When word came to Menu Foods (reportedly as early as February 20) that some of its dog and cat food might be the cause of severe illness in its customers' companion animals, the company quietly conducted lethal toxicity tests to confirm the contamination. Menu Foods forced dogs and cats to ingest toxic and lethal food in its laboratories before announcing a massive recall of 60 million cans and pouches of companion animal food from stores nationwide almost a full month after the initial illnesses were reported. During this critical month, hundreds, if not thousands, of people's animal companions may have been at risk of being sickened and may even have died.
Menu Foods: Inside the Lab
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Veterinarians around the country are reporting that their offices are filled with cases of dogs and cats experiencing renal failure because of contaminated food. They want answers, which Menu Foods, and the companies that contract with it, must provide.
PETA is calling on law enforcement agencies to investigate whether cruelty-to-animals charges should be filed against Menu Foods in the U.S. and Canada, for alleged failure to warn consumers about the tainted food as soon as the company had the information and for apparently feeding the tainted food to cats and dogs in order to test it, when the contaminant could have been identified through chemical analyses of the food and necropsies and tissue analysis of the animal victims. Also, there are non-animal test methods that could be employed, such as the functional gastrointestinal dog model (FIDO) or TIM-1 and TIM-2 (small and large gastrointestinal models).
No one knows just how many animals are sick and dying, but this tragedy is proof that laboratory tests on animals have not made products safer—yet animals are still dying in laboratories for pet-food profits.
Menu Foods needs to hear from you. Please write to the company today to demand answers and an end to all laboratory tests on animals in favor of humane feeding tests conducted in homes and in veterinary offices using animals volunteered by their guardians, and urge your friends and family to do the same.
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