The dog food recall issue

The North American dog and cat food recall issue has been commenced as early as March 2007 in the United States and Canada. The recall came in when steady reported issues of renal failure occurred in pets. The issue was for the most part involved with the wet dog food because of the wheat gluten that it contained was contaminated. The polluted wheat gluten was reported to be manufactured by a Chinese company.

The fist recall came voluntarily by a Canadian manufacturer known as Menu Foods. They did this after they carried out several tests on test animals and concluded that the food substances were causing the animals to be sick or possibly result in death.

Soon follow was the publicized reports of renal failure and all kinds of unexplained animal sickness and deaths. After this, many of the top brand dog manufacturing companies that used this contaminated wheat gluten substance decided to voluntarily recall their pet food products as well.

By the end of March, veterinary organizations have reported over one hundred cases of dog deaths, and by early to mid April, the number has increased within the one thousand ranges. Menu Foods, the first company to recall their food substances has reported only sixteen deaths.

The United States Food and Agricultural Department (USFDA) refuse to give figures or predictions of the amount of sickness or deaths caused by the food companies. The reason for this is unlike humans, animals do not have a database to keep medical records of animals. So it has no way that they can tell if the dog deaths were caused by the food substances or by other causes. Once the recalls started, the government has gone through extensive research but there is currently not one hundred percent accurate conclusion to what is it that caused the dog’s death. The FDA speculates that it was a chemical substance in the wheat gluten known as melamime.

The Chinese company that manufactured these wheat gluten denies any responsibility for the deaths, but they have been very cooperative in working together with the American investigators. In the United States, there were some very extended media coverage about the recall issue, and the public was outrage about the authorities' incapability to properly regulate the food substance put on the grocery shelves.

Additionally, the pet food industry (especially the dog) has suffered devastating loses from the recalls. Menu Foods have reported loses as much as thirty million dollars solely from the recall. One can only imagine that this industry will continue to lose money and perhaps open doors to other markets in the dog and pet food industry.

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