I got a call from Nutro today!
 

I had emailed Nutro a couple of weeks ago and asked where they got their rice from for their Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice. They actually called me today, but I was very dissappointed in their answer. The guy went on and one how all of their dry food is manufactured in the US and that is is constantly tested and has never tested positive for melamine, etc. It has no rice protein or wheat gluten in it, etc. I said yes, but where do you get the rice???? He says, "That is kind of like proprietary information. We are not allowed to say. It is part of our contract with our suppliers that we won't reveal who they are." I said, well does it come from the US? "He said I can't answer that question, I can neither confirm or deny that."

I thought this was very evasive! He would tell me that the Lamb comes from New Zealand and so on, but would not tell me about the rice. I said, well it is very strange that you will tell me where they other products some from and not the rice. He just said well "I don't know and I am not allowed to say."

What do you make of that??? I am sure that the reason I got the call was because in my email I stated that if I didn't hear back from them soon telling me that their Rice comes from the USA then I would seriously consider using another product in my breeding program.

Very, Very Interesting!!!

Well guess he answered your question then huh?! :(
I emailed them awhile ago too.. no answer I hope they call me :cool:

I swiched.. to Nature's Variety.. I wasn't too happy with Nutro lately.. with the food scare ( wet or not) it scared me feeding him the dry and the stories I've heard about how they do their testing.

Yeah, that's what I told him. He said, "Do you have any other comments or questions?" I said, "I think you answered my question."

I am thinking about Artemis. They sent me a real big sample and the furkids love it. I am still researching, though.

Mine ate Nutro for a very short time before the recall and then switched foods

oh no my franks eats nutro the small bites but he seems to like the cat food better :(

i need to realy look into switching or at least reserching other foods

he has been eating cat food while we are gone and then when i gethome i find like throw up with cat food still hard or like full pieces
and the vet said that they will do that and that he is throwing up becuase hes eating to much but its not an everyday thing its maybe once a week

but he has been eating cat poop every day

and i have heard that cat poop can make humans sick so im freaked that he going to get sick but the poop is hard and has all been rolled up in the cat litter and its nasty and im afraid he is going to get worse or sick i am calling my vet in 5 mins so i hope he can answer or give me a solution or something

I would put the cat food and the litter box up high where Frank can't get to it. I don't think either one is very good for him.

I'd guess that their rice is from Asia? Some of the cheaper rices come from there.

I would think so.

I would run the other direction to someone who CAN disclose where their rice came from. That is just terrible.

Oh no...Mojo eats Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice for Sensitive Stomach.
We have always had a hard time finding food that he can eat because of his tummy!!! (yikes)

I am switching from Nutro as well as I emailed them and told them that if they do not call or email me with the answers to my questions, I will switch. They didn't so I switched :mad:

That's almost exactly what I told them in my email! They will probably give you a call, too. It took quite awhile, as I am sure they have quite a load of emails and phone calls.

I just find this sooo aggravating and very upsetting.....it was so hard for me to find a food that Mojo would actually eat on his own and not have problems w/ it when we first had problems and needed to find a new food....NOW, I have to do it all over again...........I am just really PO'ed right now!!!! (aurgh)

I don't blame you! I am more than a little bit upset also. I sent for several samples a while back from different companies when this all started. Mine really like the Artemis, but it is quite expensive and no one in Texas sells it. With shipping it would be even higher. I did email them and ask what it takes to be a distributor. I will have to see what they say.

I went to the feed store the other day (we are in quite a rural area) and they had all their Innova marked half price! I was leery though as it was all dusty and I wondered how old it was and why they were marking it down. So I didn't buy any. It is supposed to be a good food, though.

I just can't believe they wouldn't even tell me the country that the rice comes from! That tells me there must be something to hide. When he said "kind of proprietary information" I thought yeah, right, there is something besides rice in it? How proprietary is plain rice? I didn't argue it out with him, though, as I was just so dissappointed. I didn't even ask the company they got it from or anything just wanted to know the country, if it was US rice. Apparently it must not be.

I took mine off Nutro also. My question is.....I have 2 new bags of it but they are open so no return. Should I just throw it away or would you give to humane society? I mean it could possibly have the bad stuff in it so what do i do?

I would donate it. Nutro assures us that it is safe (for what that is worth). The shelters probably don't have anything better. It just makes me mad that they won't admit where they get their rice.

This is the email I got from Nutro last night :

Nutro's Dry Pet Food Products Are Safe
Nutro's dry dog and cat food kibble not part of recent dry food recall
City of Industry, CA (May 15, 2007) -- In light of recent announcements that other pet food companies have recalled some of their products, Nutro wishes to reassure its customers that Nutro's dry dog and cat foods are safe to feed their pets and that: [LIST][*]None of Nutro's dry pet foods are involved in the latest dry pet food recall announcements involving contaminated rice protein from China.[*]None of Nutro's dry dog or cat foods have been involved in any of the melamine related recalls.[*]Nutro has never purchased rice protein from Cereal Byproducts, the supplier named in connection with the most recent recall.[*]An independent testing laboratory has tested the rice protein used in Nutro's dry pet foods and no melamine was detected.[/LIST]Nutro purchases its rice protein from a different supplier. Our products are not part of this recall. Nonetheless, in the current environment, we want to communicate frequently with our customers about Nutro's products and reassure you that our dry dog and cat foods are safe.
Nutro's dry dog and cat food kibble goes through a rigorous, multi-layer quality assurance process. To ensure that only quality, safe food reaches the shelf -- and eventually your pets -- we conduct extensive tests of the raw ingredients and test product throughout the production process. We send finished product samples from each production run to an independent lab for further quality and safety reviews, including tests for melamine. Additionally, after confirming the quality and safety of the products, representative samples of our dry pet foods go through a feeding process supervised by veterinarians and nutritionists. In this process, the food is fed to dogs or cats as a final check to ensure the correct palatability, digestibility and stool quality.
We believe in the quality and safety of our products. Many of our employees feed Nutro's dog and cat foods to their own pets and take the recent recalls and the health of all pets very seriously. Making pet foods has been our only business for over 80 years. That is why we have taken extensive measures to ensure the quality of Nutro's pet foods. We are committed to continually enhance all of our quality and safety assurance procedures.
Pet owners can feel confident in our products, and contact us directly with questions. Nutro customers may check Nutro's website (www.nutroproducts.com) or contact our consumer hotline -- (800) 833-5330 -- for further information about our products. We will continue to keep you informed with the most up-to-date information available on our website, and our customer service representatives are working diligently to respond personally to each and every call and email.

Go back and check the Innova it has an experation date on it. Dianne

You can always return open bags especially after this recal fiasco. Petsmart never ask for a receipt for return even for open bag. You cannot get refund but probably an exchange.

Most rice even for human consumption is imported from asia or mexico. If you go to asian grocery or even costco you can tell that they are not from US. I doubt if for pet comsumption they are from US.