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Pet Owners Not Thrilled with Poisoning Settlement

Pet food companies should have done more, consumers complain

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com

April 4, 2008

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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.

Melamine is used to make plastics. Cyanuric acid is used to chlorinate pools. Neither is approved for use in pet food.

Veterinarians blamed the pets' deaths on the combination of those two chemicals. They said those chemicals can combine and form crystals in the animals' bodies – and impair their kidney function.

"Either one of those chemicals alone wouldn't cause these (deaths)," Dr. Barbara Powers, immediate past president of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD) and director of Colorado State University's Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, told ConsumerAffairs.com. "It has to be the combination of the two.

"So it's not melamine alone."

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) traced the source of the contamination to the wheat gluten imported from China.

Medical costs

Pet owners told ConsumerAffairs.com that Menu's settlement should cover the hundreds -- or thousands -- of dollars they and others spent trying to save their sick dogs and cats.

"As far as the 'settlement,' I certainly hope it is, at a minimum, going to reimburse pet owners for the vet bills for the treatment of the sick and deceased pets," said Carol. V. of Rhode Island.

Her two cats -- Jessica and Smudge -- became gravely ill last year after eating Menu's Special Kitty food.

Jessica made a remarkable recovery, but the 15-year-old cat went back into renal failure last December. The family made the difficult decision to euthanize Jessica.

Carol isn't sure Menu's settlement will cover any of her vet bills. She didn't join any of the class action lawsuits filed against the company in the wake of its massive March 16, 2007, recall.

Instead, Carol filed a claim on her own with the company – and hasn't received any compensation for the thousands of dollars she spent on her sick cats.

"I don't have the legal knowledge to completely understand if they are referring to 'all claims' to include my claim form I mailed to them on May 20th of last year," she said. "I don't have the finances to hire my own lawyer to figure this out so I am going to have to wait and see."

Menu Foods, she said, should have immediately offered to reimburse grieving pet owners – instead of making them wait until the lengthy legal maneuvering and lawsuits were settled.

"I am angry that it has been over one year since Menu Foods' CEO had said publicly that all pet owners who had vet expenses would be reimbursed by them," Carol said. "I truly did believe them -- that they realized what harm they caused emotionally and physically to our pets as well as financially -- and that they would take care of us."

She added: "I know have a different outlook on the concern big business has for us---and that is what saddens me the most. It is hard to trust now. That is new since March 2007."

Carol hopes the settlement will force Menu Foods to improve its internal quality control procedures -- and its communication with other pet food makers and consumers.

"I still truly believe that if pet food companies had some way to communicate with each other -- (regarding) consumer complaints -- that the actual number of pets lost or sickened would have been greatly reduced," she said. "If changes are not made by the pet food industry, all these pets' deaths and illnesses will be in vain. And this could happen again."

Canadian author Ann N. Martin, who researched the pet food industry for five years, agreed.

"It was determined that the cause (of pets' illnesses and deaths) was melamine and cyanuric acid which was added to the food, not approved for use in pet food by the FDA," said Martin, author of "Food Pets Die For…Shocking Facts About Pet Food," and "Protect Your Pets…More Shocking Facts." "I question how many other ingredients added to the pet foods are not approved for use by the FDA."

Pentobarbital

A drug called pentobarbital, she said, is a perfect example.

FDA officials discovered this drug -- used to euthanize dogs and cats -- in pet food.

"They admit it should not be there but have taken no steps to eliminate this in pet foods," Martin said. "No one knows the long term affect of this drug and to my knowledge no tests are being taken."

The pet food industry -- and the government -- are also failing to test many of the imported ingredients used in pet food, Martin said.

"What about the vitamins, minerals, (and) amino acids in pet food? The vast percentages of these are coming from China, including taurine (an amino acid). Again, and to the best of my knowledge, no testing is done on the raw material when it enters the country."

Martin encouraged pet owners -- and the media -- to keep a vigilant eye on this industry.

"Please don't become complacent and feel that the industry has cleaned up its act. I think if you dig deep enough you will find the same inferior ingredients are still being used."

Heightened awareness

Something good, however, has come in the wake of the pet food recall and the proposed settlement, Martin said.

"If nothing else this massive recall made consumers more aware of what is in the food they are feeding their pets. (And) hopefully the pet owners that incurred veterinary bills or lost pets will feel vindicated to some extent."

But consumer Don Earl wonders if pet owners will receive fair compensation from the settlement – and if it's a coincidence that Menu made its announcement on April 1.

"As the terms of the clandestinely negotiated settlement have yet to be disclose, as a result of further stalling tactics, I guess we'll just have to wait for the punch line to the April Fool's day announcement," said Earl, whose cat died in January 2007 after eating Menu Food's Pet Pride food.

Earl hired a private lab to test the same lots and brands of Menu Food that he fed his cat. Those tests revealed the food contained the pain killer acetaminophen and cyanuric acid.

The cat food did not contain melamine.

Earl is not part of any class action lawsuit; he sued the company and is representing himself in a case.

"Personally, I do not believe pet owners have been well represented by plaintiff's attorneys in the federal case," said Earl, who has a Web site, www.petfoodrecallfacts.com called petfoodrecallfacts.com that details his legal battle, his cat's story, and the lab results on the food he and other pet owners have tested.

Pet owners in 19 states -- and Ontario -- filed dozens of lawsuits against Menu Foods in the weeks that followed the company's nationwide recall. Those cases were consolidated in a federal court in Camden, New Jersey.

The lawsuits alleged unfair and deceptive trade practices, negligence in failing to provide adequate quality control and breach of implied and express warranties. Some consumers also claimed they suffered emotional trauma after their pets became sick or died. Pet owners also sought compensation for their veterinary bills.

Companies named in the lawsuits -- besides Menu Foods -- included Del Monte Foods Inc. of San Francisco; Nestle of Stamford, Conn.; Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati; Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd. in Pixian, China; and Suzhou Textile Import and Export Co. in Jiangsu, China.

Those defendants -- and Menu's product liability insurance company -- will cover the costs of the settlement.

Menu estimates the nationwide recall cost the company $53.8 million.

The company said pet owners with potential claims should not contact Menu Foods regarding the tentative settlement. When a final agreement is reached -- and claims are processed and approved -- the administrator of the settlement fund will notify pet owners.

U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman set a May 14 hearing in New Jersey to consider the settlement. A final hearing date in Canada is not yet scheduled.

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