Court: Menu Foods harassed pet-owners
By Gina Spadafori
May 26, 2007
From the wonderful Elizabeth Weise of USA Today, something to start your blood pressure rising on a holiday weekend:
The pet food company that recalled six million cans of contaminated dog and cat food repeatedly made harassing phone calls to pet owners who had lawyers and said they didn’t want to talk, even after a judge ordered the firm to leave them alone, court records show.
Lawyers from six of the more than 80 law firms representing clients who believe their pets were harmed by Menu’s pet food brought a motion Wednesday in a N.J. federal court seeking to stop Menu from “bullying” people who had called the company since the recall was announced two and a half months ago.
U.S. District Judge Noel Hillman in Camden, New Jersey agreed with the individuals.
“It’s one thing for two people to sit down at the table and voluntarily agree to settle their case, it’s another thing to harass people on weekends through automated phone calls,” Hillman said to Edward Ruff of Pretzel & Stouffer, Menu’s lawyer.
Hillman entered a consent degree on Wednesday ordering Menu Foods to have no contact with anyone who believes their animal was injured by its product without a lawyer being involved.
[...]
Jay Edelson, a lawyer with Chicago-based Blim & Edelson which represents over 400 owners, says he believes Menu has received close to 30,000 calls from owners across North America who claim their pets were injured.
At a previous hearing on May 18, the judge had cautioned Menu and Crawford that they should not contact people who had joined one of the lawsuits against the company. Legally, Menu cannot contact those plaintiffs directly but must go through their lawyers.
But affidavits presented in court on Wednesday show that even pet owners who clearly told Crawford representatives they had a lawyer were being called personally and by computerized phone banks, sometimes numerous times.
“Menu’s representatives asked owners to sign releases which waived their right to get advice from a lawyer,” Edelson said.
Here’s the rest.
Update: Here’s the transcript of the hearing. U.S. District Judge Noel Hillman was clearly not pleased with Menu. After reading into the transcipt affidavits from people who’d continued to hear from Menu after they’d asked for the calls to stop, the judge gave a bit of a spanking to the Menu Foods lawyer, the unfortunately named Mr. Ruff:
Why is this not the kind of abusive conduct that is described extensively in the case law, designed to harass putative class members who are not yet fully informed about what their rights are under the law after we had a discussion on Friday about making sure this didn’t happen?
Good question. Read the transcipt for Mr. Ruff’s answer.
Oh, and hey … got an opinion about the fed’s handling of the melamine mess? We bet you do! From Reuters:
The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Friday the public will be able to formally comment on the way it handled the discovery that the industrial chemical melamine was found in feed given to hogs and poultry.
USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said the public would have until August 28 to review its decision-making process.
USDA and the Food and Drug Administration have said that it was unlikely that pigs, chickens or fish that ate the contaminated feed would pose a risk to human health if consumed.
Melamine, a chemical used in plastics and fertilizers, has been found in vegetable protein shipments from China that were used to make pet foods. More than 100 brands of pet foods have been recalled, and the pet food was later purchased by poultry, fish and hog feeders for use in their feeds.
Here’s the rest. And here’s a link to the USDA with information on how to comment. Too bad the FDA isn’t offering a similar public forum. I suggest you contact your Congressional representatives and Senators, instead.
Menu Foods needs to be put out of business for the safety of everyone.
Day after Day we must be reminded.
Comment by Steve — May 26, 2007 @ 8:32 am
I cannot help but wonder how long before we begin seeing some of these companies begin filing for Chapter 11 just to get out of reimbursing pet owners. Then how long until they re-enter the pet food industry under a new name making sure we don’t know or recognize who they really are?
Comment by Ally — May 26, 2007 @ 8:34 am
i just saw the Reuters article! I’ll def be passing the link around . . . and commenting ;)
Comment by straybaby — May 26, 2007 @ 8:46 am
Well, that Reuters article should not surprise anybody. We know by now what type of a company Menu Foods is.
What really bothers my though is that none of Menus’ clients has filed a law suit against Menu Foods. Unless they were aware of the cheap fake (now determined dangerous) ingredients. Maybe because they all belong to the big old boys’ club alias PFI and out of court settlements have been made already. They certainly must have been in violation on their contracts with their clients.
