled varieties from its shelves.

But the large plastic bins for recall returns sat empty. Forbes said no returns had been made yet.

Fliers at PetSmart recommended that pet owners substitute all wet foods with dry food of the same brand, or with wet or pouch food from unaffected brands such as Friskies, Alpo and Pedigree.

At Pet Club, 55 S. Country Club Drive in Mesa, employee Ashley Paramore said she learned of the recall from a customer. Her store carries four of the affected brands.

She said she was poised to do refunds, but no one had claimed one as of Saturday evening. Only one customer attempted to buy a potentially affected can, which Paramore prevented.

Menu Foods, the Ontario, Canada-based company that produced the pet food, said Saturday it was recalling dog food sold under 48 brands and cat food sold under 40 brands including Iams, Nutro, Eukanuba and Science Diet.

The food was distributed throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico by major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kroger and Safeway.

An unknown number of cats and dogs had suffered kidney failure and about 10 died after eating the tainted pet food, the company said.

Two other companies — Nestle Purina PetCare Co. and Hill’s Pet Nutrition — announced Saturday night that as a precaution they were voluntarily recalling some products made by Menu Foods.

Menu Foods’ chief executive and President Paul Henderson estimated that the recall would cost the company an estimated $26 million to $34 million.

Sarah Tuite, a company spokeswoman, has said the recalled products were made using wheat gluten purchased from a new supplier, which has since been dropped for another source. Wheat gluten is a source of protein.

Who to contact

Menu Foods designated two phone numbers: (866) 463-6738 and (866) 895-2708.

Online: The affected brands along with product codes, descriptions and production dates are available from the Menu Foods Web site, www.menufoods.com/recall.

What happened

Menu Foods announced Saturday it was recalling dog food sold under 48 brands and cat food sold under 40 brands. The food was distributed throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico by major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kroger and Safeway.

• The recall is limited to “cuts and gravy” style pet food that was sold in cans and pouches.

• Two other companies — Nestle Purina PetCare Co. and Hill’s Pet Nutrition — also voluntarily recalled some products made by Menu Foods as a precaution.

Cat food

• Americas Choice, Preferred Pets

• Authority

• Best Choice

• Companion

• Compliments

• Demoulas Market Basket

• Eukanuba

• Fine Feline Cat

• Food Lion

• Foodtown

• Giant Companion

• Hannaford

• Hill country Fare

• Hy-Vee

• Iams

• Key Food

• Laura Lynn

• Li’l Red

• Loving Meals

• Meijers Main Choice

• Nutriplan

• Nutro Max Gourmet Classics

• Nutro Natural Choice

• Paws

• Pet Pride

• Presidents Choice

• Price Chopper

• Priority

• Save-A-Lot

• Schnucks

• Science Diet (select brands)

• Sophisticat

• Special Kitty Canada

• Special Kitty US

• Springfield Prize

• Sprout

• Total Pet, My True Friend

• Wegmans

• Western Family

• White Rose

• Winn Dixie Dog food

• Americas Choice, Preferred Pets

• Authority

• Award

• Best Choice

• Big Bet

• Big Red

• Bloom

• Bruiser

• Cadillac

• Companion

• Demoulas Market Basket

• Eukanuba

• Food Lion

• Giant Companion

• Great Choice

• Hannaford

• Hill Country Fare

• Hy-Vee

• Iams

• Key Food

• Laura Lynn

• Loving Meals

• Meijers Main Choice

• Mighty Dog (select brands)

• Mixables

• Nutriplan

• Nutro Max

• Nutro Natural Choice

• Nutro

• Ol’Roy Canada

• Ol’Roy US

• Paws

• Pet Essentials

• Pet Pride - Good ‘n Meaty

• Presidents Choice

• Price Chopper

• Priority

• Publix

• Roche Bros

• Save-A-Lot

• Schnucks

• Shep Dog

• Springfield Prize

• Sprout

• Stater Bros

• Total Pet, My True Friend

• Western Family

• White Rose

• Winn Dixie

• Your Pet

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.