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Columns
Section -
No Margins. No Limits. No Kidding.
PET FOOD SCANDAL – THE MONEy
Hoping to save a few million, pet food
makers asked the courts to allow them to
only keep samples of the melamine
tainted pet food. But they were forced
to keep all recalls, which by April
2008, were organized and warehoused into
24,000 pallets at a cost of $3.4
million.
Lawsuits were settled in November 2008
at a cost of $24 million after which,
there would have been transport,
incineration and landfill costs.
Disposal of the condemned pet food
should have been monitored by the FDA.
Consumers should have had absolute
assurance that this deadly pet food
could never make its way back into the
pet food supply. Neither one
happened.
Diamond Dog Food’s attempts to recycle
melamine contaminated pet food as
chicken
[2] and hog feed
[3]
failed when state and federal agencies
discovered the deception. In addition,
disposal for use as fertilizer hit a
roadblock because melamine is not legal
for fertilizer in the USA.
Hiring a broker/shipper could have
helped pet food companies dump the food
economically and this may have been
where they ran off the track! With
contaminated pet food in the hands of a
broker/shipper, companies would have
immediately lost all control of
disposal. Seeing only dollar signs in
24,000 organized pallets of recalled pet
food, an unscrupulous broker/shipper
could have delivered the recalled goods
to a salvage dealer or to his own
warehouses. Therefore, contaminated pet
food meant for legal disposal to a
fertilizer manufacturer offshore, never
leaves the USA. At least some of the
food became “instant pet food business”
and seems to have gone completely
unnoticed.
These photos of
blue barrels, submitted to the
courts by the pet food makers,
[4]
look suspiciously like the barrels of
dog food sold on a particular “free ad”
website. Perhaps that was used to see if
a recycling plan would work? It wouldn’t
be a stretch of the imagination to
believe that it did.
Liquidators become suspect when they
market branded and private label “pet
food from stores such as Walmart &
K-mart.” Photographs of
dog food returns
from Walmart
[5] were included with the
2007 court documents. This is how
liquidators can state "sold at Walmart
and Kmart" in their ads.
Goods from liquidators make their way to
small stores, internet pet suppliers,
flea markets, individuals selling on
free ad sites or EBay, and even to
animal shelters looking for low-price
goods in quantity.
[6] A Florida liquidator
appears to have the most plentiful
supply of mixed pet food pallets to be
shipped from PA, TX, and CA, with a 2
pallet minimum. They also indicate
warehouses in Florida and Connecticut.
With facilities in 5 states, a
liquidator can warehouse thousands of
pallets of pet food.
There have been individual sellers on
Craigslist, Pennysavers, and even blogs.
When we consider such enormous amounts
of “overstock” and “salvage pet foods”
offered on the internet, the whereabouts
of the 24,000 pallets of condemned pet
food comes into question.
Photos of smaller quantities of pet food
in banana boxes are also sold by
internet liquidators.
[7]
These photos were included with court
documents in the melamine case as a way
to show the court that organizing and
warehousing was impossible and that
there were problems with leaky goods,
bugs, rodents, etc.
The melamine case
[8] was settled for $24
million in November 2008. The 24,000
pallets held for evidence would have
been released after the settlement was
reached, and the arduous task of
disposal would have begun. Where did
they go? We saw 300 lbs. barrels of
Nutro on the internet in April 2009 but
they could have been there earlier. Such
examples raise suspicions but whether
counterfeit or fraudulently recycled,
the outcome remains the same.
If the worst scenario plays out, could
there be a new round of lawsuits for the
pet food manufacturers? Could they incur
the costs from the 2007 pet food recall
a second time? It would be devastating
to the pet food industry as well as to
pet owners who encounter costly vet
bills or pet deaths.
With such a huge amount of recalled pet
food, it is unlikely that a reseller
would attempt to change the date stamps
or UPC codes on that much food. If all
the salvage pet food on the market is
from the recall it should be traceable,
except in the case of barrels. Betting
on that, and because FDA regulations and
investigations appeared inadequate, I
called in some big guns, or at least
gave them a chance to come to the
rescue. Information was faxed to
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack,
Florida Senator Bill Nelson, Florida
Governor Charlie Crist, and Managing
Editor Paul Task of the St. Petersburg
Times, informing them of this growing
pet food problem.
Since the seller with the largest supply
of salvage pet food is in Florida, I
felt a need to involve Florida leaders.
This is an urgent matter that needs
quick action. We hope they are using
their powers to force an investigation
by the USDA and the FBI before it is too
late and the pet food industry is in
ruins.
The Dog Press will continue to keep
readers informed by getting the facts
out to millions of pet owners.
[1]USDA Beef Recall
and CA
government mandated disposal protocol,
Feb. 2008 [2]
June CNN -
according to Federal Officials, people
have eaten millions of
chickens fed recalled pet food [3]Contaminated/recalled pet food
went to
“Hog farms in California, North
Carolina, Utah, New York, Kansas and
Oklahoma received contaminated pet
food.” – source Pork.org [4]
Court Case
1:07-cv-02867-NLH-AMD Document 103-21
Filed 12/11/2007 Warehouse
Photos #1 & #2 [5]
Court Case
1:07-cv-02867-NLH-AMD Document 103-22
Filed 12/11/2007 Walmart Returns
Photo #3 [6]
Google
“pet food liquidators”
for dozens
of domestic and international pet food
and supply resellers. [7]
Court Case
1:07-cv-02867-NLH-AMD Document 103-20
Filed 12/11/2007
Photo #4 [8]
The FDA
was aware of melamine in baby formula in
September 2008, yet we imported tons of
holiday treats containing melamine. More
“relabeling” and recycling? TheDogPress:
Eat At Your Own Risk
Columns
Section -
No Margins. No Limits. No Kidding.
