The brand promise: empty.

• Author: Rundles, Jeff
• Position: RUNDLES WRAP-UP

My 9-year-old son and I have been having a running "discussion" for several months now: Should we get Rice Krispies from Kellogg's or Crispy Rice from Safeway? Brand name or store brand?

And to think it was all settled by a dead cat.

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If you recall, back in March there was a nationwide recall of cat and dog food after reports that at least 16 pets had died of a mysterious illness, ultimately linked to food. The culprit, as it turned out, was a company called Menu Foods, which recalled many batches of the pet foods it makes. There were varying reports, contradictory reports, of just what was in the food that made the pets sick, and by early April there was still no firm resolution. The pet emergencies ended, though.

Recalls of product are nothing new. For decades we have had recalls of automobiles for defects and toys for safety hazards, and over the last several years there has been an increase in such actions for human foods, like spinach and meat for suspected contamination. That's good; we have the ability to quickly identify problems and get the word out to protect the public heath and safety.

But ... I don't know. When the pet food recall broke it wasn't health and safety that was on my mind. It was brand names.

See, when Menu Foods announced the recall, it had to do with batches of food it makes in a plant in Georgia, and there were several brand names on the list. Dozens, in fact. I went to the recall website and was horrified to discover that it covered some 42 brands of cat food, and a whopping 53 brands of dog food. All made, apparently, in the same plant.

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This bugged me. On the list were such "premium," or at least what I thought were premium, brands as Iams and Eukanuba, and such house brands as Winn-Dixie, Sav-A-Lot Choice Morsels and Ol' Roy. I'm like everyone else; I want to believe the "brand promise," that I pay the extra for a superior product. Then I see these kinds of stories, and it confirms my worse suspicions that "brand" is just a name.

My wife says she doesn't believe that. She says the lower-priced brands use different fillers, and that the premium brands, while using some of the same base materials, are still better, still premium. But, c'mon, 42 different kinds of cat food and 53 different kinds of dog food from the same plant? They can't possibly have 42 and 53 different processing locations to accommodate specific quality standards for so many...