Diamond: Explanation about rice protein concentrate

[Therese]

I've had quite a few people ask me about Diamond's statement (on their website) that none of their products contain wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate. The people who emailed me questioned the fact that Diamond made that statement yet a product they manufacture, Natural Balance, has had recalls due to tainted rice protein concentrate.

I spoke with someone at Diamond this morning and was given the following information:

• Prior to March 28, 2007, the Diamond Pet Food Company had never produced any product that contained Rice Protein Concentrate.

• Beginning on March 28, 2007, Rice Protein Concentrate was formulated and produced in only two products, Natural Balance® Venison & Brown Rice Formula for Dogs, and Natural Balance® Pea & Venison Formula for Cats.

I was assured that they do not use rice protein concentrate in any of their own products.

[garypen]

And, the truth is Natural Balance is not a Diamond product, so they aren't lying about that.

However, I had heard that the contaminated pigs were fed with Diamond commercial pig feed. If that product contained the prtein, or the corn or wheat gluten, then they are indeed lying.

[Davis]

They make pig feed?  I thought it was scrap pet food that went to the hog farm.  If so, then it could have been Natural Balance pet food.  I'm not sure if the full stroy is out on that.

As for them not putting any rice protein in their own foods, that was never the issue.  Apparently some people were confused. 

[garypen]

It very well could have been leftovers and scraps from pet food. I guess I just assumed it was commercial farm animal feed, which I am pretty sure Diamond does make. (Maybe they make it from leftovers and scraps.)

[Cindy Nevarez]

I could be wrong, but I understood from the initial mewspaper article on this that is was "salvaged pet food" that was sold to the hog farm.

[garypen]

In either case, it's bad. It means that Diamond either uses the tainted ingredientsin commercial animal feed, or they've been using it in their branded pet products, or there is cross-contamination from NB's product runs into their own brands.

I would doubt that Diamond would send out excess Natural Balance food to use as pig feed, considering NB pays for that stuff, don't they? Unless NB rejected it due to the recall, and Diamond decided to send it out as pig feed, which is even worse, as they would have known it was tainted.

[garypen]

I spoke with someone at Diamond this morning and was given the following information:

• Prior to March 28, 2007, the Diamond Pet Food Company had never produced any product that contained Rice Protein Concentrate.

• Beginning on March 28, 2007, Rice Protein Concentrate was formulated and produced in only two products, Natural Balance® Venison & Brown Rice Formula for Dogs, and Natural Balance® Pea & Venison Formula for Cats.

I was assured that they do not use rice protein concentrate in any of their own products.

Well, it seems they were full of shit. They are now recalling some Chicken Soup canned products that contain rice protein concentrate. Chicken Soup is a Diamond brand, not some 3rd party client.

http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com/

This also doesn't bode well for other canned foods made by American Nutrition. My guess is that they might be responsible for the tainted Costco canned food, as well. AMI, while not as big as Menu, is a pretty big contract manufacturer of wet foods.

[Cindy Nevarez]

Yeah...it's that 'rice' word again. It doesn't have to actually say rice-protein, or rice-gluten apparently. The Kirkland cans say only 'rice flour.'

[garypen]

The point is it doesn't have to say anything about rice at all. They can say whatever the f*** they want, and put in entirely different ingredients. It's complete bulls***. We choose these foods based almost entirely on what they tell us are the ingredients. Then, they just put something else in there.

These a-holes need a good ass-kicking. All of them. Right now. I'm sick of this crap.

[Cindy Nevarez]

You're right, it's bullshit. There's no consistency here. They can say whatever the hell they want. And they are still within their legal limits...if they even have a legal limit.

[MissLori]

This is beyond ridiculous.  I've gone out of my way to buy foods without things on an ever-growing list of ingredients, only to find that these companies don't even have to be TRUTHFUL on their freaking labels!  I don't know what to do now. I *just today* bought a bag of Chicken Soup dry food because it seemed like a company I could trust. Guess not.  This whole thing makes me SICK, and I'm pissed that the media hasn't taken off with this. 

[Geff]

The point is it doesn't have to say anything about rice at all. They can say whatever the f*** they want, and put in entirely different ingredients. It's complete bulls***. We choose these foods based almost entirely on what they tell us are the ingredients. Then, they just put something else in there.

These a-holes need a good ass-kicking. All of them. Right now. I'm sick of this crap.

Part of the justified anger needs to be directed to those who are supposed to be regulating our food supply:

Congress, The FDA & The Bush administration. Until 4 months ago, all 3 of those were run by the Republican party. Not that I think the Dems are anything special as a group; but the Republicans have 2 main constituencies:
1. Corporations
2. Evangelicals

They take care of their own and their own ONLY.

[Cindy Nevarez]

Boy...you said it!

[garypen]

Quite frankly, they don't care about #2. They only use them to get elected, so that they can serve #1.

[Cindy Nevarez]

Yeah, and I understand #2 is rather pissed about it now too.