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Scope of pet food recall widens

'Dog biscuits become latest product"

PET FOOD RECALL

Lab results: Melamine not only culprit, research says | Cats appear more vulnerable

China connection : FDA limits Chinese food additive imports | Asian giant grapples with food-safety probe | China admits tainted food link

Probe continues: FDA raids wheat gluten importer | Melamine may not be accident | P&G vows more control of Menu Foods


Science: Pet deaths not easy to solve | Timeline

Recall widens: Cross-contamination prompts new recalls | Premium dry foods recalled | Canadian pet food added to list | Dog biscuits become latest product



Solutions: Owners go organic | No easy answer on feeding Fido | Poison vs. pests | Raw foods are popular, but ...



Backlash: Pet food maker Menu Foods to pay vet bills | Audio: Cat owner sues



Toll: Scores more may have died





By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY
The pet-food recall got bigger Thursday, but federal officials say that looks like the end of it.
Sunshine Mills on Thursday recalled dog biscuits made with allegedly tainted wheat gluten, the fourth pet-food maker in the last week to recall products. Canada's Menu Foods on March 16 started the recall, one of the biggest in history, by recalling more than 60 million cans and pouches of wet cat and dog food.

Sunshine, like Menu and the other pet-food makers, is believed to have received wheat gluten from China containing melamine, a chemical used as a fertilizer in Asia but not allowed in food in the USA.

The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that it had tracked all the suspect wheat gluten and knew of no other companies likely to do recalls.

Menu Foods, however, extended its recall to include another month of production — just six days after it reassured consumers that all non-recalled Menu products were safe. Menu's recall, covering more than 90 brands, now includes products made from Nov. 8, 2006 to March 6, 2007 — not starting Dec. 3, 2006. No new brands joined the recall, but 20 new varieties of those brands did.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Food and Drug Administration | Menu | Chemnutra | Sunshine Mills
Menu spokesman Sam Bornstein says the extension was necessary given that Menu got wheat gluten from Las Vegas importer ChemNutra, and ChemNutra said Tuesday that its shipments from the suspected Chinese supplier commenced Nov. 9, 2006.

The other companies that recalled product, ChemNutra has said, purchased much smaller amounts starting in January.

Menu, which makes wet food for leading brands and private labels, expects most of the additional products to have already been pulled from store shelves. It requested on March 24 that retailers remove all affected varieties of Menu's recalled products, regardless of date code.

Sunshine, of Red Bay, Ala., recalled biscuits sold under its own brands, including Nurture, Lassie and Pet Life, and private labels, including Wal-Mart's Ol'Roy.

Separately, the FDA warned consumers not to use American Bullie A.B. Bull Pizzle Puppy Chews and Dog Chews manufactured and distributed by T.W. Enterprises because they have the potential to be contaminated with the salmonella bacteria.