Poor Purina Mills, someone at the mill must be asleep at the vitamin D switch, because this time around they didn’t put enough vitamin D in their animal feed.

This most recent recall, the eighth in a little over the past three weeks, Purina Mills announced yesterday that is expanding the recall once more to include Purina Honor Show Chow poultry feed and DuMOR Show Poultry feed products.

Purina Mills blames a software error for the mistake that affected six of their feed plants simultaniously. Who knows how an error like that occurs on such a grand scale, unless Homer Simpson was in charge of software system.

Big deal, right?

To a chicken it is.

Chickens living in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) without ever seeing the light of day, need it to get their vitamin D. The poor chickens forced to live out their miserable lives crammed in filthy battery cages completely devoid of sunlight, must rely on an artificial source of vitamin D in their feed. If they don’t, within a matter of a couple of weeks, the already pitiful birds will experience a host of horrific side effects. Namely, bone fractures, joint problems, excruciating pain and possibly an agonizing death.

PMI Nutrition International (Purina Mills), a subsidiary of Land O’Lakes, initially recalled its LabDiet and Mazuri Feed Products earlier this month after receiving customer complaints of animal illness and small bird and guinea pig deaths for “possibly” containing excessive levels of vitamin D.

Three days later, PMI further expanded the Mazuri feed products; following that, it was expanded to include Purina Feed; then it grew to include AquaMax  and Mazuri, LabDiet feeds were expanded once more; only to expand it yet another time to Aquamax, Mazuri, Catfish, Maz Koi, Game Fish Chow, Wellsolve, Nutri Source; incredibly, it grew to include Purina, Fish Chow, only to further expand the Mazuri, LabDiet recalls one more time all for excessive vitamin D; and finally the recall grew to include the latest: Purina, DuMOR poultry feed formulas for a lack of vitamin D.

Whew!

Incredible, huh?

Homer was probably repurposed to handle the recall announcements after his gaff in the supplement software division was discovered. After this latest blunder I expect Homer will be spending his days nursing beers and reminiscing of his days at the plant down at Moe’s, than spending his days catching up on his ZZZs at Purina Mills.

 

Land O’Lakes Purina Feed Announces Recall Of Certain Poultry Feeds Due To Lack Of Added Vitamin D

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – July 26, 2012 – Land O’Lakes Purina Feed LLC has initiated a voluntary recall of certain varieties of poultry feed products with the specific lot codes listed below, due to the lack of added vitamin D in these products. Inadequate levels of vitamin D in a bird’s diet for greater than 2-3 weeks may cause bone weakness, fractures or joint problems, and potentially death, if birds are not exposed to direct sunlight daily. Birds living outdoors may not experience symptoms due to the formation of natural vitamin D that occurs within the bird’s body with exposure to a minimum of 30 minutes of direct sunlight daily.

To date, there have been no reported animal illnesses involving the products below being recalled. The absence of added vitamin D in these products occurred as a result of a formulation software conversion.

“We are working diligently with retailers and distributors to notify customers about this issue and, as a precautionary measure, we urge customers to not feed their flocks these products,” said Dave Hoogmoed, Chief Operating Officer. “Instead, please return them to the point of purchase for a refund and replacement feed. We deeply regret the concern and inconvenience this is causing.”

The affected products were manufactured between May 23 and July 20, 2012, at the Milford, Indiana, Nashville, Tennessee and St. Joseph, Missouri feed plants, and distributed nationwide under the Purina and DuMOR brand names listed below. All products manufactured after July 20 include added vitamin D in their formulation.