Comment by Serijna — May 26, 2007 @ 9:04 am
Comment by Ally — May 26, 2007 @ 8:34 am
Ally, the companies will file for chapter 7, not 11, bankruptcy to get rid of all of the liabilities of lawsuits. Then the company assets will be sold to another company, once again without the liabilities, leaving a shell corporation that no one will sue because there’s nothing to gain. These companies can’t survive the lawsuits, so I’m sure you’re right in that we’ll see them start going under. But another company just picks up the pieces without the liabilities and continues the business operations. All perfectly legal, too. And finally: lawyers bullying the defendents are all part of the game. Happens every day, in every case. They actually think it’s their right of passage to do so. If you’re a defendent in a lawsuit, you also become a victim.
Comment by Nabiya — May 26, 2007 @ 9:14 am
Oh gawd, I meant plaintiff, not defendent! More coffee and I should be squared away…
Comment by Nabiya — May 26, 2007 @ 9:18 am
Just wrote to the USDA about FSIS-2007-0018 and told them what I want to happen.
Part of what I suggested was to shut down the plants with poisonous food and possibly jail the owners—or both—just like the Chinese do.
Won’t happen, but I am a dreamer.
Comment by Evelyn — May 26, 2007 @ 9:25 am
Writing the FDA and the USDA is fine, but remember these are agencies of the executive branch and they report to the White House. One call from the White House and the political appointees will jump. Every political appointee is appointed by the White House and serves at the pleasure of the President. Write the President, the folks at the FDA and the USDA work for him - he is their boss - NO ONE ELSE.
P.S. Don’t hold your breath waiting for that call.
Comment by MFEMFEM — May 26, 2007 @ 9:44 am
does anyone know why the FDA was using catfish in their risk assessment? apparently, the FDA had negative results for farmed fish having Melamine in their tissue (if I’m reading this right!)
“Two aquaculture farms in the U.S. used the contaminated feed. FDA sampled edible fish tissue, as well as feed, from both farms. As indicated in the Table B-1 below, none of the fish were found to contain melamine, at a lower limit of detection of 10 ppb. As shown in Table B-2, some of the feed samples did contain melamine.”
Ok, so the “some of the feed samples” is all but 2 with amounts ranging from 53ppm-400ppm. A catfish from China tested positive, so does that mean they ate a much higher dose or ate it over a longer period of time?
Comment by straybaby — May 26, 2007 @ 9:46 am
Originally, when it was only hogs at one farm, the USDA claimed they absolutely could not be released into the human food supply and would be humanely destroyed.
Later, when it turned out that many thousands of hogs, millions of chickens and huge numbers of fish ate melamine, suddenly melamine wasn’t such bad stuff.
My initial impression from the quotes above was that the USDA could not legally apply inspection stamps to animals that they knew had eaten adulterated feed.
Have the new reports about how not bad melamine is made the previously adulterated feed retroactively unadulterated? Otherwise, it seems to me that knowingly approving and stamping hogs and chickens and fish known to have consumed adulterated feed, feed containing a substance illegal to use in the U.S. would be a crime.
- Paul
Comment by Paul — May 26, 2007 @ 10:31 am
another question on the RA.
In Table A-5: Nephritis Seen in Swine at Slaughter from January 1 through May 9, 2007. Am I reading this right? So they added the tainted swine (“Note that only a small portion of all hogs sent to these establishments were exposed.”) in with all the untainted swine in those locations from Jan-May 9 and then did the numbers? If so, wouldn’t that mean we wouldn’t really have the percentages/results of how the tainted swine handled the feed? Can we even know what percentage of those that went to slaughter from that group ate tainted feed? And wouldn’t it be better to compare the numbers to other time periods at the same facilities vs all other facilities? From what I understand, not all farming practices are the same, including what they feed, which could effect the health of the swine. So wouldn’t the numbers for the same period in 06 at the same facilities be a better comparison? although if there is only a trace amount of tainted hogs in the total number, does it really make any sense to bother?
ok, no more fda reading for me!My brain can’t seem to work today!
Comment by straybaby — May 26, 2007 @ 10:31 am
Paul, they seem to be making it up as they go . . ., imo.
Comment by straybaby — May 26, 2007 @ 10:36 am
“Menu’s representatives asked owners to sign releases which waived their right to get advice from a lawyer,”
?? isn’t that coercion ??
