Alpo Dog Food Added to Recall List

Mar 31, 02:07 PM

Current Headlines: A wet type of Alpo dog food was added Saturday to the growing list of pet foods being recalled following the deaths of at least 16 pets in the United States.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that Nestle Purina PetCare Co. was voluntarily recalling all sizes and varieties of its Alpo Prime Cuts in Gravy, ABC News reported. The FDA also has acknowledged there will be many more pet deaths, the news network said.

On Friday, Hills Pet Nutrition's Prescription Diet m/d Feline became the first dry food to be added to the recall list, The New York Times said.

Hills said on its Web site that the recalled product is the only one currently sold in the United States and Canada containing wheat gluten and the gluten came from the same Chinese source that supplied Canada-based Menu Foods.

FDA officials said the toxic material that tainted the wheat gluten may be melamine, a chemical used in fertilizer as well as making plastic cutlery, although they aren't yet certain. New York officials who earlier had pinned the gluten contamination on aminopterin -- a rat poison -- said they were not ready to concede to the FDA's assessment.