Recalled Product List

PURINA® HONOR® SHOW CHOW®
Formula No.	Item	Description	Size	Lot Code
781B	0016637	PURINA HONOR SHOW CHOW BROILER COMP AMP 0.0125% BMD50 MEDICATED	50 LB	2MAY23MFI1 2JUN12MFI1 2JUN11MFI3 2JUN14MFI3 2JUN20MFI3 2JUN28MFI3 2JUL06MFI1 2JUL16MFI3
801R	0017095	PURINA HONOR SHOW CHOW TURKEY GROW/FINISH BMD50 PELLET MEDICATED	50 LB	2MAY23MFI1 2MAY31MFI1 2JUN12MFI3 2JUN20MFI3 2JUN27MFI1 2JUL06MFI1 2JUL11MF13 2JUL18MFI1
801T	0017096	PURINA HONOR SHOW CHOW TURKEY STARTER AMP .0125% BMD50 MEDICATED	50 LB.	2MAY31MFI1 2JUN06MFI3 2JUN11MFI3 2JUN19MFI3 2JUN22MFI3 2JUL03MFI1 2JUL11MF13 2JUL13MFI1
DUMOR® SHOW POULTRY
Formula No.	Item	Description	Size	Lot Code
60VA	0045400	DUMOR SHOW POULTRY AMP .0125% BMD 50 MEDICATED	40 LB	2JUN11MFI3 2JUL11MFI3 2JUL18MFI1
60Y7	0046444	DUMOR POULTRY GROWER/FINISHER 15%	50 LB	2MAY23MFI1 2MAY25STJ1 2MAY29MFI1 2MAY31MFI1 2JUN01MFI1 2JUN05MFI1 2JUN07NST1A1 2JUN08MFI1 2JUN13MFI1 2JUN14MFI1 2JUN18MFI3 2JUN20MFI3 2JUN22MFI1 2JUN29MFI1 2JUN29MFI3 2JUL09MFI3 2JUL09MFI1 2JUL17MFI3 2JUL20MFI3 2JUL18NST1A1 2JUL13NST2A1 2JUL06NST2A1 2JUL05NST2A1 2JUN28NST2A1 2JUN27NST1A1 2JUN21NST2A1 2JUN20NST1A1 2JUN18NST1A1 2JUN13NST2A1 2JUN12NST1A1 2JUL03STJ2 2JUN21STJ2 2JUN18STJ2 2JUN05STJ2 2MAY25STJ3
60X7	0046443	DUMOR CHICK STARTER 24%	50 LB	2MAY30MFI1 2MAY31STJ1 2JUN05STJ2 2JUN13MFI1 2JUN22MFI1 2JUL11MFI3 2JUN13NST1A1 2JUN14NST1A1 2JUN19NST2AI 2JUN20NST2A1 2JUL02NST2A1 2JUL03STJ2 2JUL16NST2A1 2JUL16STJ2 2JUN26STJ2 2JUN20STJ1 2MAY31STJ3

Lot numbers are printed on the sewing strip of each paper bag. Lot numbers are interpreted as follows: 2=Year / JUN=Month / 11=Day of Month / MFI=Plant Code (varies by manufacturing plant) / 3=Production Shift (varies by manufacturing plant).

Customers should return remaining products to their local dealer or retailer to receive a refund. For more information on the product recall, contact your local dealer, retailer or Customer Service between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. (CT), Monday through Friday, or from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (CT) on Saturday and Sunday. For questions about Purina® Honor® Show Chow® products, call 1-800-227-8941. For questions about DuMOR® products, call 1-888-719-8066. Or visit www.purinmills.com/news/recall-information.aspx

(Source: FDA; Land O’Lakes Purina Feed LLC Announces Voluntary Recall Of Certain Poultry Feeds Due To Lack Of Added Vitamin D)

Related articles by yours truly:

• Recall of Purina’s Feed Solutions Products Due to Elevated Vitamin D Level (poisonedpets.com)
• PMI Nutrition International (Purina) initiates recall of AquaMax products; expands recall of Mazuri and LabDiet feed products due to elevated vitamin D level (poisonedpets.com)
• Recall: Purina Feed Products Due to Elevated Vitamin D Level (poisonedpets.com)
• Land O’Lakes Further Expands an Already Vast Purina Feed, Mazuri and LabDiet Recall (poisonedpets.com)