Comment by Kat — May 26, 2007 @ 10:46 am
”?? isn’t that coercion ??”
that’s a nice way to put it . . . . mine isn’t so that’s all I’ll say . . .
Comment by straybaby — May 26, 2007 @ 10:51 am
By Menu Food’s tactics to harass pet owners, it is perfectly clear that Menu did not, does not, and will not ever respect their consumers. Wasn’t it Menu that was crying because they felt that they were the victim? As for the possible bankruptcy discussed above, I’m sure you are right. They will “sell” the company to a newly formed “partnership” with the CFO’s wife as the new owner and nothing, absolutely nothing, will change. But that isn’t the end of the story…just don’t buy from any company that uses the “new and improved” Menu Foods (or whatever they’ll call themselves).
Speaking of the CFO, I want to know why the SEC hasn’t gotten involved for insider trading when he sold off half his shares during the time that his lab animals were dying, but before this hit the news??
Comment by Cheryl Hansen — May 26, 2007 @ 10:58 am
“USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said the public would have until August 28 to review its decision-making process.”
Does THAT MEAN after Aug 28th they COULD change their minds & have a recall?? “oh, stupid us… we’ve changed our mind… our decision-making process was flawed!” you betcha!
No, they are setting precedence. This paves the way for other contaminants to be allowed — that “aren’t so bad”, sent to us by the under-handed, saboteurs from China & who knows else where.
I think I’ll try billing the Chinese government my cell phone air time for HAVING to call all the food manufacturers, just to be sure my food is safe. I never even considered having to do that — until these very successful terrorists infiltrated our foods.
Comment by Kat — May 26, 2007 @ 11:01 am
The link to make your “comments” on http://www.regulations.gov is a page not found. So, several things could be going on:
1. They’re updating the site
2. So many people are trying to “comment” that the server can’t handle the hits and timed out
3. The Chinese have launched yet another “denial of service” attack on the server
Comment by Nabiya — May 26, 2007 @ 11:04 am
That NPR audio/news report said there’s only ONE mfr of Vit C in this country now… all the rest is imported from China!
In a news program years ago, they were discussing how there were not many plants that mfrd Vit C & the expensive brands were the same formula as the cheap generic. I guess that’s changed. Who knows WHAT we’re REALLY getting. I’ll find out where the ONLY American Vit C producer is.
Comment by Kat — May 26, 2007 @ 11:08 am
“The link to make your “comments” on http://www.regulations.gov is a page not found. So, several things could be going on”
So sorry, I meant “short comments”. They only want “short comments”. Not what you’re really feeling or thinking, make sure they’re “short”. As in “stupid”. They should have stated “make your short stupid comments”. I’m waiting for the page to reappear so I can count the number of character spaces they actually allow you to make your short stupid comments.
Comment by Nabiya — May 26, 2007 @ 11:17 am
This site has some good information resources on pet injury litigation and case law for various states:
http://www.aldf.org/resources/details.php?id=74
These are some interesting items I dug out of the Revised Code of Washington state:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=7.72
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/def.....e=9.08.070
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=16.52
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/def.....=69.04.008
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/def.....=69.04.040
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/def.....=69.04.210
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/def.....=69.04.160
As close as I can tell, Menu Foods is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors from several different angles. Also of interest is it looks like contaminated food marketed under private lables makes the store selling it liable for damages regardless of the circumstances.
I am of the opinion none of the lawyers chasing these cases have it right yet, or aren’t using all the tools available. You don’t find the good stuff unless you get down and dirty with some serious research. Obviously not all states have the same laws as Washington, but most states tend to conform to something close to generally accepted principals on most things.
With the amount of information only a mouse click away, it is easy for any literate person to pick up enough information to have at least a basic understanding of what the rules of the game are.
Comment by Don — May 26, 2007 @ 11:17 am
I received a claims package from the company handling the claims for Menu yesterday.
My claim is pretty straight forward but probably not viable. I don’t have any of the food pouches left because I returned them for a credit the first day so I could buy other food. I had no idea then of the consequences of the recall. My dogs had just thrown up the day before and refused their food. I also don’t have receipts since I bought the pouches when I grocery shopped and never saved my grocery receipts.
