FDA concerns, and a stock analyst laments Menu’s ‘PR nightmare’
By Gina Spadafori
June 13, 2007
Bringing up from comments (thanks, Kim!) this must-read article from the Union of Concerned Scientists, regarding internal issues among FDA scientists:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), now in its hundredth year, is responsible for protecting and advancing public health through the regulation of drugs, food, medical devices, cosmetics, and the blood supply—including products that, according to the FDA, account for 25 cents of every American consumer dollar spent.
In 2006, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) distributed a 38-question survey to 5,918 FDA scientists to examine the state of science at the FDA. The results paint a picture of a troubled agency: hundreds of scientists reported significant interference with the FDA’s scientific work, compromising the agency’s ability to fulfill its mission of protecting public health and safety.In September 2006, the National Academies Institute of Medicine released a report critical of the FDA and its ability to protect the public from unsafe drugs. In a section discussing the poor handling of scientific disagreement, the report mentioned the UCS survey result indicating that hundreds of agency scientists had been pressured to approve a drug despite reservations about safety.
The report describes the acknowledgment of these concerns by acting FDA commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach when questioned about the UCS survey at his Senate confirmation hearing and in a separate meeting with UCS about scientific integrity at the FDA.
The FDA mission statement calls for “helping the public get the accurate, science-based information they need to use medicines and foods to improve their health.” Unfortunately, scientists at the agency are concerned that science no longer plays this crucial role in the FDA’s regulatory decisions.
Independent science must be the driving force for decisions made by the FDA. Based on the survey responses from FDA scientists, it is clear that the agency needs to demonstrate a greater respect for independent science and improve both the transparency and accountability of its decisions.
Read the rest. What’s the UCS? From their Web site:
The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world. UCS combines independent scientific research and citizen action to develop innovative, practical solutions and to secure responsible changes in government policy, corporate practices, and consumer choices.
In the meantime, Menu Foods stock takes a big hit, unfairly so, according to Robert Silgardo, an analyst at Dundee Securities Corp. in Toronto:
This whole pet-food thing has been a PR nightmare for everyone and some steps have to be taken even though it’s been found that Menu Foods is not at fault.
Why the big hit? According to the article, P&G said buh-bye to Menu. (Thanks, Sharon!)
Maybe in Canada they consider it “several” deaths, but thousands of dead and ill pets thanks to Menu Foods’ negligence seems like a LOT to me!
Comment by elizabeth R. — June 13, 2007 @ 2:42 pm
Cute picture of the dog. I don’t believe anything the FDA says or is reported to say or anything else and I can hardly believe that anyone else believes them either not in this entire country.
Comment by Linda — June 13, 2007 @ 3:02 pm
Is that dog giving a “high five” that Menu Foods’ stock is down? I wondered why my two puppies were high fiving each other today!
Comment by petlover — June 13, 2007 @ 3:07 pm
Oh, poor Menu Foods contributing the stock drop to all the bad PR that they don’t really deserve. Give me a frigin break. You poisened thousands of animals, you violated people’s trust. Of course, consumers are not going to buy your products. Quit finding things to blame - the blame is yours, so live with it. We’ve had to live with a lot of bulls—- and being treated like mushrooms. Well, thats what happens to companys that treat people and pets like that. Good ridance.
Comment by Deanna — June 13, 2007 @ 3:19 pm
as you sow, so shall you reap. or if you prefer the secular version, what goes around comes around. i’m not surprised that a stock analyst thinks of the Menu Foods debacle as a PR nighmare. for those with sick and dead pets, it’s a nightmare of an altogether different kind. if businesses, and even the government agencies involved, see this as a problem of public perception, they have really lost touch with reality. i, and the rest of us who have lived through this monstrous event, will never forget what’s been done to us and our dear companions. a PR campaign, no matter how slick, will not change that… not now, not ever.
Comment by explodinghed — June 13, 2007 @ 3:40 pm
I think the dog’s waving bye-bye. :)
Comment by Gina Spadafori — June 13, 2007 @ 4:03 pm
Oh, I thought the dog was taking the oath for a senate hearing on behalf of his bretheran. Finally, the truth!!!
Comment by elizabeth R. — June 13, 2007 @ 4:10 pm
Ha! That’s funny elizabeth R.
