The American Veterinary Medical Association has released an updated, and completely horrifying, list of contaminated pet foods. Twitter Pets is doing a good job of following the story.
The issues:
– lack of quality control by Menu Brands and the pet food industry in general
– lack of an adequate watchdog agency
– lack of standards for what can be put into pet food
– Menu knew the problem existed as early as December 2006 and waited til mid-March 2007 to announce it
– greed
– Menu Brands is run by people who lack conscience:
“The chief financial officer (CFO) of Streetsville-based Menu Foods says there was nothing criminal or inappropriate about him selling nearly half of his stock in the company just a few weeks before it announced a pet food recall.
Reports surfaced today that Mark Wiens sold 14,000 units for $102,900 on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27. As of Monday’s close of $4.46, the units would be worth $62,440.
Wiens said in several news reports that while he understands why questions would arise, it was merely a “horrible coincidence” that he sold nearly half his units before the recall.
Company spokesperson Sam Bornstein said today “there was no link whatsoever” over the timing of the trades and the pet food recall.”
I’d call him a pig, except pigs never hurt anyone.
It seems Wiens may not be the only one to be lacking in the conscience department. I discovered today that another of Menu Foods directors, Robert W. Luba, was the director of Safety-Kleen Corp. (the nation’s largest hazardous waste operator) when that company filled for bankruptcy in a June 2000. I’ve written more, with links, here