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Menu Foods Executive Sold Shares Weeks Before Pet Food Recall

Cost to Consumers May Hit $20 Million, Veterinarians Estimate

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com

April 11, 2007

• FDA Confirms Probe of NUTRO Pet Food Deaths, Illnesses • Evidence Destroyed in Menu Foods Case May Hamper Other Lawsuits • Pet Food Class Action Preemptively Thrown Out • More Pet Foods Added to Salmonella Recall • Lawsuits On the Trail of Nutro, Canidae Pet Foods • FDA Halts Illegally Medicated Animal Feed • Pet Owners Warned about Chicken Jerky Products • Mars Extends Pet Food Recall; More Salmonella Found • Mars Recalls Cat Food Sold at Wal-Mart due to Salmonella • Hartz Recalls Rawhide Chips After Possible Salmonella Contamination • Pet Owners Eligible For $24 Million in Landmark Melamine Settlement • Internet Rumor Claims Cocoa Mulch Causes Dog Deaths • Mars Recalls More Pet Food; Possible Salmonella Contamination • Mars Petcare Recalls Some Pedigree Dog Food • Expert Finds Unexplained Pet Deaths 'Not Consistent' • Illness, Death Dog Nutro Pet Food • Feds Raid PETCO Warehouse in Illinois • Pet Owners Not Thrilled with Poison Food Settlement • CDC Links 2006 Salmonella Outbreak to Dog Food • FDA Orders Illinois Pet Food Maker to Clean Up Its Act • String of Illnesses Afflicts NUTRO-Fed Pets --- • More about Pet Food Recalls ...

The chief financial officer of Menu Foods sold about half of his stake in the company just three weeks before the company launched its widespread pet food recall, Canadian insider-trading reports indicate.

Company spokesman Sam Bornstein said there was "no link whatsoever" between the the timing of the trades and the pet food recall. Wiens sold 14,000 shares on Feb. 26 and 27 for about $90,000. The shares now are worth about $54,000.

Pet owners have complained that Menu Foods should have acted more quickly after the first complaints or after it realized it might have a problem in mid-February. Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) is to hold a hearing tomorrow on the controversy and on the FDA's investigation.

Tens of Thousands of Cases

The number of dogs and cats affected by the tainted pet food is likely to be in the thousands. And the cost to treat these sick and dying pets could run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Those are the latest figures compiled by the Veterinary Information Network (VIN), an online service for veterinary professionals.

On March 26, 2007, VIN reported that it expected the number of pet deaths linked to the contaminated food to be in the thousands-and the number of sick pets to be more than 10,000.

Since then, VIN sent a survey to approximately 16,000 veterinarians nationwide to gauge how dogs and cats are being affected by the recalled pet food, which the FDA says was made with melamine-tainted wheat gluten. VIN's co-founder, Dr. Paul D. Pion, said the survey confirms the trends noted in its initial report from veterinarians.

More than 1,500 veterinarians have responded to the survey so far, Pion said. Of those veterinarians:

• 36 percent believe they've seen an animal affected by the pet food recall. Of those veterinarians, 17 percent are confident the cases were related to the tainted pet food. That's because the pets had eaten food on the recall list.

• Those veterinarians reported 951 sick pets and 313 who had died.

Earlier, a U.S. chain of veterinary clinics estimates as many as 39,000 dogs and cats were injured by eating tainted pet food manufactured by Menu Foods. The estimate, much higher than previous ones, is based on analysis of its database linking 615 pet hospitals and clinics.

According to the analysis by Banfield, The Pet Hospital, which it shared with the Food and Drug Administration, three out of every 10,000 dogs and cats that ate the contaminated product developed kidney failure. Banfield said the diagnosis of kidney failure in cats rose 30 percent during the three months when the contaminated pet food was sold.

VIN's Dr. Pion said if you extrapolate those figures to include all veterinarians, the death toll linked to the tainted pet food is in the thousands.

If you use only those cases linked -- with high confidence -- to the pet food recall, VIN's numbers suggest more than 2,000 dead pets nationally, Pion said.

And if you add in suspected cases linked to the recalled pet food, he said, the number jumps to more than 7,000 nationwide.

"What it shows is that the original reports on VIN -- they're in the ballpark," Pion said. "Anyone could argue on any assumption. The point remains that there's more than 16 (dead pets)." The FDA has confirmed 16 deaths linked to the recalled food, but it expects that number to dramatically increase.

Dr. Mark Rishniw, a board-certified veterinary cardiologist who works for VIN, also pointed out that some pet foods popped up on the survey before they were recalled.

"Hill's m/d (a food prescribed by veterinarians for a feline health problem) cropped up in the survey," he said of the cat food that is now part of the massive recall -- although it wasn't one of the brands included on the original list.

Cost to Consumers

How much has this recall cost pet owners?

Veterinarians who responded to VIN's survey reported their clients have spent $812,000 to treat affected pets.

The average cost of treatment is about $925; the median is $670.

Pion said if you extrapolate the costs to affected pet-owners, the range runs from more than $2 million to more than $20 million -- depending on whether treatment is based on veterinarians who are confident of the relationship between the illness and the food or merely suspicious.