Comment by Linda — June 13, 2007 @ 4:18 pm
“This whole pet-food thing has been a PR nightmare for everyone and some steps have to be taken even though it’s been found that Menu Foods is not at fault.”
excuse me?! since when?!! when pigs fly perhaps?!
Comment by straybaby — June 13, 2007 @ 4:39 pm
You can interpret the dog’s behavior in any way you like. I just thought it was a cute picture. :)
Comment by Gina Spadafori — June 13, 2007 @ 4:45 pm
Those folks who actually think that Menu Foods is “not at fault” may be right if you’re looking at the issue from one side — Menu Foods did NOT add melamine and related compounds to their products intentionally (at least until they learned it was there, and did nothing…). However, Menu Foods DID go to the lowest-cost supplier; apparently without requiring that decent standards be met by that supplier.
The astounding aspect of this whole debacle, and by itself the one reason this company should be put down, is this:
Menu Foods took it upon themselves to CHANGE THE RECIPES of their customer companies without authorization FROM those companies, so they could reduce the cost of production (cheaper ingredients, and less time “wasted” cleaning processing equipment between batches of different foods).
Comment by Lloyd Townsend — June 13, 2007 @ 5:01 pm
Here is a link to Dr. Mercola on China, and some of the foods and our future. Educating ourself is a full time job as of late.
http://v.mercola.com/blogs/pub.....18212.aspx
Darlene
Comment by darlene — June 13, 2007 @ 5:17 pm
We American pet owners ARE Menus worst nightmare.
That they count on.
Comment by Steve — June 13, 2007 @ 5:30 pm
Comment by Lloyd Townsend — June 13, 2007 @ 5:01 pm
totally agree Lloyd. Nope, they didn’t add the toxins, but they didn’t do much right either. And *that* is my issue.
I think I’m more ‘Shocked & Appalled’ at the many various aspects of not only Menu Food’s behavior, but most, if not all of the others involved/connected with this. And I tend to lean jaded in general!! lol!~
Comment by straybaby — June 13, 2007 @ 5:37 pm
Something suddenly seems to have gone wrong at Itchmo. Couldn’t get on (timed out) a few minutes ago. finally succeded in getting on to find a large block of chinese characters (couldn’t decipher - have only mastered dim sum menues!). Used petconnection link to get back on - now that doesen’t work. Have they been sabotaged - or is it just my computer?
Comment by Patricia Hill — June 13, 2007 @ 5:40 pm
Itch is working.
Comment by Steve — June 13, 2007 @ 5:44 pm
Whew! Just accessed Itchmo from here - so they must be OK, but I’d still like to know what that block of characters with the huge exclamation mark said.
Comment by Patricia Hill — June 13, 2007 @ 5:48 pm
FDA article:
Gee, I feel safe.
Menu Foods article:
I feel so sorry for them that my teeny tiny violin is playing, “My Heart Bleeds For You”.
Comment by Pamela J. Betz-Baron — June 13, 2007 @ 6:12 pm
“…Menu Foods is not at fault.”
Yes, they are. They sought out the cheapest ingredients and didn’t check their quality before using them.
The Chinese companies are at fault for adding the stuff.
The importers are at fault for not testing it themselves.
The pet food companies are at fault for contracting out the manufacturing of their food to the lowest bidder and not checking the quality themselves.
Anyone who got in the way of information reaching us is at fault. (I’d forget someone if I tried to list them all.)
Those of us who have lost a pet or are dealing with an ill (perhaps chronically) pet want honesty and justice for our/their suffering.
Comment by Pamela J. Betz-Baron — June 13, 2007 @ 6:18 pm
Menu stock prices are still plunging. Today’s close was $2.33 which is even lower than yesterday of $3.05. I love it. They killed the pets by their delay in recalling food and now their company may be dying too.
I hope all pet food companies affiliated with MF will withdraw their orders out of an abundance of caution to their own reputations.
They are wrong in saying that there are loyal customers out there. It’s a spin again to prevent a big slide in stock price.
TOO LATE….MF is going down!!! :)
Comment by Sindy — June 13, 2007 @ 6:22 pm
Lloyd — good summary. I would add that Menu did nothing after they had reason to suspect that their food was poisoning pets, and they continued to delay action, killing more pets, until they were given an ultimatum from P&G.
