Purina Mills Expands Already Massive Animal Feed Recall for the Eighth Time

Poor Purina Mills, someone at the mill must be asleep at the vitamin D switch, because this time around they didn’t put enough vitamin D in their animal feed.

This most recent recall, the eighth in a little over the past three weeks, Purina Mills announced yesterday that is expanding the recall once more to include Purina Honor Show Chow poultry feed and DuMOR Show Poultry feed products.

Purina Mills blames a software error for the mistake that affected six of their feed plants simultaniously. Who knows how an error like that occurs on such a grand scale, unless Homer Simpson was in charge of software system.

Big deal, right?

To a chicken it is.

Chickens living in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) without ever seeing the light of day, need it to get their vitamin D. The poor chickens forced to live out their miserable lives crammed in filthy battery cages completely devoid of sunlight, must rely on an artificial source of vitamin D in their feed. If they don’t, within a matter of a couple of weeks, the already pitiful birds will experience a host of horrific side effects. Namely, bone fractures, joint problems, excruciating pain and possibly an agonizing death.

PMI Nutrition International (Purina Mills), a subsidiary of Land O’Lakes, initially recalled its LabDiet and Mazuri Feed Products earlier this month after receiving customer complaints of animal illness and small bird and guinea pig deaths for “possibly” containing excessive levels of vitamin D.

Three days later, PMI further expanded the Mazuri feed products; following that, it was expanded to include Purina Feed; then it grew to include AquaMax  and Mazuri, LabDiet feeds were expanded once more; only to expand it yet another time to Aquamax, Mazuri, Catfish, Maz Koi, Game Fish Chow, Wellsolve, Nutri Source; incredibly, it grew to include Purina, Fish Chow, only to further expand the Mazuri, LabDiet recalls one more time all for excessive vitamin D; and finally the recall grew to include the latest: Purina, DuMOR poultry feed formulas for a lack of vitamin D.

Whew!

Incredible, huh?

Homer was probably repurposed to handle the recall announcements after his gaff in the supplement software division was discovered. After this latest blunder I expect Homer will be spending his days nursing beers and reminiscing of his days at the plant down at Moe’s, than spending his days catching up on his ZZZs at Purina Mills.

 

Land O’Lakes Purina Feed Announces Recall Of Certain Poultry Feeds Due To Lack Of Added Vitamin D

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – July 26, 2012 – Land O’Lakes Purina Feed LLC has initiated a voluntary recall of certain varieties of poultry feed products with the specific lot codes listed below, due to the lack of added vitamin D in these products. Inadequate levels of vitamin D in a bird’s diet for greater than 2-3 weeks may cause bone weakness, fractures or joint problems, and potentially death, if birds are not exposed to direct sunlight daily. Birds living outdoors may not experience symptoms due to the formation of natural vitamin D that occurs within the bird’s body with exposure to a minimum of 30 minutes of direct sunlight daily.

To date, there have been no reported animal illnesses involving the products below being recalled. The absence of added vitamin D in these products occurred as a result of a formulation software conversion.

“We are working diligently with retailers and distributors to notify customers about this issue and, as a precautionary measure, we urge customers to not feed their flocks these products,” said Dave Hoogmoed, Chief Operating Officer. “Instead, please return them to the point of purchase for a refund and replacement feed. We deeply regret the concern and inconvenience this is causing.”

The affected products were manufactured between May 23 and July 20, 2012, at the Milford, Indiana, Nashville, Tennessee and St. Joseph, Missouri feed plants, and distributed nationwide under the Purina and DuMOR brand names listed below. All products manufactured after July 20 include added vitamin D in their formulation.

Recalled Product List

PURINA® HONOR® SHOW CHOW®
Formula No. Item Description Size Lot Code
781B 0016637 PURINA HONOR SHOW CHOW BROILER COMP AMP 0.0125% BMD50 MEDICATED 50 LB 2MAY23MFI1
2JUN12MFI1
2JUN11MFI3
2JUN14MFI3
2JUN20MFI3
2JUN28MFI3
2JUL06MFI1
2JUL16MFI3
801R 0017095 PURINA HONOR SHOW CHOW TURKEY GROW/FINISH BMD50 PELLET MEDICATED 50 LB 2MAY23MFI1
2MAY31MFI1
2JUN12MFI3
2JUN20MFI3
2JUN27MFI1
2JUL06MFI1
2JUL11MF13
2JUL18MFI1
801T 0017096 PURINA HONOR SHOW CHOW TURKEY STARTER AMP .0125% BMD50 MEDICATED 50 LB. 2MAY31MFI1
2JUN06MFI3
2JUN11MFI3
2JUN19MFI3
2JUN22MFI3
2JUL03MFI1
2JUL11MF13
2JUL13MFI1
 
DUMOR® SHOW POULTRY
Formula No. Item Description Size Lot Code
60VA 0045400 DUMOR SHOW POULTRY AMP .0125% BMD 50 MEDICATED 40 LB 2JUN11MFI3
2JUL11MFI3
2JUL18MFI1
60Y7 0046444 DUMOR POULTRY GROWER/FINISHER 15% 50 LB 2MAY23MFI1
2MAY25STJ1
2MAY29MFI1
2MAY31MFI1
2JUN01MFI1
2JUN05MFI1
2JUN07NST1A1
2JUN08MFI1
2JUN13MFI1
2JUN14MFI1
2JUN18MFI3
2JUN20MFI3
2JUN22MFI1
2JUN29MFI1
2JUN29MFI3
2JUL09MFI3
2JUL09MFI1
2JUL17MFI3
2JUL20MFI3
2JUL18NST1A1
2JUL13NST2A1
2JUL06NST2A1
2JUL05NST2A1
2JUN28NST2A1
2JUN27NST1A1
2JUN21NST2A1
2JUN20NST1A1
2JUN18NST1A1
2JUN13NST2A1
2JUN12NST1A1
2JUL03STJ2
2JUN21STJ2
2JUN18STJ2
2JUN05STJ2
2MAY25STJ3
60X7 0046443 DUMOR CHICK STARTER 24% 50 LB 2MAY30MFI1
2MAY31STJ1
2JUN05STJ2
2JUN13MFI1
2JUN22MFI1
2JUL11MFI3
2JUN13NST1A1
2JUN14NST1A1
2JUN19NST2AI
2JUN20NST2A1
2JUL02NST2A1
2JUL03STJ2
2JUL16NST2A1
2JUL16STJ2
2JUN26STJ2
2JUN20STJ1
2MAY31STJ3

Lot numbers are printed on the sewing strip of each paper bag. Lot numbers are interpreted as follows: 2=Year / JUN=Month / 11=Day of Month / MFI=Plant Code (varies by manufacturing plant) / 3=Production Shift (varies by manufacturing plant).

Customers should return remaining products to their local dealer or retailer to receive a refund. For more information on the product recall, contact your local dealer, retailer or Customer Service between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. (CT), Monday through Friday, or from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (CT) on Saturday and Sunday. For questions about Purina® Honor® Show Chow® products, call 1-800-227-8941. For questions about DuMOR® products, call 1-888-719-8066. Or visit www.purinmills.com/news/recall-information.aspx disclaimer icon

(Source: FDA; Land O’Lakes Purina Feed LLC Announces Voluntary Recall Of Certain Poultry Feeds Due To Lack Of Added Vitamin D)

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Mollie Morrissette

Mollie Morrissette, the author of Poisoned Pets, is an animal food safety expert and consumer advisor. Help support her work by making a donation today.

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