Dateline: December 21, 2007
Release Date:
In October 2007, Menu Foods agreed to test Special Kitty cat food specifically for acetaminophen after ExperTox Analytical Laboratory detected the painkiller in a composite of three flavors: Special Kitty with beef and gravy, Special Kitty mixed grill in gravy and Special Kitty with turkey and giblets in gravy. ExperTox also found melamine in the samples, it said, but did not detect any cyanuric acid. Menu Foods recently refuted all of the ExperTox findings regarding acetaminophen in its products on its company website.
"Earlier this year, an individual suggested that acetaminophen was present in certain products manufactured by Menu when a single private laboratory purported to find acetaminophen in products they had tested. Those suggestions and the results of that single laboratory were refuted at the time by tests conducted by the US Food and Drug Administration. The California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory at the University of California Davis (UC Davis) also found no traces of acetaminophen in the products at issue in tests commissioned by Menu."
The statement specifically addresses ExperTox's findings of acetaminophen in Special Kitty cat food: "The acetaminophen claims were recycled in October 2007 when that same private laboratory purported to find acetaminophen in another Menu-produced product that was part of the petfood recall in March 2007. Despite the previous findings and with the goal of alleviating any remaining public concern, Menu commissioned UC Davis to perform tests on the products that were the subject of the new claim. As with the prior tests conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and UC Davis, the most recent tests by UC Davis also found no traces of acetaminophen."