Pet-food recall: Consumers unimpressed with settlement
By Gina Spadafori
April 4, 2008
Lisa McCormick of ConsumerAffairs.com is another of those reporters who did super work during last year’s pet-food recall. Today she’s reporting that many people who lost pets aren’t too thrilled with the Menu Foods settlement:
Grieving pet owners say it’s too early to applaud a tentative settlement the company behind the largest pet food recall in United States history — one blamed for the deaths and illnesses of thousands of dogs and cats nationwide — announced earlier this week.
The Canadian-based company said it could not disclose terms of the agreement, which is subject to the approval of U.S. and Canadian courts.
“It’s a comprehensive settlement,” Amy W. Schulman, a lawyer for Menu Foods, told MSNBC. “It would resolve all the claims.”
The lead attorney for pet owners agreed and said she’s confident a final agreement will be reached.
The settlement comes a little more than a year after Menu Foods recalled 60 million containers of tainted dog and cat food.
Thousands of pet nationwide suffered kidney problems or died after eating the food contaminated with the chemicals melamine and cyanuric acid.
Thanks for the pointer, Nadine.
I’m busy frantically trying to get ready for my road trip. Christie has a miserable cold. So we’re around, just not as much today.
Pets are still suffering and dying. Their people are still footing the bills.
Still tending the sick and grieving the dead.
Nothing has changed. Sigh.
Comment by Duaneisadork — April 4, 2008 @ 2:15 pm
There are still pet owners who chose not to join the class action lawsuits and will be suing MF (and friends) individually. MF is not out of the woods yet.
In the article, it states that FDA officials have discovered something else in pet food: pentobarbital, a drug used to euthanize dogs and cats! And feathers we heard about yesterday?
At the grocery store last evening, I stood at the head of the seemingly endless frozen foods aisle. In front of me were countless prepackaged, convenience products, full dinners, all sorts of “gourmet” cuisine that were beautifully packaged with delicious photos on the boxes and bags. Knowing about drugs, melamine and chicken feathers in dog food, amongst other things, made me question what REALLY is in all those lovely packages. I lost my appetite. Even the fresh meats had solutions of 20% of something wet (like who knows what and where did the water or “solution” come from—-near the barnyard or out in the crop-dusted field?. I walked out with very little. Are we next?
Comment by Nadine L. — April 4, 2008 @ 3:01 pm
What about the gas (I don’t know the exact name but I know it is allowed) they now put in meat for humans so it will stay red and look nice and fresh.
Where has all the honest food gone? Hard to find nowadays.
Comment by Colorado Transplant — April 4, 2008 @ 3:26 pm
After Calvin died at the height of the pet food crisis, I thought it was pretty good of us to cook people-food for our dogs Molly and Keagan and Mrs. Murphy, the cat. Then I began reading the content of people-food. The urge to subsistence farm is coming back; at least I’d know that only my sweat had gone into the food.
Comment by Russell — April 4, 2008 @ 4:41 pm
Make no mistake, I am _very_ impressed with how the PFI and MenuFoods have conspired with the class action attorneys to screw over the pets and pet parents, again.
Don Earl is fighting, alone, it seems, to keep MenuFoods from destroying evidence.
But , appearances can be deceiving and Don Earl is NOT alone and some of the people you might think would be on the side of pets are, in fact, working to support the PFI agenda.
Test results showing poison, evidence being destroyed and Don Earl being sued for pursuing the truth, by VERY familiar brands and none of it mentioned where you would expect? Tells the tale very well, I think ,and makes certain betrayals of trust very apparent.
Don Earl is not getting corporate sponsors , and thus, might get closer to the truth than those who do.
Anyone who really, REALLY, wants the truth, and change, in the pet food industry, knows this.