Comment by Mike — June 13, 2007 @ 6:46 pm
Mahatma Gandi said- A nation and it’s moral progress can be judged by the way it’s animals are treated.
What more is there to say?
Comment by Trudy Jackson — June 13, 2007 @ 7:09 pm
Just my take on this: how do we know for sure that MF didn’t add anything to the PF? There may have been contamination all along the line & perhaps not knowing that (which, of course, they wouldn’t as they didn’t test anything) they thought a little dab of this & a little dab of that would boost protein & save them oh so much money. I think there have been enough contaminants found to assure us that more than one company was adding crap that should never have been put in our animals’ food.
Nobody but nobody can ever take away the fact that MF held off for at least a month…..I believe it was a lot longer because I read somewhere that the reports started pouring in in Dec, not Feb as they claim. No matter, they held off until the big cheese could cash in his stocks….that IS NO FRIGGIN COINCIDENCE. That, my friends, is criminal greed, pure & simple.
Comment by JanC — June 13, 2007 @ 7:36 pm
Watch Menu like a hawk more then ever now. They’ll probably try to cut costs even further now.
Comment by Steve — June 13, 2007 @ 8:34 pm
MF, PF, CN, etc.,etc. they are all at fault. I believe I read here in the blogs awhile back that CN said they met the supplier in China and sat on newspapers in the parking lot and made a deal. Now how many of us would deal with someone on asphalt in a parking lot sitting on newspapers.
I believe CN said they told the China supplier it was for pet food.
MF was well aware that animals were sick in late Dec. Their own lab animals died. They waited how many days before recall.
Iams. made an ultimatum but… how many calls had they rec’d and when? how long did they wait before giving the ultimatum?
PF: they turned over the making of a product to a contractor. Why? cheaper than building their own facility. That does not mean they aren’t responsible for the outcome. Did they supply ingredients? did they check up on MF or visit them? did they run a check on product when they rec’d it prior to shipment? did they analyze samples when the calls came in? have they gone back and checked samples? have they said they are sorry? did they do anything to educate the public about symptoms? NO!
So as far as I’m concerned they can go out of business - all of them. I hope the shareholders demand an
explanation and prevent the CEO’s etc. from getting gold parachutes and huge packages. They should do time in jail for deceiving and stealing from the public.
E. I would love to see MR PFI being sat upon.
Katie
Comment by Katie — June 13, 2007 @ 8:40 pm
Menu could have come out of the pet food recall looking a lot better if they hadn’t worried so much about looking bad in the beginning. Lets face it it was normal for a company to look for the least expensive SAFE ingredients for their food. So I don’t fault them for buying the gluten in the beginning. If they had recalled at the first sign of problems they might have been a somewhat innocent party. Instead they put off the recall hoping they could find out a quick fix and no one would know.
They’ve forever lost my trust and I’ll never buy a product from a company who uses Menu to make any of their pet foods.
Their stock should hit rock bottom where the ground feeders belong.
Comment by Maureen (Lilly and Lucy's mom) — June 13, 2007 @ 11:57 pm
Individual pet food companies would be wise to pull out of Menu Foods. MF reputation is beyond tarnished. I, for one, will not buy pet food made by Menu Foods. Apparently, many others feel this is the case as MF stocks plunge…..
Comment by Deanna — June 14, 2007 @ 3:49 am
Comment by Deanna — June 14, 2007 @ 3:49 am
The Imperial Highnesses (our two Siamese cats) voted against any pet food from any company that is somehow connected - even by rumour - with Menu Food. Since I am only their representative in this very democratic household, I do as I’m told by my voters (and it concurs with my conscience).
I feed mostly home-cooked, plus Merrick canned (no connection to MF to the best of my knowledge), and as dry ‘junk food’ Orijen (see above).
I am waiting for the news that Menu goes down.
Comment by MaKo — June 14, 2007 @ 6:13 am
elizabeth R. that was funny.
It’s a pleasure to see Menu dropping in stocks. PR nightmare? Thousands of pet owners watched their beloved pets die a horrid death or become deathly ill for the rest of their shortened lifes. That is the nightmare. Guess they just don’t see what they did to thousands of pets and owners in the terms of reality.
