Recalled pet food shipped to Pa., but not to Ohio

By Mark Fisher

Dayton Daily News

A Procter & Gamble spokesman said Friday that none of the recalled Iams and Eukanuba dog and cat food recalled this week for potential salmonella contamination has been found on store shelves anywhere in Ohio.

And there have been no reports of pet or human illnesses connected to the dog food since the voluntary recall was announced via the U.S. Food & Drug Administration on Wednesday night, said Jason Taylor, communications director for Procter & Gamble’s pet-care division.

The Cincinnati-based company said the potentially contaminated food was shipped to multiple retailers across the United States, mostly along the eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast, including Pennsylvania.

But Taylor said since some of the shipments went to online retailers, it is still possible bags of the dry pet food may have been sold and shipped to Ohio pet owners.

Distributors began pulling the affected lot numbers after they were notified by P&G, and most have removed it from the distribution chain entirely.

The products include several different specialty Eukanuba and Iams dry dog foods and Iams dry cat foods, all with “Best By” dates during the first two weeks of November 2014.

The full list of products and their lot numbers are available at this FDA website: http://1.usa.gov/15GYeTs.

The recalled food was produced during a 10-day window at a single manufacturing site outside Ohio, and routine testing conducted by P&G determined that some products made during this time frame have the potential for salmonella contamination, FDA and company officials said.

Dr. John Talmadge — veterinarian with Bigger Road Veterinary Clinic, which has offices in Kettering and Springboro — said the practice has not had a confirmed case of salmonella for at least the past year, despite multiple pet-food recalls involving potential salmonella during that period.

Pets that do contract salmonella show symptoms that are similar to food poisoning in humans, Talmadge said.

The symptoms of vomiting, fever and diarrhea or bloody diarrhea can range from mild to severe, with the more severe cases sometimes requiring a stay in the animal hospital and IV fluids, the veterinarian said.

Iams, founded in Dayton in 1946, remained a Dayton- area-based pet-food company until 1999, when then owner Clay Mathile sold the business to P&G for $2.3 billion.

P&G moved the pet-food company’s headquarters from Vandalia to Mason, Ohio, in 2009.