[Emma and Doris]

News Alert: Royal Canin Dog Food Recall!

The Animal Medical Center has learned through the Department of Agriculture and Markets of a Royal Canin dog food recall.

ROYAL CANIN Veterinary Diettm  Canine URINARY SOtm  in gel canned product has been recalled because of excessive levels of Vitamin D3.  The excessive levels of Vitamin D3 have resulted in 8 cases of hypercalcemia in dogs.   The attached alert from the ROYAL CANIN Company contains important information concerning the recall of this product.  

This product is only available for purchase through veterinarians. The following production lots are affected (the \"best before\" date codes are noted on the cardboard tray pack and on the bottom of each can).

Royal Canin Veterinary Diettm Canine URINARY SOtm in gel canned (best before 03/2007, 05/2007, 06/2007).

All subsequent code lots have been tested and, other than the production lots noted above, can be used with confidence.  

 

[murraysmom]

Thank you for posting this. I hope they'll do a better job of getting the word out to their distributors than Diamond did.

 

[Mikey T]

Seeing it is a prescription only diet It has limited distribution direct to vets and the consumers are known.


FWIW diamond did a good job getting word out however the timing of the recall worked against them. Shortly before chrismas when people where out shopping and not paying atttention to the news.

 

[Louise]

ACCKKK I use Royal Canin Urinary So13 but it's kibble has there been a recall on that too?

Lou

 

[Mikey T]

No

 

[biscuit]

Diamond did not do a good job of getting the word out. It was Cornell University, affected dog people and friends/relatives of affected dog people who got the word out and who put pressure on Diamond to get the word out (esp. Cornell). Even days after the contamination was confirmed, the foods were being sold in a number of outlets and Diamond's response to queries by those outlets and by consumers was not forthcoming.

 

[bonnieNtucker]

I work at a vet clinic and we have known about the Royal canin recall for awhile and have pulled all batchs affected off the shelf. We have also called all clients that use that food to double check the best before dates.

 

[pinehawk]

Diamond knew about the problem in November and said nothing until Dec.20th i think.I used Diamond puppy chow all the time,but i'll never use any Diamond product again.

 

[Barbara Winters]

My veterinarian received nothing from Diamond-you'd think they'd at least do a mailing to all veterinarians. She heard it from me about two weeks after I learned of the recall from Biscuit.

 

[Mikey T]

Diamond knew about the problem in November and said nothing until Dec.20th

This is a patently false statement
Diamond Pet Foods Statement on Detection of Aflatoxin in Grain Prior to Recall
"Diamond Pet Foods has seen media reports implying that our company knowingly distributed finished products containing toxic levels of aflatoxin. These reports are false and misleading.

Prior to the initiation of our current voluntary recall, Diamond Pet Foods had no indication that any finished products manufactured by our Gaston, S.C. facility contained toxic levels of aflatoxin."

Dog Food Suspected In Dog Deaths
"Diamond Pet Food's twenty-two state voluntary recall began when two labs confirmed that dogs in New York died from eating Diamond dog food. On December 21st Diamond Pet Foods said in a statement that the deadly toxin, Aflatoxin, was found in both dog and cat food. "

CNN-Company recalls tainted pet food
Friday, December 23, 2005
"Brinkmann said the company was alerted to the problem last Friday by a veterinarian in New York state, who said he had seen three dogs that were exhibiting symptoms associated with liver disease.

"They were all three on one of our foods," Brinkmann said."

That would make Diamond'd first contact with a problem with there food, not the incoming stock 12-16-05 and still then it was not yet confirmed a link between Aflatoxin and the dog food which would come later after toxicology testing.

"you'd think they'd at least do a mailing to all veterinarians"

That would assume such a list exists which is not likely. There is also a matter of who's responsibility it is to stay upto date in fast breaking new in area of practice?

 

[PiedmontBassetlover]

I lost my 10 month old Basset to Diamond. Our pet food supplier was unable to get information from Diamond. Our breeder, a long term user of Diamond and large consumer, was not able to get shipments in December and was NOT told why. They were not told of any problems, but mysteriously D stopped shipping. If ANYONE should have been immediately been told there was a problem, it is this breeder who bought directly from a distributor. Only when I told them that my dog died days after being taken off Diamond, did they become alarmed and test thier dogs -- 11 with compromised liver numbers.