Their product, their responsibility, their quality control, their satifaction garentee. MF should have made sure they were producing a product that doesn’t kill/sicken their customers, period.
No ands, ifs or buts about it.
Comment by Maudigan — June 14, 2007 @ 6:27 am
“Maybe in Canada they consider it “several” death”
Hey, please don’t turn one financial writer into the entire country.
Those of us who live here and own pets are deeply and seriously aware of the ramifications of the pet food scandal. A friend who has dogs I’ve bred ended up with her pets in the hospital due to this. Trust me, I’m cognizant that it’s more than ‘several’.
Comment by FrogDogz — June 14, 2007 @ 7:15 am
If ANYONE with any knowledge at all had looked at the gluten, they could have seen there was something else in there. Menu Foods’ timeline of events doesn’t make sense, and it seems they were hoping it would all just go away. They never stepped up to the plate and took responsibility for anything. It’s a lot more than a PR nightmare; it’s an absolute disgrace that companies conduct themselves in this manner with lives at stake. I would never trust them again. They don’t need to be in the food business EVER. The consumers have spoken!
Comment by Carol — June 14, 2007 @ 8:14 am
Regardless of all other matters, the Menu Foods’ knowledge of their packaged death in pouches by December, 2006 and the refusal to mount a total and complete recall resulted in thousands of deaths. When they are delisted and broke, it will be time to follow the paths of the executives like Henderson and that stock-selling CFO just to make certain that if they try to form something out of the bones of their previous crimes, it will come to the same end.
Whether canned or pouched — if Menu makes it, never buy it again.
Comment by Jay — June 14, 2007 @ 10:25 am
After just reading the PFI’s opinion of tests that don’t wish for (Expertox’s result) on Itchmo, expand that boycott to any company that retains a membership in the PFI — Pet Food Institute. High sounding, low acting.
Does anyone have a complete list of members?
Comment by Jay — June 14, 2007 @ 10:33 am
Correction: important to make sense!
After just reading the PFI’s opinion of tests THEY don’t wish for (Expertox’s result) on Itchmo, expand that boycott to any company that retains a membership in the PFI —Pet Food Institute. High sounding, low acting.
Does anyone have a complete list of members?
Comment by Jay — June 14, 2007 @ 10:34 am
I too dont wish any favors on Menu Foods but to be honest, I hope they hold out long enough to pay money to the poor people who have filed law suits to recover their thousands of dollars in vet bills that they currently have and will be undertaking from their pets either dying or needing to be maintained the rest of their lives due to kidney damage. I would hate to see those people not get reimbursement of some sort.
Comment by Sandi K — June 14, 2007 @ 1:56 pm
I would hate to see them elude those responsibilities as well but they have already shown their intentions by harrassing those sad people so badly that a federal judge had to step in to quash their predatory activities. Also, I think they wish to place a limit of $500.00 per injured party. Not much and if a higher judgment came down they would undoubtedly go to bankruptcy which is why I suggested keeping an eye on these folks in order to follow them into the next “pet food” company they try to operate.
Comment by Jay — June 14, 2007 @ 3:01 pm
Stock closed again Friday at $2.33!
Comment by Deanna — June 15, 2007 @ 3:13 am
Nightmare? Try this for a nightmare - having your beloved dog die in your arms as you are rushing to the vet. And now, every day, the nightmare of wondering if this will be the last day for his pal. Do I feel sorry for Menu Foods? They knew at least a month before I ever opened and fed the food that sickened and killed my dogs. Do I feel sorry for Menu Foods? My regret is that they will walk away with their $$$, pop up again with a new business and be on their merry way again, instead of walking the streets wearing bells and calling “Unclean, Unclean”, shunned by all decent people.
Comment by Nancy Nielsen — June 15, 2007 @ 5:08 am
And someone knows of other foods that are killing pets right now. When are they going to speak up?
Comment by Trudy Jackson — June 15, 2007 @ 6:38 am
Comment by Jay — June 14, 2007 @ 3:01 pm
Thats true Jay and while they are still up and running, they are cranking out poison food so maybe it would be best if they go under sooner than later. Its sad for the folks who need money to pay vet bills to keep their pets alive.
