No, but 9 of the cat foods were. From a personal level (and I will admit that for many people I would be considered hyper vigilant) that is enough for me.
List of recalls for Pet Food Products from SCIENCE DIET
In my area ALL of the science diet foods both dog and cat were pulled off the shelves for months. As a teenager my family did massive research into the dog food industry (similar to what you yourself have done in speaking to a few experts) and a lot of what I heard as a child from various institutions has greatly sullied their reputation for me - and many others. We also ended up talking to several pet owners who paid for private testing and found the foods tested positive for acetaminophen and cyanuric acid.
You talked a little about how you wanted to go with foods that had been tested and trialed. Science Diet has a long history of being heavily involved in the nutritional teaching in veterinary schools and has had a heavy hand in what we consider a "complete" diet today. In the past there has been a disconnect between formal education and nutrition in veterinary schools. Some vets (depending on when they trained) may have only taken a single course on it - or no course at all... their knowledge is then learned after the fact, from conferences or material put out from the
dog food companies. This still happens, even in 2011 in some schools.I cannot obviously speak for every vet out there, but there are MANY vets who learned EVERYTHING they know about food from SCIENCE DIET. Why? They offered the nutritional information to the veterinary students. In a lot of instances in the past there wasn't much done in the was of research on animal nutrition outside of the pet food industry. This was 10 years ago, but 90% of the 50 vets that ended up being interviewed by the rescue group we had been involved with
main source of information was traced back to SD. There is a big reason behind the fact that a very very large percentage of vets across the nation recommend the same dog food company. Ethical?
They define what we know as nutritious, and they generally (except for the nature's variety and the ideal balance) pack their foods with fillers and then bulk it with the added vitamins to make up for what they could have added but didn't. This is the funny part about the marketing for the ideal balance, because they talk so much about how balance the food is - but you do not see the same kind of balance in the other blends of foods. (Where corn is the first ingredient, and NEVER meat except for 1 or two specific formations.)
There are so many issues in the pet food industry, and really if you look deep enough into every company you will find something. I just feel that if you look at the history and you combine it with their history of ingredients in their food (a vast majority of their food has corn as a first ingredient something which is not digestible by dogs) I have to seriously question their ethics.
Like I mentioned before LadyJane, if you group does great on ideal balance I think that's fantastic. The ideal balance and the nature's variety were both SD foods I actually thought looked and sounded worth feeding. The company just doesn't sit well for me. Its just with what I have heard from vets in the past I personally have no trust for Science Diet. (Just as much as I love my current vet she can never seem to tell me why it is that I should switch to SD, just that I well - should!) There is so much information and misinformation out there, if your personal interviews with A&M and other vets led you to choose SD and you are happy and safe with that choice and your dogs are doing good that is all that matters.
You did research to come to your choice, and its just that we've experienced different things. I hope you do not feel at any point that I've insulted or attacked your viewpoint because that has never been my intention. I have just spent such a large chunk of my life talking to people and trying to stay current on whats going on - it is very much a passion of mine and as much as I have questioned SD I do believe that this is a step in the right direction and I hope they take this and turn the idea back around onto their other lines.