Comment by Duaneisadork — April 8, 2008 @ 2:31 pm
Hi there , I’m writting to find out what to do about the recall , I was urged by a friend who was involved in the tainted blood law suits (ricki ray act ) not to bother with class action because he contracted HIV due to tainted blood and was only granted $100,000 and it took yrs.and that the lawyers are the only one’s to make out. So I put in a claim w/ Hartford and got them my cats records we also had our 6 months of recipets ,ect. and now I have not heard a word from them & my claim rep has not returned my calls in months .We did not loose are 2 cats ,but they were very sick and now my male cat continues to mark were he was sick (somthing he never did before ), and between Dec. & March I lost my dad and my sister @36 and was in the middle of trying to carry out my wedding I missed days with my family in the hospital because my cats were sick from both ends and I had no clue as to why , so I ran them back and forth to the vet and racked up thousands in testing , & by my vets good advice I saved the food insted of returning it as the pet co. wanted, however I have no clue whats happing currently and what is the best thing to do if someone knows what going on or has any advice I would truly appreciate it ,it has been a grueling yr. and I just want this nightmare overwith. Thanks Elaine
Comment by Elaine p. — May 17, 2008 @ 3:23 pm
HOW DO I GO ABOUT SUBMITTING ALL OF MY VET BILLS FOR MY CAT??? THE BILLS ARE OVER 2,000??? THANKS IF ANY ONE CAN HELP ME,I KEPT ALL THE RECIPTS,THANKS AGAIN… ROBIN
Comment by ROBIN — May 23, 2008 @ 4:10 pm
My precious cat Ebony died last November after being poisoned and getting sick on March 9 from the recalled foods. I not only have all the receipts from the vet, but also the bets notes and the food. Also, I have her wellness check-up from January 30, 2007, showing that she had no kidney problems and was in great health. IAM’s tried to settle with me for less than the medical bills were and Menu foods stopped talking. All of this was before she died. I too would like to know who to get involved in the Class Action Law Suit. If anyone can tell me that would be great. Debbie
Comment by Debbie — May 25, 2008 @ 9:35 pm
My beloved Tabby just passed away this week due to cancer and it has been extremely hard for me to let go. He was only ten years old. Never had health problems, was very energetic and had a charasmatic personality. He was diagnosed last summer and had been going through chemotherapy until last friday when he died. The past year has been so emotionally painful for me, my husband but especially for our little guy. He went through so much and continued to fight right up to the minute we had to let him go. We knew he was fighting for us, but we couldn’t watch him suffer anymore and we agreed that if the time came where we knew he was in pain, that we had to do the right thing and end his suffering. He apparently had a stroke right after his chemo treatment which cause his breathing to be extremely labored. We were so shocked and could not beleive his outcome. We really thought he was going to beat the cancer. Even though he had some bad days after the chemo, he always wanted to be outside and chase the birds and the bunnies. He was vibrant and full of life. He never showed any signs of having cancer. Never lost weight, always had an appetite and mainted his beautiful shiney coat. That is why we were so shocked and grief stricken when he had an episode from the chemo which was irreversible. We never put a claim against the company who made his food because we didn’t know that his food was on the list. I had bought Nutro at a petfood store only once last spring. I was shocked to have seen it on the list last fall, but never did anything about it. Not to mention that I was in denial knowing that my cat would eventually die from the cancer. I hold them highly responsible for their disgusting neglegance. We don’t have children, our Tabby was truly our son. I feel that I need to speak out for him, so if anyone knows who I can contact to add my name to the lawsuit I would be greatly indebted to you. I hope that more people who unfortunately lost an animal do come forward and make their voices heard. We need to since our animals cannot speak for themselves. We need to do it for them!!!!!
Comment by Melissa — May 31, 2008 @ 9:10 am
There are 3 categories of victims in the pet food poisoning litigation:
1. Pets who ate the food and died.
2. Pets who ate the food, became vey sick but survived.
3. Pets who may or may not have eaten the food, were tested and found to be okay.
This settlement only adequately compensates Category 3 victims though the amount of money the pet food companies are allowing for these victims is suspisciously low. There is no meaningful compensation for pets who were killed and there is no compensation for continuing vet expenses for pets still under treatment.
Why are the pet food companies dictating their own punishment? Do we let criminals determine their own sentences? This entire mediated settlement stinks of manipulation by the pet food companies. Pet owners who were victims of the poisoned food are now victims again.
Comment by DCS — June 7, 2008 @ 11:30 am
i just fed my dog nutro natural choice lamb meal&rice a few days ago my dog got very sick that night first time eating it. he is still at vet now 3 days.very week, dehydrated, blood in his stool,it was comming out both ends the first night i wish i never bought nutro food for my dog i feel so bad for him he is a terier mix been part of family for almost 5 yrs hope no one else has to watch there pet suffer like this
Comment by james peacock — June 7, 2008 @ 3:27 pm