For over a year Cargill manufactured several vitamin-mineral supplements without the required vitamins. The discovery led to today’s recall of multiple brands of Cargill animal feed supplements for ruminants manufactured at not one, but two Cargill plants for over a year that were missing vitamins A, D, and E.

The affected products were manufactured at Cargill’s facilities in McPherson, Kansas, and Montgomery City, Missouri, between December 7, 2012, and February 27, 2013.

OK, so ruminants are not usually pets, but hey, they may be someone’s pet. A cute little Guernsey milk cow, or a sweet little baby calf, for instance? I had an indoor/outdoor Bantam rooster once named Henry, but that’s another story.

The reason I call your attention to Cargill’s oopsy-daisy is that, not only did they screw-up big time (I mean, a year?), but those folks also make their own brand of pet food and many of the ingredients used by other pet food manufacturers. I’m just sayin’ that if that kind of error can continue for a year until someone realizes, “Gee, you know that vitamin/mineral mix we’ve been making for the last year, well it ain’t got no vitamins in it!”. Like, duh.

Cargill explains:

“The products being recalled are deficient in vitamins A, D, and E. Unfortunately the product was mistakenly manufactured without the required vitamins…”

When asked why didn’t Cargill catch this earlier, like a year ago for instance, they answered:

“We take our commitment to manufacturing quality and producing safe products very seriously. We have rigorous quality assurance programs in place to ensure our products perform the way they are intended. Unfortunately, those processes did not catch this issue in advance. As a result, we are completing a root cause analysis to ensure this type of event does not happen again.”

Uh huh. Okey dokey. Does the term, dipshits, spring to mind? Or the phrase, complete and utter loss in consumer confidence, pop up?

On the other hand, I supposed you have give them credit for apologizing:

“We appreciate your patience and understanding.  We are very sorry for this situation.”

Cargill’s assurance of quality of other products made before and since the screw-up should inspire confidence, but for some reason I don’t buy it:

“Basis [their typo] the review, we are completely confident that product made before and after the affected dates meets our quality standards. We are working very hard to replace inventory for our distributors as expediently as possible.”

And what about the poor critters that ate the vitamin-less vitamin mix? Cargill sputters:

“We don’t believe that feeding a mineral that is deficient in vitamins for a short period of time will cause an adverse effect with your animals.”

Now, if you believe that, I’ve got a fabulous piece of real estate on MARS for ya.

If you have any questions or would just like the pleasure of screaming at them, please do not hesitate to contact them with further questions and insults by contacting Cargill on their website or calling 1-866-420-5425.

Want to know more? Be my guest:

• FAQs about the Ruminant Mineral Recall
  
• Cargill product Recall: NutreBeef®, CattleGrazers®, and Right Now Mineral® ruminant minerals
• Recalled Ruminant Mineral Product List
• FDA Recall Notice: Cargill’s animal nutrition business conducts voluntary recall of select mineral product used in ruminant feed

Similar Cargill screw ups:

• Cargill Scrooged up again – recalls spreads to more dog food contaminated with aflatoxin
• Cargill Arrow Brand Dog Food Recalled for Aflatoxin Contamination
• RECALL: Another Dog Food Recall for Aflatoxin Contamination – Again
• RECALL: Two more dog food brands, River Run and Marksman, bite the dust for aflatoxin contamination