Diamond can say all they want on thier website or press releases, but I believe they diddled around trying to figure out how widespread the problem was and to not make a broad recall for fear of publicity. I'm no vet but cannot believe there are not web mailing lists that vets participate in. When I took my dog in and explained the problem to first the emergency vet, and then the specialty vet in town, no one had heard of the problem until they went on line and researched it. That was on January 2. You can rationalize how forthright Diamond was all you care to, but there appeared to me to be a long lag time before the recall came out and little done to promote it. What promotion came from general press reporting on it; and people like me who agreed to be interviewed solely because I wanted anyone to know of this before what happened to Annabelle happened to any others.

Regardless of what to me seemed to be a too late admission of a problem with the food, the fact is that aflatoxin is something not uncommon in corn. I have quit researching it, but learned a fair amount about this. It is clear that Diamond did not do proper QA/QC to detect this. They admit they rejected some corn, but this got through. They screwed up and it killed my and many other dogs. Thier behavior in the recall I did not feel was quick enough, but obviously others do. I really don't care because no pet of mine will ever eat Diamond food again. And frankly, thier lawyer crafted letter (replete with errors and cover your a__ statements) that I had to sign to get my vet bills was an insult. And they were quick to point out that a pet is property and they are only liable for the cost of the pet and expense incurred. They may be a good company, but they made some decisions that will likely cost them thier future.

 

[Mikey T]

"Diamond can say all they want on thier website or press releases, but I believe they diddled around trying to figure out how widespread the problem was and to not make a broad recall for fear of publicity"

The recall made was far larger than the orininal suspected food and vastly large than what testing proved was the tainined batches.

"They admit they rejected some corn, but this got through"

That goes without saying
Diamond Pet Food Media Statement on FDA Investigation Findings

" I'm no vet but cannot believe there are not web mailing lists that vets participate in. When I took my dog in and explained the problem to first the emergency vet, and then the specialty vet in town, no one had heard of the problem until they went on line and researched it. "

I'm sure there are an those vets that frequently use the resources more than likely new of the recall. hey
from Veterinary Information Network (VIN)world's first and largest online veterinary database and community.
"Diamond Dog Food Recall December 2005"
Date Published: 12/21/2005 12:22:00 PM

Cnn did a story on the 22 In any recall the fastest way to deceminate the information is through the electronic media. The information was out there for those that cared to listen.

Were mistakes made? I'm sure there always are but given the cercumstances they did a pretty good job. Once the hotline was set up. Diamond was field over 2,000 calls a day. Many from outside the recall area, many from owners of dogs that were sick by other causes but often misdiagnosed. Take a look at some of the Blogging sites.

" PAM opined on January 11th, 2006 @ 8:30 am
...THE PUPPY PASSED ON FROM A VIRUS. IT WAS NOT LINKED TO THE FOOD. EVERYTHING THIS DOG HAD WAS THE SAME. THEY DID CHECK THE LIVER AND IT WAS FINE. "

"jane opined on January 11th, 2006 @ 6:39 pm
feel badly, on so many levels telling the results. Because I wouldn’t ever turn my back on those affected by this. And the irony of them all three eating Diamond Food for a week (the week after Thanksgiving and then getting sick…made me, naturally, highly suspect) However, it turns out that my dogs were poisoned by rat poison…which has many of the same effects as aflatoxin. (delayed or non existant clotting times and liver damage)"

It even contain the false report first repoted on "the
AnimalHelp website 1/4/06 that implicated other food made by diamond inecplictable dog food that does not even contain corn.

This is what Diamond had to deal with. Owners with family with real losses cause by their neglegence in on of their plants. Hysterical owner unwilling to listen to reason, and a sick few trying to make a buck off of someone else pain. I think it is unfair to judge their results of the recall champaign against unrealistic ideal situation, but against a more realistic reference point.

as such one such realistic reference point is what happened in Isreal at the same time with the the same problem and how that was handled or lack thereof.

 

[PiedmontBassetlover]

Not sure what your point is. If you think I'm going to go along with your point that they did a good job with what they had, not gonna happen. They did not pay attention to QA. My dog died. In my business, if you don't pay attention to QA people can die, and I and my staff go to jail. It's the water supply business. On to other things now.