Alpo Dog Food Added to the Recall

As the pet food scare widens, Nestle Purina PetCare Co. has recalled all sizes and varieties of its Alpo Prime Cuts in Gravy wet dog food with specific date codes. Purina has verified that some of the product contained a supply of the contaminated wheat gluten from China.

Nestle Purina has also recalled three Mighty Dog products because they were made by Menu, even though no problems had been reported

Wheat gluten is used to thicken the gravy in pet food, and this particular supply came from the same place that serviced Menu Foods, in Canada. Menu Foods has recalled 60 million containers of wet dog food and cat food manufactured under 100 brand names.

On Saturday, experts said that a sensitivity in cats could explain why they have died in larger numbers than dogs.

Meanwhile this week, the internet chat rooms, blogs and veterinarian offices are overwhelmed with nervous pet owners wondering what is safe to feed their pets.

The main questions now whether there is any lesson to be learned here about human food consumption. Greg Aldrich, a nutritionist with Pet Food & Ingredient Technology in Topeka, Kansas said, "E. coli bacteria is behind the recent illnesses from fresh spinach and lettuce, and even the meat recalls. While pet food is processed, microbial contamination is unlikely.

And the question most pet owners are asking right now. Who is responsible for the safety of pet food? The FDA and state feed program officials regulate the industry, but on the whole it is self-policing. Even thought the same thing is true of the human consumption meat processing and slaughtering facilities, they are more heavily regulated. Pet food companies set their own standards for testing raw ingredients and finished products, Aldrich says.

One of the biggest questions for me, is if Menu Foods made all of these products for all of these companies...are they all the same, and are people wasting money buying higher priced brands? Aldrich says that there may be a difference in the quality of the different products because different companies have different recipes.

Bill Marler of Marler Clark, a Seattle law firm says that even though grieving pet owners want to file lawsuits against the pet food companies, it will be a difficult legal case to make. Several states, including Washington do allow emotional distress to a pet owner if the animal was maliciously harmed. Since most states view pets as property, damages are limited, and rarely do pet owners win substantial judgments.

But it hasn't stopped people from trying. Tuesday, a Chicago law firm, Blim & Edelson filed a class action law suit in federal court against Menu Foods citing neglect in the slow recall.