Comment by Sandi K — June 16, 2007 @ 8:10 am
Comment by Nancy Nielsen — June 15, 2007 @ 5:08 am
Nancy, I know what you went thru, its awful. Our cat died in my arms while we were sitting in the car in front of the vet clinic waiting for the vet to arrive for the emergency call. (Im not blaming the vet, it was too late for our kitty. He arrived about 10 minutes after we got there, nothing he could have done would have changed anything at that point)
Comment by Sandi K — June 16, 2007 @ 8:13 am
Unfortunately, Menu closed up at $2.75 for Friday, not $2.33 which was Thursdays close (sorry Deanna).
Their 52 week low was $2.21 and 52 week high was $7.47. So they are hurting, thank god for that but it will not be enough for me until they are out of business. I think that changes will happen since some pet food companies committed themselves to opening thier own factories.
Hopefully then Menu will lose out on more orders and become a penny stock we can use as litter tray liners for our cats to pee on.
Comment by Sindy — June 16, 2007 @ 9:49 am
The same analysts would justify the holocaust if they could make a buck out of their justification.
Comment by MFEMFEM — June 16, 2007 @ 10:55 am
“Peterson is saying: If Americans want to know what foreign country provides the meat in their hamburger, every livestock animal in America is going to be tagged, registered into a national database and all movements reported the USDA.”
Article:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/n.....E_ID=56200
Comment by Barb — June 16, 2007 @ 12:31 pm
Actually, if Peterson is talking about the NAIS, then not EVERY livestock animal is to be individually tagged. Just small producers - there were some kind of exemptions for the big “agri-businesses” to have a much more lax requirement, and just identify “lots” of animals, not individuals due to “cost” considerations. I read that a month or so back, so don’t know if things have changed.
The USDA needs to IMMEDIATELY tell ME the consumer where my beef is coming from. They ALREADY know - so tell me. They won’t because they don’t want me to quit buying their imported products.
And apparently, we already have the ability to know where the animals are coming from, we just don’t want to make it obvious and let consumers determine what they prefer to purchase. The boxes that come in from IBP do, as Elaine said, identify that they are from Canada or USA. My chain store does not make any mention on the labels in the meat case as to origin.
And one other interesting note - I just heard a commercial (had headphones on, so didn’t see it) on one of my Dish channels. Said that beef that McDonalds uses comes from New Zealand. But not to worry - A&W beef burgers are made from USA beef, so quit going to McDonalds and starting eating USA beef at A&W - something along those lines. Now, I would like to know more about how they are certain where their beef is raised/slaughtered.
But A&W knows where McDonalds gets theirs from, and more important to me, they appear to understand that people are asking these questions and that consumers may be starting to make choices based on this information.
Comment by TC — June 16, 2007 @ 4:49 pm
P.S. I hope that Menu’s PR “nightmare” continues right into bankruptcy proceedings and a full fledged company liquidation.
I hope some other pet company pulls an “A&W” style commercial, promoting their safe pet food and ripping Menu Foods product lines and safety record - might help put more nails in the coffin.
Of course, that would mean the competing pet food company had to be producing safe food, and I am not sure who is left standing in that field.
Comment by TC — June 16, 2007 @ 5:12 pm
I just had two posts that aren’t here yet.
One is about a new beef recall from a company named Washington Beef - the article says a complete list is at the usda recall site, but I can’t find it there. The article is at The Capital Press - and will show up in my other post, whenever it shows up.
http://www.fsis.usda.gov.
Comment by TC — June 16, 2007 @ 5:40 pm
One more link to the newest beef recall:
http://www.washingtonbeefrecall.com/
Comment by TC — June 16, 2007 @ 5:41 pm
The recalls was on Yahoo News (today)
Comment by Jill — June 16, 2007 @ 7:15 pm
I still like my idea — wait until their stocks drop — even further — and do a hostile takeover!
We can then go in & throw out all the filthy, contaminated equipment — and start a fresh, organic (if you want) pet food mfg company!
A departing gesture ~ a brand new pair of adjustable, linking chain, silver bracelets! Oh, and a stinky cot!
Comment by Kat — June 17, 2007 @ 8:10 am