Colony Collapse - Food Tainted

[Dr Owens]

Wow, someone is a Purina representative.

Yeah...ok.

[lord jackel]

Hey Gang...Sorry I have been really busy with lots of travel so I haven't been able to post as much or as quickly as I normally could.

After catching up on this thread I am not sure why anyone would challenge or worry about some people being overly cautious...there is nothing wrong with that especially since there are so many unknowns. Remember it was all these "big" producers who claimed their pet foods were safe last year and they weren't involved to only later come back and try to play it off that they had tainted food. I never said PMI foods were bad, what I said was that my supplier was owned by PMI (what I was told on the phone - though maybe "owned" isn't a 100% accurate description of the relationship does it really matter?)

I purchase my food from Martin's Feed Mills a small mill owned/invested in/somehow related to/subsidiary of/ known by/whatever they want to call it PMI. When we first started to consider the fact that it could be the food we contacted PMI who has some connection to all or part of the grain/process that is used in the food I was buying (per the mill). PMI did the testing and made the determination of what was wrong. The food is based on Labdiets 5013 blend.

After I posted (originally never saying where my feed came from) Ed posted saying he was seeing unexplained deaths. RED FLAGS shoot up...he too is feeding a diet based on the same ingredients from potentially the same source. My posted recommendation - " stop feeding for a while or at least monitor your colony closely till we know more". In NO way did anyone post that PMI was to blame or that all their foods were bad...but why not be safe rather than sorry. Before Ed posted that his deaths stopped we didn't know if we had a wide spread food issue or not. That was the point of this thread just an FYI...once others started to notice issues and post - assumptions were made (none of which are bad - this is why we start threads so others know or at least are aware of ANY potential issues - even if none come out).

I am happy that Ed's wasn't a food issue but mine was and I shared that experience so others would know. I am sorry that some got hung up on who was to blame or making sure we didn't blame a company with a poor track record wrongly...but again I ask does it really matter if for a short time people pay more attention and look for any issues? Where is the harm in being vigilant toward our furry friends?

[Dr Owens]

Hey Gang...Sorry I have been really busy with lots of travel so I haven't been able to post as much or as quickly as I normally could.

After catching up on this thread I am not sure why anyone would challenge or worry about some people being overly cautious...there is nothing wrong with that especially since there are so many unknowns. Remember it was all these "big" producers who claimed their pet foods were safe last year and they weren't involved to only later come back and try to play it off that they had tainted food. I never said PMI foods were bad, what I said was that my supplier was owned by PMI (what I was told on the phone - though maybe "owned" isn't a 100% accurate description of the relationship does it really matter?)

I purchase my food from Martin's Feed Mills a small mill owned/invested in/somehow related to/subsidiary of/ known by/whatever they want to call it PMI. When we first started to consider the fact that it could be the food we contacted PMI who has some connection to all or part of the grain/process that is used in the food I was buying (per the mill). PMI did the testing and made the determination of what was wrong. The food is based on Labdiets 5013 blend.

After I posted (originally never saying where my feed came from) Ed posted saying he was seeing unexplained deaths. RED FLAGS shoot up...he too is feeding a diet based on the same ingredients from potentially the same source. My posted recommendation - " stop feeding for a while or at least monitor your colony closely till we know more". In NO way did anyone post that PMI was to blame or that all their foods were bad...but why not be safe rather than sorry. Before Ed posted that his deaths stopped we didn't know if we had a wide spread food issue or not. That was the point of this thread just an FYI...once others started to notice issues and post - assumptions were made (none of which are bad - this is why we start threads so others know or at least are aware of ANY potential issues - even if none come out).

I am happy that Ed's wasn't a food issue but mine was and I shared that experience so others would know. I am sorry that some got hung up on who was to blame or making sure we didn't blame a company with a poor track record wrongly...but again I ask does it really matter if for a short time people pay more attention and look for any issues? Where is the harm in being vigilant toward our furry friends?