Pion emphasized these figures are based on extrapolations.

"It's not like calling a thousand homes randomly," he said. "This is self-reporting by veterinarians. But it does confirm the earlier trends we saw."

He added: "We're not talking millions of affected pets. We're talking thousands to tens of thousands affected. But we're never going to know for sure. All we can do is get a feel for the range."

What's Pion's take on how the FDA has handled the recall? He says the federal agency has received unfair criticism.

"They're not the CDC [U.S. Centers for Disease Control]," he said, adding the FDA put enormous resources into the recall, quickly found the contaminated ingredient, and tracked it to manufacturers that received the tainted wheat gluten.

Those companies, Pion added, quickly recalled their products.

"Maybe you want a CDC from the FDA," he said. "But that's not their job currently."

Sad Stories

Meanwhile, ConsumerAffairs.com continues to hear from pet owners who say their animals are getting sick and dying from food not included in the recall.

Lynn B. of Byron, Georgia, blames Purina cat food -- which is not included in the recall -- for her cat's death.

"My cat died on March 6, 2007 for no apparent reason," she says. "He had no noticeable symptoms, and he was fine when I left for work that morning at approximately 7:40 A.M. When I returned home that evening at approximately 8:00 P.M., he was dead. He had no visible signs of trauma, injury, or sickness.

"I have always fed my seven-year-old cat wet canned cat food manufactured and distributed by Nestle Purina," she adds. "To date these brands of cat food have not been indicated in the massive pet food recall, however I highly suspect that my cat's death was a result of something other than normal circumstances. I am still experiencing tremendous sadness and grief due to the loss of my beloved pet."

Julie M. of Erie, Pennsylvania, says her cat also became gravely ill after eating Purina's dry cat food.

"I noticed about a month ago that after Pudgie had eating this (Purina) food, she started to hide more often, became sick, and was throwing up," Julie says of her 17-year-old cat, who previously was in excellent health. "Then she stopped eating and drinking. That's when we took her to the vet. They did some blood work and discovered she was in renal failure."

Julie says Pudgie now has permanent kidney damage.

"She has to be on a special renal diet cat food for the rest of her life and go back to the vet every three months for blood work," she says, adding her cat lost so much weight the name "Pudgie" doesn't fit anymore. "This has really affected her life. She's lost lots of her independence…this is all just so scary."

Julie is convinced Purina's cat food caused Pudgie's illness. And she wants the pet food manufacturer to investigate its cat food for possible contamination.

"I think honestly it was the food that made her sick. I can't understand how a cat that has been healthy all her life is suddenly near death's door. That doesn't make any sense. It has to be the food."

She adds: "I am very upset that (the cat food) is not being recalled. I don't believe it's true that the food is safe. I don't think the company has investigated this enough."

Pudgie isn't the only pet in Julie's household that has become sick after eating one of Purina's foods. Her two dogs also became ill after eating ALPO Prime Cuts in Gravy dog food, which is one of the brands being recalled.

"We noticed their appetites were suddenly poor, we were having a hard time getting them to eat anything, and their bellies were distended," Julie says of her mixed breed dogs, three-year-old Abby, and seven-year-old, Noodle. "They were also lethargic and drinking lots of water."

Julie says she's stopped feeding them Alpo and is taking them to the vet next week for tests.

"They're still pretty withdrawn and lethargic. And they look sad. They have no appetite for any type of dog food at all, so I've tried to make them hamburger and rice.

"Abby, our smaller dog, also has moments where she looks scared," Julie says. "It's almost as if she's trying to say: 'Mom, something doesn't feel right.' "

Julie says Purina -- and the other pet food companies -- have done a poor job handling this pet food crisis.

"I feel like they're treating this as if it's no big deal and they have no sympathy for people who've lost an animal. To people like me, our pets are our children. And to lose them is very devastating. Going though what I went through with Pudgie -- when I thought I'd have to put her down -- was very devastating.

"I just want someone to be honest…to recognize that they've done something wrong," she says. "Instead, it seems like everyone is passing the blame. I want to know why no one is taking responsibility."

A spokeswoman for Nestle Purina said the company would like to hear from consumers who have concerns or questions about its pet food. Consumers can contact the company at 1-800-218-5898.

To date, Nestle Purina has recalled:

• All sizes and varieties of its ALPO Prime Cuts in Gravy wet dog food—specifically the 3.2-ounce and 22-ounce ALPO Prime Cuts cans and 6-, 8-, 12- and 24-can ALPO Prime Cuts Variety Packs. These products have four-digit code dates of 7037 through 7053 and are followed by the plant code 1159. Those codes follow a "Best Before Feb. 2009" date.

• The 5.3-ounce Mighty Dog pouch products, manufactured by Menu Foods.

The company recalled these products after learning they contained melamine-tainted wheat gluten. Nestle Purina said none of its dry pet food, other dog food products, cat foods, treats, or veterinary diet foods are included in the recall. These products, the company said, were not made with the contaminated wheat gluten.

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