I will fill out the claim form though because I do have my vet bills and lab reports and I at least want my 2 dogs illness’ counted.
Comment by Maureen (Lilly and Lucy's mom) — May 26, 2007 @ 11:23 am
Nabiya, time to pull out the thesaurus and making a list of fitting words/terms/definitions ;)
i wonder if we can comment more than once? we should be able to comment on their initial reaction to the tainted feed:
no animals will go to market = correct response
and their follow up:
all animals safe = incorrect response!
Comment by straybaby — May 26, 2007 @ 11:24 am
I can come up with some short, stupid JABBING comments.. like UP YOURS! KISS MY >>>! GO TO >>>>!
hahahahha! lots of FUN on a Sat afternoon. Thunder outside, so I’ll be here pecking on my computer…..hahahahahahha!
Comment by Kat — May 26, 2007 @ 11:33 am
Court: Menu Foods harassed pet-owners
May 26, 2007
Once again, as they have done so many times before, the pet food industry has shown that the people running it are amoral. They have absolutely no sense of ethics or decency, no concept of what is right or wrong. GREED governs their every action and guides their every decision. These people are not human beings in the sense that most of us think of what humanity is. They will lie, cheat, steal; harass and pressure those of us who have lost our beloved pets for the sole purpose of cutting their losses.
The only thing they respect is money and power. The only weapons we pet owners have are the courts and the law suits that might hit these monsters in their pocketbooks, and our refusal to buy their poison-laced trash. I hope they are tied up in lawsuits for the rest of their lives. Their poison laced products killed my kind, innocent friend and the friends of many others, and they don’t care - we are nothing but an income stream to them; little people for them to exploit.
Comment by MFEMFEM — May 26, 2007 @ 11:36 am
Remember, Menu Foods Income Fund is a Canadian company, so not subject to the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission rules on insider trading.
Comment by Moira — May 26, 2007 @ 11:45 am
stray: “i wonder if we can comment more than once?”
Here’s what I think they will do with the comments: They will purge out more than one comment from the same email address. This is common practice. They will report the number of remaining comments only. This is called “cleansing the database” of “duplicates.” So if you want to comment more than once it would be best to use different email addresses if you have them. Or use your friends and family email addresses that won’t comment!
Comment by Nabiya — May 26, 2007 @ 11:45 am
In searching for the ONE Ascorbic Acid mfr, I ran across this ChemNutra - type company:
Wego Chemical & Mineral Corp:
http://www.wegochem.com/intro.htm
They sell lots of stuff: melamine, cyanuric acid, vitamins & MORE!
http://www.wegochem.com/generalproducts.htm
Comment by Kat — May 26, 2007 @ 11:45 am
Comment by Kat — May 26, 2007 @ 11:45 am
Kat, the Melamine is only listed on their general product list, and doesn’t appear in any of the sub-categories like food and feed. When you do a search on their site for Melamine it also comes up with no search results. It appears as though they have taken it off their site but overlooked the general products page. I wonder what sub-category they had it listed on? Food and Feed? Wood Treating? Textile?
Comment by Nabiya — May 26, 2007 @ 12:01 pm
Today, according to the RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service, it is confirmed that a Chinese soldier has the H5N1 strain of bird flu. He was hospitalized on May 18, and the diagnosis was confirmed today. China also confirmed last week that there is an outbreak of H5N1 in their chickens in the central province of Hunan.
Also from RSOE, 2 people in Chicago became ill after having eaten at a restaurant where they thought they were ordering Monkfish but ……. Pufferfish.
This is why, snark snark, I really want anything edible coming from China. I especially think the idea of the US importing chickens from China is a hoot and the same goes for the US sending our chickens over there for processing. H5N1…..not pretty.
says she….voice dripping with sarcasm…….
Comment by PegH — May 26, 2007 @ 12:02 pm
*****
The Blim & Edelson link is messed up. It’s coming up as http://http//www.blimlaw.com/
*****
Comment by Kat — May 26, 2007 @ 12:28 pm
I particularly enjoyed Mr. Ruff in that Menu Foods transcript.
Appears to me that his read between the lines remarks indicates IMO he thinks his clients aren’t listening to him and that ummm, the Menu attorneys aren’t in the position of advising his clients at that time (the phone call break) due to the ethics issues.. which looks to me like the true reason they “voluteered” to cease the settlement activity to figure a way save their butts. Love that Judge Hillman for staying on that point to make them squirm.
