[Moderator's note: There were some questions about the previous note from
Performance Foods.  So, lest there be any doubts: this note came directly
to me from Performance Foods plus I confirmed its origin via phone.  BIG]
 
Open Letter to All Totally Ferret Customers and Your Ferrets
 
 From:    Thomas R. Willard, Ph.D.,
          President
          Performance Foods, Inc.
 e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
 
Dear Customers and Ferrets:
 
First of all, I would personally like to thank each and every one of you
and all of your fuzzies for using Totally Ferret.  Some of you have been
with us from the beginning, some of you have been feeding Totally Ferret
for only a few weeks.
 
I would like to try and set the record straight, as there are many rumors
flying around, especially on the Internet.  By now, most of you are aware
of the fact that we have had a quality control problem, which has affected
the freshness of our food.  I will attempt to put the facts forth and the
time line of the events as they have unfolded.
 
In late May of this year, we received a call from a customer who has been
feeding Totally Ferret to her 40 ferrets for 5 years +, telling us that a
bag of food which she received from her distributor with the production
date of AOR13A (manufactured in January of this year) smelled "funny" and
asked me to look at it.  I asked her to send a sample to us so we could
test it.
 
In early June, we received a call from our plant that our Older Ferret food
had an odor, but did not seem bad relative to our other product.  The date
code was EOR01A (mfg. May 2000).  We again sent a sample to the laboratory
for testing for peroxide value, or PV for short.  This is a measure of
rancidity in fats.  Though the test has been used for some time in the
feed industry, it has a great deal of variation between laboratories and is
not very reliable or repeatable compared to most chemical analyses.  Both
samples came back with high PVs.  It was at this point, that we notified
our distributors who had received these production dates.  We asked the
distributors to destroy the product and we would replace it.  However,
several individual orders went out by UPS and mail, where the manufacturing
date was not recorded on the individual invoice.  At this point we began
reviewing our internal control samples of all product made through May.  We
also began looking and testing several of our ingredient samples which we
take for such a purpose.
 
During the following two to three weeks we received a few more calls from
consumers that they had received a bag of Totally Ferret and that the bag
smelled "funny" or their ferrets would not eat it.  In all of these cases
it was the two code dates stated above so we asked them to return the
product from their dealers or on line service and they would make the
product exchange.  We again manufactured product in the middle of June
(FOR13A) to replace these two production runs.  We sent samples to the
laboratory again as part of our regular quality control checks.  Two weeks
later when the results were reported, we found that this food had very
high PVs for such a short time after manufacturing.  We contacted the one
distributor that had received over 50% of this batch.  We asked them to
recall and destroy any of the food they had, or knew which customers
received this new production date.  We were assured this was done.
 
At this point, we felt we had covered most of the problem and that we would
handle individual problems from our office.  At this time, which was about
the middle of June, we went back and tested all the remaining batches we
had run in March (COR10A, COR30A and COR31A) and April (DOR27A).  We also
contacted some of our distributors plus sent our sales team out to do field
checks on those remaining batches.  We found from our field-testing that
part of COR10A, COR30A and COR31A were having the same problem.  We found
that none of the DOR27A had a problem.  It was at this point we pulled the
three March batches from distribution where we found them, even though some
of the bags we tested were good.  We also talked to several ferret owners
who were feeding these code dates and who reported no odor, no reluctance
of their ferrets to eat the food nor loose stools.  This feedback was also
a determining factor of not making a full recall of these dates.  Again, we
felt we could handle most of the individual cases that went out from our
distributors or through mail order.
 
Our concern from the beginning has been for the health and well being of
the ferret.  In all of those cases where we knew the product to be rancid,
we pulled all of it from the market.  Having said this, if you have any
concerns or are not really sure if you should feed any of the above code
date, don't.  I had rather replace a bag erroneously than have anyone
concerned if they are doing the best for their ferret.
 
Solving the problem was much more difficult.  There are two primary means
that most quality manufactures use to make a nutritionally superior food
and to prevent this problem from happening.  First is to select superior
quality ingredients with high nutrient content and digestibility.  The
second is to buy these ingredients from the best suppliers available.
We have done both of these from the beginning.  We have never bought
ingredients based on price, only on nutrient and supplier superiority.
We have not changed any key ingredient supplier since we have been in
business.  We have never had so much as a few bags that have been
returned for any quality variation reason.  Never!
 
So, what happened?  Until this week and literally hundreds of tests later,
did I know exactly what was wrong.  During the months of January through
July we received several shipments of from 10 to 20 of our key ingredients
from our suppliers.  What our testing indicated was that we received 8 to
10 key ingredient shipments from three of our suppliers that did not meet
our standards.  Since these were quality suppliers who have served the pet
food industry for generations, I did not believe we would have a problem.
 
What are we doing to prevent this from happening again?  This may seem like
locking the barn door after the horses have escaped.  However, we have
learned some valuable lessons, plus we have established more reliable
tests and procedures to prevent this situation from happening again.  Is
it 100% effective?  No.  Any biological system, any analytical test, or
any manufacturing system has untold variables and no two shipments of an
ingredient is ever exactly the same.  The idea behind any quality control
or quality assurance program is always to prevent a major quality problem.
There is no satisfaction to you nor to us in the fact that all manufactures
of all products occasionally have a QC problem.  I am only trying to make
this relative to what we all experience each day.
 
Though this explanation has been quite lengthy, I hope it has helped you
to understand our problem.  I am not making excuses for our company, but
rather, I would have you understand why it has taken so long to fix it.
We manufactured food last week (GOR18A, GOR19A and GOR24A), which is
guaranteed not to have a rancidity problem based on all of our tests.  All
major ingredients are pre-tested prior to manufacturing any Totally Ferret
products, plus we test all finished product.
 
Any of you who have questions after reading this, I will be glad to respond
to you at my personal email address given above.  I hope you all will
continue to feed our food and I personally ask you to trust us with the
feeding of your most prized pet - your ferrets.  If we have to earn your
trust again, we will.
 
From all of us at Performance Foods manufacturers of Totally Ferret Active
Show and Pet and Totally Ferret for Older, thank you for your loyalty and
continued business.
 
Sincerely,
 
Thomas R. Willard
President
Performance Foods, Inc.
3001 Industrial Lane, #4
Broomfield, CO 80020
(303) 410-1101
(303) 410-1881
[Posted in FML issue 3130]