Walmart re-labeling and re-stocking recalled pet foods.

Please be aware that Walmart is selling recalled Special Kitty foods by applying new product codes over the old ones. Their excuse - Menu Foods told them it was okay!

http://www.itchmo.com/wal-mart-fails...from-sale-2441

http://www.itchmo.com/more-recalled-...-wal-mart-2463

Walmart has clearly established itself as a Menu Foods soulmate, in ethics and in morality. I will be checking every store within an hour’s ride of my home for the poisoned food (how could they DO that?!) and reporting it. Other than that, I will never set foot inside a Walmart again.

Also, Walmart has quietly pulled two types of dog treats (made in China, of course) that tested positive in 17 "in-house" tests for melamine. The state says they can't find any measurable levels of the contaminant and the FDA claims that the levels they've found are too low to cause any harm.

http://www.itchmo.com/melamine-found...-for-dogs-2414

http://www.itchmo.com/chicken-jerky-...ed-by-fda-2435

http://www.itchmo.com/no-melamine-fo...e-chemist-2452

Grrrrrr. Wal-mart has had a lot of unsafe practices in the past few years, I won't shop there or Sam's Club. As for them being in bed with their suppliers, it's more like the suppliers are in bed with Wal-mart because Wal-mart can strong arm them into doing what they want. If a supplier loses a customer like Wal-mart, that can completely ruin their business. I can see Menu Foods lying to Wal-mart, if Wal-mart is threatening to sever their business with Menu Foods.

That is just so wrong. I've had a strong dislike for Wal-Mart for awhile now.

This is just another reason for me to always tell people "Don't buy GENERIC/store brand cat food."

Thanks for the heads up. I will pass it on to my cat loving friends.

I don't like Wal-Mart for a lot of reasons, and rarely shop there...this is just another reason to not like the store. For a place that's losing sales to Kmart and Target and other stores, they sure aren't helping their image by doing this.

Anecdotal at this time, but there's been a report from a groomer that a dog was surrendered to his/her shop with pouches of Ol' Roy that ALSO had new labels applied over the old, recalled, ones. Shelton (see previous links) and the news crew each obtained their Special Kitty specimens from two different Walmarts. Obviously, this is NOT an isolated occurrence.

At this time, it's unknown which company is actually applying the labels, Menu Foods or Walmart, but the fact is, Walmart is knowingly selling the re-labeled pet foods.

Simply horrifying.

This is sad to read.

I hope that all cat owners are made aware of this.

I have always been a Target fan anyways!

My mittens has alopecia http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache...lnk&cd=7&gl=us from eating that GARBAGE SPECIAL KITTY DRY CAT FOOD for most of her life. I'm almost positive the dry food caused her skin condition.

What goes around comes around, eventually.

I would be extremely wary of any of the recalled foods supposedly being back on the shelf. I don't know that most of them have even started production again... I know here at the grocery the foods that were recalled are still gone.

I wouldn't be surprised if other stores are trying to pull this as well, but I'm completely unsurprised that this store is.

Looking at Special Kitty's ingredient list is enough to know it isn't the best choice...

It's interesting that they're using UPC stickers to foil the store protection. Several months ago, when I returned two recalled bags to Petco, I was very impressed that when the cashier scanned them in to return, a giant red box appeared warning that this bag could not be sold. They're strong protections, I think, and certainly the FDA seems much better at imposing a recall than the Consumer Product Safety Commission was with those magnetic toys. (Terrible -- you'd think kids dying would warrant safety measures comparable to pets dying.)

I think if you check that there's not a sticker, you're good.

Also, it's possible that these Special Kitty lots were recalled erroneously in the first place -- in other words, that those UPC codes were erroneously thought to have come into contact with the tainted ingredients. Also, some companies were worried about date recall confusion, and in a second wave recalled batches that they knew weren't tainted, just to make it easier. Maybe they then decided that since the recall was over and they knew the food was unaffected, they'd put it back out there. (Not the wisest decision from a PR standpoint.)

Originally Posted by Zissou'sMom

I would be extremely wary of any of the recalled foods supposedly being back on the shelf. I don't know that most of them have even started production again... I know here at the grocery the foods that were recalled are still gone.

I wouldn't be surprised if other stores are trying to pull this as well, but I'm completely unsurprised that this store is.

Looking at Special Kitty's ingredient list is enough to know it isn't the best choice...

