Canadian Pet Food Company Knew About Problem For Nearly One Month Before Recall

The Canadian pet food giant, Menu Foods, knew about problems with pet illness and death for nearly one month before they ordered the products recalled from store shelves, and instead conducted their own tests resulting in pet illness and deaths before making a decision to order a public recall of the products.

Fresh evidence proves that back as far as February 20, 2007, Menu foods knew about problems with at least some of their 88 brands of cat and dog food, and instead of taking immediate action to remove the dangerous products, began a series of tests on animals instead. Only after a number of animals, mostly cats died, then Menu decided that perhaps they should take some stronger action. Normally most companies that find glass or some other foreign material in a line of products will isolate what run of foods has been compromised, and immediately order a recall of that run of foods to protect the public. Why Menu waited for days while more animals became sick and some died, leaving their owners with big vet bills or loss of animal companionship is a very good question. But corporations don't like taking huge financial hits, and recalling around 60 million cans of food is a huge loss for a company.

It seems unacceptable that when reports of a defective product are emerging for a company not to take far quicker action. Yet many companies still resist acting in the public interest in many cases. A Portland, Oregon attorney is seeking a class action lawsuit against GM for defective speedometers in some of their SUVs and larger trucks that may indicate around 50mph but really be traveling at about 70mph. The cost to these owners has been around $500 for the repair. But the larger problem is that posted speed limits on streets and highways indicate the maximum safe speed for that street. Any increased speed beyond that level increases the possibility of injury and accidents. It is an important safety device that a speedometer work properly.

Often the public doesn't know of all problems with products. Often it is product liability attorneys who bring lawsuits to remove defective and dangerous products, as often the government is very slow to act. In fact, under the Bush Administration, federal regulation of defective products has grown far more lax and many potentially dangerous products are allowed to remain on store shelves, where individual action to remove these by pressing for state action or even lawsuits becomes the only viable route for public safety.