Although the FDA has issued repeated assurances that pet food on store shelves is safe, the massive pet food recall continues to expand. The recall now includes not only products containing contaminated wheat gluten, but also products containing contaminated rice protein and contaminated corn gluten. Click here to let the FDA know that its sluggish and confused response to reports of animal illnesses and deaths is outrageous and to demand that the FDA Commissioner resign to make way for someone who will act in the best interests of American consumers and their animal companions.

Although the director of the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine called his agency’s investigation into the massive pet food recall “aggressive and comprehensive,” a new company has stepped forward to recall two types of pet food (one formula for dogs and one for cats). Natural Balance Pet Foods has voluntarily recalled the food after receiving consumer complaints about sick animals.

With the FDA reporting that it has received more than 10,000 complaints of sick and dying companion animals, Menu Foods expanded its recall today to include 20 more varieties of food. This new recall came nearly two days after the company’s former wheat gluten supplier, ChemNutra, announced a nationwide recall of its product, admitting that it had known the ingredient was suspect as far back as March 8. The first recall was not issued until March 16. Some dog biscuits are now also being recalled.

Sen. Dick Durbin announced today that the U.S. Senate will hold a hearing on the recall to focus on the delay in reporting the contamination to consumers, the lack of health and safety inspections at the plant where the contaminated food was manufactured, and incomplete reporting on the part of the FDA as developments in the recall occurred. Click here to call on the commissioner of the FDA to resign his post immediately and urge the agency to provide real answers to consumers throughout the nation.

Yesterday, the dean of the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine confirmed that Menu Foods had contacted the college in early March, when cats in Menu labs stopped eating their food. Almost a full week later, the company sent tissue and urine samples from sick animals to Cornell, acknowledging that the food was toxic. Nearly two more weeks passed before Menu issued a recall.

Although the FDA continues to blame tainted wheat gluten for recent cat and dog illnesses and deaths, a mounting number of complaints about sick and dying animals who ate only dry food that did not contain wheat gluten strongly suggests that there is another source of contamination. Evidence from reputable laboratories indicates that an excessive amount of vitamin D in pet food may be to blame. Vitamin D overdoses produce symptoms similar to those seen in animals who recently got sick or died after consuming only dry foods. PETA is demanding that the FDA refocus its investigation to include other likely causes instead of pandering to the pet food industry and focusing on an ingredient that is found in only a moderate number of foods.

PETA President Ingrid Newkirk has called for the commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to step down from his post after revelations that the FDA refused to name the maker of a dry pet food believed to have received the suspected contaminated ingredient. Now, two independent laboratories are claiming that the FDA was wrong when it determined that the agent causing kidney failure in cats and dogs was wheat gluten contaminated with a chemical called melamine found in plastic. The FDA has yet to recall brands of dry food that are reportedly killing dogs and cats. The FDA has deceived the public and media, both about the nature of the recall and about the FDA’s oversight of the pet-food industry. Dr. Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, has claimed to the media, “There are really no differences in the regulation of animal food and the regulation of human food. The same people that inspect human food plants also inspect pet food plants.” However, the FDA’s own Web site verifies that the agency has left “regulation” of the pet-food industry to the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), a nongovernmental body with no power.

Read PETA’s letter to the FDA here.

Purina issued a recall of Alpo Prime Cuts-in-Gravy wet dog food. In addition, Hill's Pet Nutrition issued a recall of its Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry food yesterday, admitting that it contained wheat gluten from the same company that provided the ingredient to Menu Foods earlier this year. This is the first of what may prove to be many dry food recalls. FDA tests of wheat gluten samples from this time period have proved that the ingredient contained poison, which has caused an unknown number of animals to become ill and die, and PETA has received a number of reports of animals who have become ill or died after eating dry food, yet the FDA has so far refused to expand the pet food recall to include these products. For more information on what you can do if your companion is sick, click here.

Click here to watch PETA’s news conference calling for an expanded recall.

Confronted with more evidence indicating that dry food is making animals sick, PETA held an emergency news conference to demand that the FDA and pet food companies issue a dry food recall and to call for a criminal investigation into pet food companies. The FDA says that it has received more than 8,000 complaints, and Menu Foods has received more than 300,000.

Although the FDA has the mandate to request a recall of pet food, the agency continues to refuse to do so and is still uncertain about what is causing pets to become ill and die. In a news conference today, federal officials confirmed that at least one shipment of the same poisoned wheat gluten that may have been responsible for dog and cat deaths across the country was shipped to a dry-food manufacturer. Despite this knowledge, the FDA and pet-food manufacturers have failed to issue a precautionary recall of dry pet food and won’t disclose which dry-food manufacturer received the tainted shipment. PETA is urging all companion-animal guardians who suspect that their animals may have been sickened by tainted food to immediately report this to the FDA. Click here for more information on what you should do if you suspect that your animal companion is ill. Please also be sure to tell Iams and Menu Foods that you won’t buy while animals die.

In response to a growing number of complaints about dry food, PETA contacted FDA Ombudsman Dr. Marcia Larkins, who confirmed that the FDA has been receiving complaints about dry food. The FDA has refused to confirm dry food complaints to the media, at which point PETA sent a news release to force the FDA to let consumers know about concerns related to dry food.

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) wrote to the FDA, saying that it is “very disconcerting” that pet-food manufacturing facilities are not being inspected.

Media reports indicate that Menu Foods and some of its brands, including Iams and Eukanuba, plan to reimburse customers for veterinary bills resulting from their animals’ ingesting tainted food. If you believe that your animal companion is ill because of contaminated food, you may contact Menu Foods at 1-866-895-2708. Also, be sure to check out PETA’s list of cruelty-free companion animal foods here.

PETA has received queries from concerned dog and cat guardians who are worried that animals might fall ill after eating dry food, and as a result, PETA is demanding that Iams and Menu Foods also recall dry food products until they are chemically tested—and cleared—for safety. We have also sent an urgent letter to the director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine urging him to investigate Iams and other companies that sell food supplied by Menu Foods and take appropriate actions if the companies knew—yet withheld—information about pet-food contamination.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) demands answers.

February 20, 2007: According to the FDA, this is the date when Menu Foods knew that its products were likely making animals sick and/or killing them.

February 27, 2007: Menu Foods initiated a laboratory feeding experiment on 40 to 50 cats and dogs despite allegedly knowing that the food may be contaminated. One in six of these animals died during the experiment.

March 12, 2007: Around this time, Menu Foods acknowledged that the food was toxic and sent tissue and urine samples from affected animals to a Cornell University lab.

March 16, 2007: More than two weeks after learning that its food was probably killing dogs and cats, Menu Foods finally announced a recall of 60 million dog and cat food products. The news release was sent out on a Friday, the day companies traditionally release news that they hope will get as little notice as possible. The FDA did not request this recall.

March 22, 2007: Menu Foods’ CEO told a reporter, “All the tests that we have done to date have indicated that there is nothing wrong with the product.” (This was more than three weeks after a test that killed one in six of the animals who had been fed contaminated food.)