Comment by Ann H — May 26, 2007 @ 12:37 pm
Thanks for the transcript link. Here’s an interesting timeline:
March 23: class action against Menu Foods filed in NJ and assigned to Judge Hillman
May 8: Judge Hillman sets deadlines for hearing on “Why a Protective Order to Supervise or Limit Communications With Absent Class Members Should Not Issue”
May 13: The Newark Star-Ledger reports that:
In an abrupt about-face, President Bush has decided against nominating Noel Hillman, a veteran prosecutor and now federal judge in Camden, to the seat on the 3d U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that was held by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr.
Hillman, a former assistant U.S. attorney in New Jersey and the lead Justice Department prosecutor in the Jack Abramoff Capitol Hill lobby ing scandal, had full White House support and the backing of New Jersey Democratic Sens. Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg, and had successfully completed his FBI background check several months ago. But suddenly things changed.
“He is out,” one knowledgeable source told The Auditor. The source added it had nothing to do with Hillman’s qualifications, his ethics or his ability to do the job.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.c.....014114.php
[Note: I personally doubt that the judge’s obvious concern about Menu’s “abusive” and “bullying” tactics had anything to do with the withdrawal of his nomination. As the Star-Ledger noted, “speculation abounds, with some believing a skittish White House was concerned about the possibility that Hillman’s Senate confirmation hearing could become an inquisition into the behind-the-scenes operations of the Justice Department.”]
Comment by Ticocats — May 26, 2007 @ 12:58 pm
Ah, man! And, I USED to love Hunan Chicken!
——————-
Nabiya: I saved that product page — for posterity! ;)
——————-
I never heard of contaminated pet food in New Zealand — until now!
Friday March 23, 08:41 PM
NZ importers hold petfood implicated in deaths
New Zealand importers say local pets will not be at risk from petfood produced by a Canadian factory that has just announced a massive recall of 60 million cans and pouches of gravy-style pet food.
Menu Foods, the Ontario-based company that produced the pet food, makes pet food for 17 of the top 20 North American retailers and is a contract manufacturer for top petfood brands, including Procter & Gamble Co, Iams, Nutro and Eukanuba.
In New Zealand, IAMS said no affected food was on sale in New Zealand.
“There’s no problems involved in Australia and New Zealand at this stage in time. None of the product has actually made it to the New Zealand shelves,” the marketing manager of IAMS, Kim Mouret, says.
The company said dry pet food was not at risk.
Another importer has confirmed some of the suspect dog food had already entered the country.
“Wellington-based company Imports For Pets said it had isolated 180kg of gravy-style dog food in its warehouse, but none had reached stores and it was awaiting further information from the suppliers.”
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/070323/3/7mb.html
Comment by Kat — May 26, 2007 @ 1:05 pm
IF we had an attorney general, (I don’t know how that is going) we could all ask him to investigate the FDA/USDA for putting the mark of inspection on Animals and Poultry that had consumed adulterated food, couldn’t we? If their own regulations say they can’t, seems as if they should be investigated.
Comment by Elaine — May 26, 2007 @ 1:18 pm
Maybe this was posted already, but I find it very interesting that Wal-Mart has been named in a pet food lawsuit. A first , I believe.The outcome of the various lawsuits will determine IMO how the pet food industry will conduct business in the future. Legislation changes is more like a pie in the sky( long term). I certainly hope our courts will do the right thing. Some of our judges are quite independent characters.
http://www.bloggingstocks.com/.....l-lawsuit/
Comment by Serijna — May 26, 2007 @ 1:23 pm
Re: “Menu’s representatives asked owners to sign releases which waived their right to get advice from a lawyer” comments:
It’s also grounds for disciplinary action against any lawyers involved. My personal favorite part of the transcript is where the judge orders Menu to give him a list with names — and states of licensure — for all the lawyers who had advised the company about these contacts. I’m expecting some pleasant fireworks coming from the NJ courthouse.
Comment by Ticocats — May 26, 2007 @ 1:36 pm
I liked the judge requesting the tele. script used by customer no-service. !~~hahahahha~~!
