Menu Foods, pet owners
Main pet food recall company bullying pet owners?
By Judi McLeod
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
You have to wonder about the sincerity of the public apologies extended to pet owners by a pet food company that soon after the apology was allegedly harassing them.
Toronto area-based Menu Foods, a publicly traded income trust fund, whose CEO testified at a Congressional hearing in late April, apologized to pet owners whose pets had fallen ill or died.
"Our hearts go out to many thousands of pet owners across Canada and the U.S. for their losses and worry," Paul Henderson, president and CEO OF Menu Foods said on March 23.
"Many of our employees are pet owners," Henderson told the hearing on April 24.
Within a month the company Henderson heads had gone from apologies to harassment.
"The pet food company that recalled 60 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." (USA TODAY May 26, 2007). "Lawyers from six firms representing clients who claim their pets were harmed by Menu's pet food asked a federal judge in New Jersey Wednesday to stop Menu from "bullying" people who had called the company since the recall was announced March 16, according to their court filing."
"US District judge Noel Hillman in Camden, N.J. agreed with the plaintiffs, describing the calls as "aggressive" according to a transcript of the hearing obtained by USA TODAY.
It seems that worried and grieving pet owners were harassed on weekends through automated telephone calls.
Menu Foods, which seems to have dispensed with PR, has hired Crawford & Co. an insurance adjustor in Atlanta, to contact pet owners who called the company to report animal illnesses or deaths, according to the hearting transcript.
When the contaminated pet food scare broke, the first desperate call to Canada Free Press (CFP) came from the Cesar Cerda family in St. Bernardino, Calif.
"The Cerda family doesn't want to give up believing in miracles," CFP wrote on March 26. "Since Saturday they've been waiting for the telephone to ring hoping that it will be someone from Menu Foods on the other end of the line."
It was a call that never came.
The family's beloved Reina, a three-year-old AKC Newfoundland dog, was fighting for her life due to kidney failure, the result of contamination in Nutro Ultra food and pouches.
"We want others to be aware of the severity of the contamination and the damage it can do to healthy, loved pets," daughter Andrea Cerda, 21, wrote in an email to CFP.
Asked what he wanted to say to Menu Foods, Cerda said, "Tell them we're desperate. We're not too proud to beg and plead because it's Reina. Please, please return our calls."
Even though the Cerdas came up with thousands of dollars for vets, Reina died.
Judge Hillman ordered Menu Foods to have no contact with anyone who believes their animal was injured by its product unless a lawyer representing them is involved.
Pet owners, who called the company to report animal illnesses deaths, were pressed with questions even after being told the owners had hired lawyers. In some cases, the pet owners received multiple calls from computerized telephone banks.
"It appears that the company was engaging in a cynical strategy, designed to settle some of the strongest claims cheaply and induce pet owners to give up information it might be able to use to defend against others," Bin & Edelson said in a letter sent to clients and posted on the Internet for pet owners.
Menu is facing dozens of lawsuits stemming from the recall. This week a federal multi-district litigation panel will meet in Las Vegas to determine which district court will hear the cases against Menu. The panel is not expected to announce a decision until mid-summer.
Ironically, ChemNutra, the company that sold melamine-laced Chinese imported pet food ingredients to Menu Foods, is also based in Las Vegas.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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