Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Is my food making me sick? Let's ask Trader Joes!

UPDATE - 3/21
Mom just called Trader Joes and now understands what is going on. It seems the ingredient in Menu Food pet food that caused the recall is NOT present in the food the company makes for Trader Joes. But to be extra careful, TJ's has still removed the food from their shelves and told Mom not to feed me TJ's food until they have fully tested the food. They will post updates on their website. Phew, that's quite a relief. Until further notice, no more lamb and rice for me. Tonite I get real chicken! yay!

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I'm sure you all heard about the pet food recall issued by Menu Foods who manufacture most of the dog and cat food in the northern hemisphere. Mom got a fright when she saw the news as she started wondering whether my dog food had made me so sick last week, plus I'm still vomiting now and again...

Mom feeds me Trader Joes canned lamb and rice. Mom looked on the can and just saw that it was manufactured by "Trader Joes". That wasn't enough for my Mom, she called her store and asked who really manufactures their food. Their guy Jacob told Mom it was a secret that he couldn't divulge but assured her their food was not involved in the recall as far as he knew. Mom emailed the main email on their website and on Monday got this reply:
"Please be assured that none of Trader Joe's Pet Foods or Pet Treats are involved in the Menu Food recall."

Mom emailed other foxie friends and they urged her to still find out who makes the food! So Mom used an alternate email and name, and emailed them again.
And would you believe, tonite she got another response - a response that MAKES NO SENSE, even to me, a lowly semi-literate dog. A response that made my Mom sick inside:

"Thank you for contacting us with your concerns regarding Trader Joe’s dog food. According to the FDA, Trader Joe’s pet food products are NOT the same pet foods that are currently being recalled by Menu Foods. However, since safety is of the utmost importance to us, as an extra precaution we have voluntarily pulled all canned pet food items manufactured by Menu Foods from our shelves until we can test the products and be 100 percent sure they are safe for your pets. The products voluntarily pulled are: Dog Food Chunky Chicken 22 oz., Dog Food Lamb & Rice 22 oz., Cat Food Turkey & Giblets, Cat Food Premium Fish/Salmon/Rice and Cat Food Premium Chicken/Turkey/Rice.

So let me get this straight. THEIR FOOD IS SAFE, BUT PET FOOD ON THEIR SHELVES MADE BY MENU FOODS HAS BEEN PULLED SUCH AS LAMB AND RICE - which IS A PRODUCT THAT PURPORTS TO BE MADE BY TRADER JOES. In one breath they say their food is not made by Menu Foods, and in the next breath they say they are pulling food in their store made by Menu Foods. Mom will call Trader Joes tomorrow to find out what is going on!

AGC alias Puky

Me and my pals

Today my favorite dogwalker P took me to her house so I could play with her dogs Elvis and Gia and chase her cats! P is also a budding animal photographer so she got us all to sit and stay and took our pictures - check out the cat, it looks like he's about to dive bomb me!

It's a bit warmer today so it was a pleasure being out at the park playing with my friends in the muddy field.

Well, that's all I have to report today -- I'm off to steal something worth chewing!

AGC