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EXACTLY!!!!!!

and its not Wal-Mart's fault if things are re-labeled. They have to go by what the supplier says. Its not like they pay their associates or train them well enough to know whats going on 24/7. If its been recalled or to be taken off the shelf, it has to go though home office, and when scanned the computer as well will tell us its not to be sold.

ANd yes, before you ask, i work there. WE have lots of suppliers, especailly when your a super store, and not given the information about the foods. I work the service/return desk, and we usually find out about things on the news, not that home office would tell us.

Wal-Mart deserves alot of crap for the way they treat their employees, but NOT for how they treat the customer. IF someone throws a fit in my store, management will give them a gift card AND bend over backwards to make them happy, to the point of taking something back and refunding them EVEN if we dont get a credit for it.

Thanks for posting this.
I NEVER set foot into any Walmart and never will, but one of the people that helps us feed the strays in the neighborhood has been known to buy food for the strays there.
I'll have to ask her to make sure it's not the Special Kitty stuff.

wow, i shop at walmart a lot because we are tight on money and they have affordable stuff..i don't buy my kitty food there but sometimes WE DO pick up dog treats...thank you for the info!!!!

Man, that just angers me!!! And the lady had the warning of the "item not to be sold"!!!! Sheesh, If I would have seen that then I would have immediately told them to take them off my tab and go see a manager about it. That lady sure does not seem like she cares much for her four cats.

Before jumping to conculsions, please remember that not all recalled foods were "bad." They recalled so many as a precaution only. Even though not all of it was tainted. I wouldn't feed store brand food to my cats anyway but that is a seperate issue.

Originally Posted by mzjazz2u

Before jumping to conculsions, please remember that not all recalled foods were "bad." They recalled so many as a precaution only.

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This is true. My cat ate three or four different recalled foods over the course of the five months (due to the slow rollout of recall information, and my unfortunate knack for picking the next food that was going to be recalled), and he didn't develop the symptoms. I gather that it was a small proportion that was actually harmful.

Originally Posted by mzjazz2u

Before jumping to conculsions, please remember that not all recalled foods were "bad." They recalled so many as a precaution only. Even though not all of it was tainted. I wouldn't feed store brand food to my cats anyway but that is a seperate issue.

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EXACTLY////

MANY of the foods are back into production and being placed on store shelves... some items are still missing due to many brands having to find new places ... ONE big company actually acquired a Menu plant NOT in the recall and will be moving it s food s there

Foods already back out

Iams In some area s

Nutro rolling out slow

Natural balence rolling out slow

Until the pet food is tested by a reputable lab, no conclusion as to its possible contamination can be reached.

However, the fact remains that Walmart is selling Special Kitty products (and possibly Ol' Roy products - multiple reports now) with recalled codes covered up by new labels. Who made that choice and why is still unknown, but at least four cats (one owner) are sick and Special Kitty is suspected.

As for the treats, Walmart's tests were positive for melamine, the FDA's tests were positive for melamine (although they claim too small an amount to cause harm - yeah, whatever), and multiple accounts of sick and dead dogs who ate the treats have been reported.

Is panic in order? Of course not. Is caution warranted? Oh, you bet.

I just thought you would all want to know.

Originally Posted by Auntie Crazy

Until the pet food is tested by a reputable lab, no conclusion as to its possible contamination can be reached.

However, the fact remains that Walmart is selling Special Kitty products (and possibly Ol' Roy products - multiple reports now) with recalled codes covered up by new labels. Who made that choice and why is still unknown, but at least four cats (one owner) are sick and Special Kitty is suspected.

As for the treats, Walmart's tests were positive for melamine, the FDA's tests were positive for melamine (although they claim too small an amount to cause harm - yeah, whatever), and multiple accounts of sick and dead dogs who ate the treats have been reported.

Is panic in order? Of course not. Is caution warranted? Oh, you bet.

I just thought you would all want to know.

Click to expand...

All of the RECALLED BRANDS have BEEN THIRD PARTY TESTED... Many of the "premium" brands have decided to continue the third party testing for things like melamine as most in house facilitys dont have the tests needed... That is why many of us are using them again ... IE they are LIKELY SAFER than WAY BEFORE the recalls ...

If in fact Walmart is using the recalled CODES and relabelling we all have alot to worry about...Melamine is in the HUMAN food chain too

What the crap? Are they doing this in Canada too, or just the US? I stopped by there the other day and they had signs about the Menu Foods recall. I never stopped to check if there was any of the tainted food.

I honestly hope no one here feeds their kitties "special kitty" anyway.

It's trash.

But for the uninformed, that's absolutely horrible!!!!!