Blue Buffalo cat food recall

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Wilton, Connecticut, April 19, 2007 -- The Blue Buffalo Company today announced a voluntary recall of one production run of its Spa Select Kitten dry food. The recalled 3 lb. and 7 lb. bags of Spa Select Kitten dry food have the production code "BEST IF USED BY MAR 07 08 B" printed on the bag. Consumers should check this information on the bag, which is printed on the back panel below the seal. The Company has taken this action because the rice protein concentrate used for this particular production run was obtained from Wilbur-Ellis, the same company who supplied this ingredient to Natural Balance. Test results received the evening of April 18th indicated that this rice protein concentrate tested positive for melamine. This was the only production run that used rice protein from Wilbur-Ellis. Upon receiving the test results, the Company notified the FDA today and immediately began this recall process. Of the 5,044 bags produced in this particular production run, the Company was able to prevent the majority from ever entering retail distribution. The Company is working closely with its retail partners and believes that most of the recalled product that had reached retail distribution has already been pulled off the shelf. Consumers should immediately stop feeding Spa Select Kitten dry cat food with the above-listed date codes to their kittens and consult with a veterinarian if they have any health concerns with their pet. No other cat or dog foods, canned or dry, made by the Company are affected by the recall. Should consumers have a specific question, they can email the Company at info@bluebuff.com or call 1-800-919-2833, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EDT, to receive more information. Bill Bishop, CEO and President of The Blue Buffalo Company, commented "As a family owned company whose reason for being is to provide cats and dogs with the highest quality natural foods, we are extremely upset by this recall and can't begin to apologize enough to our customers. From our perspective, it is unacceptable to produce even one bag of food with the potential to cause a pet to become ill, and we will further tighten our ingredient sourcing and quality assurance procedures as a result of this incident."