Comment by Kat — May 26, 2007 @ 2:07 pm
Here’s the new USA Today news article about
Court: Menu Foods harassed pet owners
http://www.usatoday.com/news/n.....htm?csp=34
Comment by Kat — May 26, 2007 @ 2:36 pm
““The Chinese government attaches great importance to food and drug safety. We are making efforts to improve the monitoring system of the safety of food and drug,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a regular briefing Thursday.”
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/.....source=RSS
————-
you betcha!
Comment by Kat — May 26, 2007 @ 3:33 pm
What I think they should have done — is shut them off — no imports! Then, over the next FIVE YEARS, have discussions about how they’ve changed, inspect those changes, come up with a NEW BATCH of approved mfrs, then, let ‘em come in on the 6th year.
Comment by Kat — May 26, 2007 @ 3:40 pm
Comment by Serijna — May 26, 2007 @ 1:23 pm
WalMart has Ol Roy brand, which was recalled.
Comment by Kat — May 26, 2007 @ 3:44 pm
Well, this is just too much. The Chinese are reprimanding us now and warning us not to “manipulate” our health standards as an excuse not to buy their exports!
“It also warned that the United States should not violate World Trade Organization’s rules, which give countries the right to ensure food safety for consumers but not to manipulate health standards to protect domestic producers.”
The whole story at: http://tinyurl.com/ysxhwk
Comment by Nabiya — May 26, 2007 @ 4:16 pm
I think the website for reporting to usda might be:www.aphis.usda.gov This site talks about memamine, but might also be useful in leaving a comment, especially about FSIS-2007-0018 (comments about food safety)
Comment by Evelyn — May 26, 2007 @ 4:16 pm
My typing was off—site talks about melamine (not memamine). I did find site earlier, but did not write it down.
Comment by Evelyn — May 26, 2007 @ 4:18 pm
Comment by Nabiya — May 26, 2007 @ 4:16 pm
Nabiya, I can think of the perfect place they can stick their warning, how bout you? (-;
Comment by Sandi K — May 26, 2007 @ 4:25 pm
Evelyn, still can’t find the “short stupid comments” form on aphis.usda.gov. Just checked http://www.regulations.gov again and the site is still down. If you find another link let me know!
Comment by Nabiya — May 26, 2007 @ 4:30 pm
Comment by Nabiya — May 26, 2007 @ 4:16 p
Well, this is just too much. The Chinese are reprimanding us now and warning us not to “manipulate” our health standards as an excuse not to buy their exports!
“It also warned that the United States should not violate World Trade Organization’s rules, which give countries the right to ensure food safety for consumers but not to manipulate health standards to protect domestic producers.”
Yes, and watch. China snaps its fingers and our Chinese controlled US Government jumps through the hoop.
Comment by MFEMFEM — May 26, 2007 @ 4:37 pm
Sandi K: and that would still be too good of a place to put it….from the same article on China’s hurt feelings:
“Many of the tainted goods are produced by farmers and small factories, and a ban on their trade by importing nations would threaten jobs in a largely rural country with already high unemployment.”
Now why would I give a rat’s a__ after they knowingly poisoned our pets and people?
Comment by Nabiya — May 26, 2007 @ 4:38 pm
Third try on usda comment website:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/conta.....ex/asp?a=s
Hope it works—please let me know. Just tried it—and still have another if that does not work. However, I certainly did access it earlier. Thanks for your patience, and “trust me”, maybe
Comment by Evelyn — May 26, 2007 @ 4:42 pm
Yep, I think it was Steve awhile back said we are now the United States of China. We let China poison us and our pets and then we even allow them to give the U.S. warnings about violating WTO rules? Amazing! U.S., where is your backbone? Oh I forgot it was sold down the tubes when our government decided to go to bed with all of the big corporations, the only difference I can see between our government and pimps/streetwalkers is the way they dress.
Comment by Sandi K — May 26, 2007 @ 4:42 pm
and nobody in the US has lost jobs because of China?!
if they want anyone to import the rural goods, maybe they should take it upon themselves to make sure they aren’t exporting inferior product!
Comment by straybaby — May 26, 2007 @ 4:43 pm
stray, really, inferior product? POISON. POISON. POISON. POISON. POISON. POISON. POISON.
Comment by Nabiya — May 26, 2007 @ 4:50 pm
well that too! ;)
what originally came to mind i didn’t want to type, so that was my cop out. . . .