Sean,
I don't have time to post much, but I wanted to say, 'thanks for the info." For what it's worth, I didn't take exception to anything you said. What I took issue with was some of the conclusions that people were jumping to based on the limited info that you shared. Posts like this:

When I worked at pet stores Purina was one of the "garbage" food brands out there. With all this formaldehyde stuff, it definitely makes me want to stay FAR FAR away.

What I want to know is why formaldehyde was in there.

I'm not saying that Purina is the best company, or that they make the best pet foods on the market (albeit I am a fan of their Mazuri line foods, but most of their dog foods leave a little to be desired). What I'm saying is that it's unfair to blame them prematurely for something that may or may not have anything to do with them.

[littleindiangirl]

I just received an email from Purina.

to csilvern12@gmail.com,
cc "Kramer, James" <JDKramer@landolakes.com>,
"Herlyn, Jeremey J." <Jeremey.Herlyn@purinamills.com>,
"Brown, Steven" <SCBrown@landolakes.com>,
"Featherston, Beth A." <Beth.Featherston@purinamills.com>,
"Rorabaugh, Matt T." <Matthew.Rorabaugh@purinamills.com>,
date Jan 17, 2008 2:58 PM
subject RE: Contact Purina Mills - www.purinamills.com

hide details 2:58 PM (59 minutes ago)



Reply


Connie, thank you for sharing your concerns with us. I am pretty sure, however, that we do not
obtain any ingredients from any Asian countries. I am copying management on this for verification
of this, and will have someone contact you to see about obtaining a sample of this feed for analysis.

Matt, please contact Connie regarding obtaining a sample of the feed in question. Thanks!


Carol Sharamitaro
Animal Care Specialist
800-227-8941
314-317-5153
fax: 314-317-5284

[Freakie_frog]

Really thats intresting

[lord jackel]

Really thats intresting

I agree...that is counter to what I was told.

But I should qualify that I wasn't speaking to PMI but my supplier when I was told this.

[Freakie_frog]

Wonder if communication got crossed up or maybe the person just did know whether or not they got grain for Asia

[littleindiangirl]

from Sharamitaro, Carol A. <Carol.Sharamitaro@purinamills.com>
to "Sharamitaro, Carol A." <Carol.Sharamitaro@purinamills.com>,
csilvern12@gmail.com,
cc "Kramer, James" <JDKramer@landolakes.com>,
"Herlyn, Jeremey J." <Jeremey.Herlyn@purinamills.com>,
"Brown, Steven" <SCBrown@landolakes.com>,
"Featherston, Beth A." <Beth.Featherston@purinamills.com>,
"Rorabaugh, Matt T." <Matthew.Rorabaugh@purinamills.com>,
date Jan 17, 2008 4:14 PM
subject RE: Contact Purina Mills - www.purinamills.com

hide details 4:14 PM (56 minutes ago)



Reply


Connie, I have been assured by our management that this rumor is not true. There apparently is some
blogging going on the internet saying that our product has been tainted with soybean meal imported
from Korea containing formaldehyde....this is not true.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to call me at the toll-free number listed
below.


Carol Sharamitaro
Animal Care Specialist
800-227-8941
314-317-5153
fax: 314-317-5284

[Freakie_frog]

Clogging on the net...LOL

What about first hand like with Sean

[littleindiangirl]

And the last one...

from Koutsos, Elizabeth <Liz.Koutsos@mazuri.com>
to csilvern12@gmail.com,
date Jan 17, 2008 3:32 PM
subject FW: Contact Purina Mills - www.purinamills.com

hide details 3:32 PM (2 hours ago)



Reply


Connie,

I am sorry to hear about the issues with rodent colonies! I am not familiar with formaldehyde issues with Asian-sourced soybean meal, but it is not an issue with our diets anyway, because all of our soybean (and other major ingredients) are sourced from the United States. I hope that this alleviates your concern with feeding Mazuri Rodent Diets, and I can assure you that we take your concerns very seriously. Thanks for your business, and please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns that I may address.

Sincerely,


Liz Koutsos, Ph.D.
Mazuri Exotic Animal Nutrition (www.mazuri.com)
Nutrition and Technical Services
Land O'Lakes, Inc.
Liz.Koutsos@mazuri.com