Washington,
Mar 26, 2007 -
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 26) — Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) sent a letter to the President and CEO of Menu Foods Income Fund, after learning the company had to recall 60 million cans and pouches of pet food.
Kucinich is a member of the Congressional Friends of Animals Caucus and has consistently been a staunch supporter of animal issues.
Menu Foods Income Fund has the ability to produce large quantities of pet food and distribute across the U.S. under trusted labels such as Iams, Eukanuba, Nutro and Purina. The recall has included pet food sold under 95 different brand names, causing considerable suffering to U.S. pet owners, with 16 pets dying from eating Menu Foods products so far.
“As a pet owner myself, I was extremely distressed to learn about the recall of the pet food,” Kucinich said. “We deserve to know the truth about Menu Foods and why this happened.”
The letter Kucinich sent stated:
March 23, 2007
Mr. Paul Henderson President and Chief Executive Officer Menu Foods Income Fund 8 Falconer Drive Streetsville, ON Canada L5N 1B1
Dear Mr. Henderson:
It has come to my attention that on Saturday, March 17, 2007, Menu Foods Income Fund issued a major recall of pet food products sold throughout North America. As of the writing of this letter, 16 pets have died while an indefinite number of dogs and cats have endured kidney failure, after eating Menu Foods pet food products. New reports released today confirm that the toxic aminopterin has been found in Menu Food pet foods. Aminopterin is used in some countries as a rat poison. In the United States (U.S.), animopterin is not registered as a rat poison, yet is used as a cancer drug.
I understand that Menu Foods Income Fund produces more than one billion containers of pet food annually with the utilization of three manufacturing plants located in the United States; specifically Emporia, Kansas, Pennsauken, New Jersey and North Sioux City, South Dakota. As the company has the ability to produce large quantities of pet food and distribute across the U.S. under trusted labels such as Iams, Eukanuba, Nutro and Purina, this recall has caused considerable distress to U.S. pet owners. This is understandable as the recall has included sixty million cans and pouches of Menu Foods products sold under 95 different brand names.
As the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Domestic Policy of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, I am deeply concerned about this situation and the consequent affect it has had on U.S. pets and their owners. As such, I request that you provide me with answers to the following questions:
1. When did Menu Foods first become aware that there was a problem?
2. When was the first incident of a sick pet reported to Menu Foods?
3. How soon did the company respond with action to reported cases of illness?
4. How many cases of kidney failure have been reported to the company?
5. How many animal deaths have been reported to the company?
6. How many cases of illness other than kidney failure have been reported to the company? What have been the symptoms or where applicable what has been the diagnosis?
7. What are the ingredients used in each of the pet foods that have been recalled?
8. What type of meat byproducts are used in the manufacturing of your products?
9. Who supplies both meat and meat byproducts to Menu Foods and what farms are responsible for this supply of meat and meat byproducts? Please include the location of these farms.
10. Has Menu Foods experienced previous defects in their products?
11. What health effects and side effects have been known by or reported to Menu Foods prior to this particular incident?
12. Does Menu Foods have a nutritional analysis of its pet food products?
13. Has Menu Foods conducted an internal investigation to deduce what caused the tainted food? If so, what are the findings of this investigation?
14. What explanation can your company offer regarding how a toxin such as aminopterin would be introduced into your factories?
15. Do your factories make products other than pet food?
Additionally, I request that Menu Foods provide the Subcommittee with all internal documents, correspondence, email, records, data and information, as defined in the attached instructions for responding to the Oversight Committee document requests, relating to this incident and to nutritional information or purity testing on all Menu Food pet food products.
I look forward to your prompt response. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me or Jaron Bourke, Staff Director of the Subcommittee, at 202.225.6427.
Sincerely,
/K/
Dennis J. Kucinich Chairman Subcommittee on Domestic Policy Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