Comment by straybaby — May 26, 2007 @ 5:08 pm
Kat….
Look what I found
http://www.federalabs.com
vitamin c at the bottom of the products list
Comment by PegH — May 26, 2007 @ 5:14 pm
The link to the FSIS and the public comments on melamine should now work in the post above. I just double-checked it.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — May 26, 2007 @ 5:18 pm
The government’s website for comments very difficult to access:
got it by going to http://www.fsis.usda.gov/conta.....s.usda.gov.
Last attempt, I promise.
Comment by Evelyn — May 26, 2007 @ 5:18 pm
Nabiya -
Thanks for clarifying Chapter 11 vs Chapter 7. An accounting friend had explained it to me a few minutes before I read your post. I wonder who will be the first company to do so? Anyone making any bets?
straybaby, TC, et al -
Y’all inspired me. Just got back from a grocery store shop and bought my first environmentally friendly laundry soap. I’ve been using All’s free & clear to wash all my dog’s stuff (one has allergies) and Tide for me. No more P&G in this house once what I have is gone. Tomorrow morning I’m taking a friend to go shop at our local Farmer’s Market. Can’t wait and we’re both all fired up to support our local growers. The feeling is quite liberating!
Comment by Ally — May 26, 2007 @ 5:19 pm
Just another reason why I find it objectionable to buy pet food from any company still supporting Menu Foods. They can circle their wagons around Menu all they want, and hopefully they’ll go broke defending Menu’s so-called honor.
See the list of those financially supporting Menu at http://itchmoforums.com/index.php?topic=330.0
Comment by slt — May 26, 2007 @ 5:21 pm
Comment by slt — May 26, 2007 @ 5:21 pm
“Just another reason why I find it objectionable to buy pet food from any company still supporting Menu Foods.”
I agree completely. Nutro outsourced its wet food pouches and my cat died a horrible death after eating Nutro wet cat food. None of those companies deserve to ever be on our buy list again. Why aren’t they suing Menu Foods instead of making excuses? Why aren’t they calling for the dismantling of the PFI and for strict regulations? Maybe it’s because they knew what was going on and looked the other way? I suspect they don’t care, they want this “incident” to blow over so it will be business as usual. The good ole boy PFI club wallowing in a sea GREED.
Comment by MFEMFEM — May 26, 2007 @ 5:32 pm
PegH: A quick Yahoo search shows Federal Labs being sued all over the place with everything from fraud and false advertising to poor employee working conditions like no face masks….their address shows them in NY but one would think this is taking place in China…
Comment by Nabiya — May 26, 2007 @ 5:35 pm
Gina: the transcript is there, it refers to you another link, which is a pdf; within the pdf it says the “short comments” form is found at http://www.regulations.gov which isn’t working. Did anyone find the actual “short comments” form yet?
Comment by Nabiya — May 26, 2007 @ 5:42 pm
Comment by Sandi K May 26 2007 4:42pm
Good one Sandi
“..the only difference I see in our goverment and pimps/streetwalkers is the way they dress.” Love it!
Comment by VJ — May 26, 2007 @ 6:16 pm
Comment by Ally — May 26, 2007 @ 5:19 pm
lol! i just got back from the store. wanted to compare 2 different bathroom tissues before i bought bulk :p i was using one and liked it, but just had to check out the other before i committed to 96 rolls!! also picked up some organic Mac n’ Cheese and if i like, I’ll buy that in bulk also. Can’t live with out my emergency stash of Mn’C!
be sure and check amazon if you have room to stash product. I got 12 bottles of enviro dish soap for 22 bucks. saved 26!! lol!~ my TP will be 44 cents a roll and the paper towels i think will be 1.16. They also have Bobs Red Mill products and Arrowhead Mills. I’ve used both for a long time. Haven’t checked AH’s country of origin but Bob’s was very upfront with all theirs.
