FDA Confirms Probe of NUTRO Pet Food Deaths, Illnesses
By Lisa Wade McCormick ConsumerAffairs.com Copyright 2009 © All Rights Reserved
April 20, 2009
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has confirmed that the agency is investigating NUTRO pet food, following a series of unexplained illnesses and deaths. Consumers have been complaining for more than two years that their pets have become ill after eating NUTRO products; many have recovered when they were switched to other foods. The company has steadfastly denied that its food is to blame. Until now, the FDA has been mum about whether it was actively investigating the company. Today, the FDA’s Division of Freedom of Information confirmed the agency has an ongoing investigation into NUTRO — and said that investigation could be criminal or civil in nature. The office did not elaborate on the nature or focus of that investigation. <SNIP>
Read Entire article here
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/04/nutro_foia.html
This article is false. According to Mars who contacted the FDA told them their is No ongoing investigation this is a copy of what I received from them
ISSUE UPDATE – NUTRO® FDA Investigation Claims by ConsumerAffairs.com
Background
For the past year, ConsumerAffairs.com, a self-described “independent Web-based consumer news and resource center,” not affiliated with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission or Consumer Reports, has been selectively posting consumer complaints and authoring its own statements that draw false links between isolated instances of illness and death among pets, and the consumption of NUTRO® pet food products.
Situation Update
On Monday, April 20, ConsumerAffairs.com posted an article titled “FDA Confirms Probe of NUTRO Pet Food Deaths, Illnesses” which asserts that there is an ongoing FDA investigation into NUTRO. According to the reporter, the FDA denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by ConsumerAffairs.com seeking a list of complaints and lab results collected regarding NUTRO® pet food, citing an ongoing investigation wherein “The document(s) constitute record(s) compiled for law enforcement purposes, the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.”
Since Monday, the blogging community has widely reported on the ConsumerAffairs.com story, and CNN Headline News ran three mentions of the ConsumerAffairs.com story in Tuesday’s early morning news cycle.
Mars contacted the FDA regarding this matter and confirmed with officials from the division that regulates pet food (CVM, the Center for Veterinary Medicine) that there is no current or ongoing investigation of Nutro Products, Inc. At this time, the FDA press office will not issue a statement, but we will continue to monitor the situation and readdress with them if needed. *******However, the FDA will allow Mars to reactively confirm that there is no current or ongoing investigation. *********
Action Taken
We sent our updated statement to CNN Headline News in an effort to get them to update their story, and prevent them from reporting further on the ConsumerAffairs.com article. We also provided a response to ConsumerAffairs.com in the hope that they will post our statement and amend their article.
By: Heather on April 23, 2009
at 3:25 pm