RECALL:Nutro dog treats recalled for potential mold

Apple Chewy dog treats were sold at PetSmart 

Mars Petcare has issued a voluntary recall of its Nutro Apple Chewy dog treats due to potential mold.
The product, Nutro Chewy Treats Apple 4 oz., was sold at PetSmart with the SKU 5229600, product UPC 7910511344, and lot codes beginning with ‘4 50’, ‘5 02’, ‘5 03’, OR ‘5 05’ (regardless of best by date).
Consumers are urged to stop feeding this product to their pets and bring any remaining Nutro 4 oz. Apple Chewy Treats affected by this recall to their nearest PetSmart for a full refund.
If you have questions about this voluntary recall, contact Nutro Customer Service at +1.800.833.5330.

Nutro Pet Foods donates to support Holiday Pet Food Drive

Nutro Pet Foods is teaming up with Rocky's Ace Hardware of Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, to help support its third annual Holiday Pet Food Drive. Nutro is donating more than US$1,500 worth of dog and cat food to get the drive started. 
Each of the 32 Rocky's Ace Hardware stores in the area is partnering with a local humane society or shelter to collect food during the holiday season for pets in need. The petfood drive runs through December 23. 

Nutro offers grants to enhance local dog parks

The Nutro Company, a manufacturer of natural pet food products, is teaming up with country singer Sara Evans to encourage dog owners nationwide to apply for grant support to help enhance their local dog parks during the third annual ROOM TO RUN dog park appreciation project. 
ROOM TO RUN, now in its third year, is a community program designed to support public, nonprofit dog parks and off-leash areas and encourage greater community engagement. Grant application forms are available on the ROOM TO RUN grant website with a September 31 deadline to apply. Grants of US$2,000 will be awarded on a rolling basis through October to 30 dog parks across the US to help fund enhancement efforts in public, nonprofit dog parks.
Dog park enhancements may include:
•General repairs and maintenance (e.g., painting benches, repairing fences)
•Installation of new agility equipment
•Landscaping
•Updates to water system
•Creation of a poop bag center
The Nutro Company's ROOM TO RUN associate board will review the grant applications and select parks that exhibit the greatest need, as well as meet other criteria listed on the project's website. 
"As a proud dog owner, I'm excited to help The Nutro Company kick off the third annual event and to help spread the word to dog lovers around the country," said Sara Evans. "Our dog Roman is like a member of our family, and I know many people feel the same way about their own dogs. I support the ROOM TO RUN™ effort to give dogs and their owners an enhanced place to play and bond." 

Mars Petcare, The Nutro Company build pet food innovation center

Mars Petcare and its subsidiary The Nutro Company recently began building a US$87-million North American Regional Innovation Center for pet food in Thompson's Station, Tennessee, USA. The four-building campus will serve as the companies' home base for creating future petfood innovations for the North American market and is expected to be complete in 2014. 
"Pets and their owners in the North American market seek high-quality, cutting edge nutrition, and our new Regional Innovation Center will ensure Mars Petcare and Nutro products deliver on that promise in new and exciting formats," said David Macnair, global vice president of research and development, Mars Petcare.
The new center will support 144 jobs. Each building on the campus -- the Innovation Center, Product Development Center, Shared Services building and the Pet Health and Nutrition Center -- will serve a different purpose in the life-cycle of creating new and innovative petfood products.
The companies see the center as essential for global acceleration in developing and growing their pet food portfolio.

Nutro begins inititative to enhance dog parks

The Nutro Co. began the Room to Run dog park appreciation project to enhance dog parks across North America.
Associates from the company and community members are hosting the event at dog parks in 30 cities across the US and Canada from June 12 to June 19. Volunteer opportunities vary by location but include activities such as painting fences, providing benches, picking up trash and landscaping.
"As a company, and as a group of passionate pet owners ourselves, we are dedicated to enhancing dog parks because of the benefits they bring to not only pets but also the owners," said Carolyn Hanigan, vice president of marketing for Nutro. "Taking the time to help communities revitalize their off-leash areas is an endeavor that we are eager to undertake, as it is so important to foster the human-animal bond and bring a bit of nature to our pets."
For more information on volunteering and a list of locations, visit the company's website.

Nutro voluntarily recalls petfood

Nutro voluntarily recalled some of its petfoods because of the possibility of plastic pieces being in bags of kibble, according to reports. The three puppy foods affected are: Nutro Natural Choice Chicken, Rice & Oatmeal Puppy in 5 lb. bags, Nutro Ultra Puppy in 4.5 lb. bags and Nutro Ultra Puppy in 30 lb. bags.
The potentially harmful food was sold exclusively in PetSmart and Petco stores with a best by date of September 10, 2010. Stores in the following states were reportedly affected: California, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Hawaii and Utah.
A Nutro representative confirmed there is a possibility of plastic pieces being in the food (read press release).

Nutro UK to close

In a letter posted on its Web site, Nutro UK, petfood manufacturer, announced it ceased trading Sept. 25 and will close its doors by month’s end.
The reasons listed in the letter are higher prices for ingredients and an adverse exchange rate on its product produced in the EU.

Nutro partners with social networking site

Nutro has partnered with Meetup.com, a social networking site, to promote Natural Choice dog food. The petfood company is sponsoring 60 Meetup Groups in North America.
At the first event, September 16 at Animal Haven in Manhattan, New York, USA, Marty Becker, DVM, author and veterinarian on Good Morning America, will share pet nutrition and health tips. Dog owners can get more information and sign up here.

Nutro introduces stricter checks, reintroduces recalled products

Nutro has reintroduced its dry cat food after the voluntary recall in May, according to a news report.
The company said its food-safety program now has stricter quality checks for suppliers and extensive testing of inbound raw materials and finished products. It has also reportedly enhanced the ingredient quality.
In May, the company discovered that two premixes from one of its US-based suppliers contained excessive levels of potassium and zinc.
Nutro announced August 7 that all its cat food brands were available at petfood retailers.