i’ve been reading my Ben n’ Jerrys cookbook. it has brownie recipes and such in it to put in the ice cream! maybe i’ll gain about 25lbs so i can meet the FDA’s standard for Melamine safety *grin*
Comment by straybaby — May 26, 2007 @ 6:20 pm
Comment by VJ — May 26, 2007 @ 6:16 pm
I just hope I didnt offend the pimps/streetwalkers that may be here. (-;
Comment by Sandi K — May 26, 2007 @ 6:40 pm
Opened can of Eagle Pack Holistic Select ocean fish and tuna formula, 2 cats sniffed, looked at me with absolute horror, and walked away. Third cat ate maybe 2 bites and up-chucked everywhere. Have alternated this with Evangers for awhile now, no problem till now. I suspect bad fish. Also lost 2 cats, Dec and a week ago. Both became diabetic, one lost use of back legs and died of convulsions. Now a 3rd is diabetic and loosing use of his legs. All 3 were on Science Diet w/d, Purina d/m and a spoonful of FF here and there for 3yrs or so. Really think that these foods were responsible, a slow build-up over time. For some reason I thought that Eagle was ok, now i see its still being canned by Menu. Explains this can and cats reaction. What has happened to our country?
Comment by keith — May 26, 2007 @ 8:27 pm
The link to the federal eRulemaking Portal (www.regulations.gov) is down and out no matter whether you try to go in through Treasury, Housing, FEMA USDA or anything else.
Comment by Carol PW — May 26, 2007 @ 8:28 pm
And yet another scary China story: The food scare in China has now nurtured China’s organic produce growers as people as turning to the organics since everything else is poisoned. Only problem is, seems like the organics are falsely labeled as such and aren’t really organic. Hhhmmmm….false labeling in China….I think I just read about that somewhere…..
http://tinyurl.com/yoslk4
Comment by Nabiya — May 26, 2007 @ 9:23 pm
Comment by PegH — May 26, 2007 @ 5:14 pm
Thanks for the link. Now, just need to know who buys from them. And, which brands to look for.
Comment by Kat — May 26, 2007 @ 10:24 pm
Sandi K: and that would still be too good of a place to put it….from the same article on China’s hurt feelings:
“Many of the tainted goods are produced by farmers and small factories, and a ban on their trade by importing nations would threaten jobs in a largely rural country with already high unemployment.”
Boo Hoo, cry me a river. WE have high unemployment here. No thanks to American corporations setting up shop in China. China should be bowing at our feet for giving them all those jobs that were taken away from Americans. Now why in the world would they think for one minute that we would give a rat’s a$$ about their high unemployment when our own country is going to he!! in a hand basket.
Comment by Tammy — May 27, 2007 @ 3:23 am
Just to remind everyone (I think I saw it first on this blog) that if you buy pet food at Petco and use their PALS card, all your purchases are tracked ( through co headquarters not the individual stores).
You can get a detailed printout. I wonder if
other companies with similar store cards
track purchases too. Might be worth asking.
I lost 2 of my precious cat-babies from feeding Nutro - would like to sue Menu for
more but hope we can at least get the vet bills reimbursed.
Comment by Linnea R — May 27, 2007 @ 4:23 am
Lawyer sues Menu Foods and Iams after losing cat to tainted food.
Stormy vs. Menu Foods
http://www.gather.com/viewArti.....4976942148
Comment by Sandy — May 27, 2007 @ 5:09 am
Oops, sorry after reading further the cat is sick but still alive. I’m saying a prayer for Stormy. I can’t believe this is all happening. Someone……please wake me up from this horrible nightmare.
Comment by Sandy — May 27, 2007 @ 5:13 am
Comment by keith — May 26, 2007 @ 8:27 pm
There are still good foods out there - both human and pet - they just take a lot of research to find. As for the pet foods you mention, I haven’t found anything negative about Evanger’s and I hope it stays that way!
Comment by slt — May 27, 2007 @ 8:48 am
RE: Comment by Linnea R — May 27, 2007 @ 4:23 am
———
There was a grocery store that did that a few years ago - notified customers about a milk(??) recall. Don’t even know where to look for that now. But, there are a few. Walmart has UPC tracking for the recalls + their website lists recalls too.
Comment by Kat — May 27, 2007 @ 11:26 am
About the WalMart tracking pet food recall. Don’t let the cashier ring up multiple items at a time, ie: 5 x .75 = . Have them ring up each individual item.
One of the bad things about Special Kitty, & maybe other brands, that was posted on Menu’s website, is the multi-packs have various UPC codes & expiration dates within that shrink-wrapped package.
Comment by Kat — May 27, 2007 @ 11:30 am