Menu Foods & President Paul Henderson - Get Angry

Things that should make you even more angry...

Menu Foods issued its first news release on Friday, 16 March, 2007, “Not for release over US newswire services”

This tells you that Menu Foods deliberately timed the release to be buried in all but the most aggressively investigative news outlets because
1) CCNMatthews, which issued the release for Menu Foods, is a business wire service; its releases go to the business sections of the media, not the general news.

2) Bad news about business is usually issued on a Friday afternoon - Saturday because the stock exchanges are closed (so the stock won’t immediately tumble) and a lot of bad news is absorbed and/or dismissed by the next week.

Again, they specifically said it was NOT to be released over the US Wire Services!

Here's the beginning of it, the link will take you to the full release

March 16, 2007

Menu Foods Income Fund Announces Precautionary Dog and Cat Food Recall

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(CCNMatthews - March 16, 2007) - NOT FOR RELEASE OVER US NEWSWIRE SERVICES Attention Business/Financial Editors

Want more? In one article today

Menu Foods President Paul Henderson calls the deaths "a puzzling and troubling experience."

In another

Menu Foods CEO and President Paul Henderson said Wednesday that the company is still investigating the cause of the kidney failure because the food linked to the deaths has shown no signs of contamination. He apologized for the worry that the recall has caused.

Excuse me? Puzzling and Troubling? The worry?

And this Animal death reports did not initially trigger alarm bells-pet-food CEO

It's "an unfortunate reality" that animals die of various causes, Henderson said, but the company, which ships millions of cans and pouches of wet pet food each week, did consult the veterinarians responsible for the care of those pets.

"They identified that those particular animals were either outdoor cats or animals that may have gotten into the garage, the implication being that they may have gotten into something that they shouldn't have and that was the cause of their death," he said.

It was only later during routine taste tests the company was notified that some of the animals had become sick from the "cuts-and-gravy" style food, he said.

"It wasn't until the feeding studies that happened in the beginning of the second week of March that the issues essentially triggered alarm bells within the company and we began an investigation."

and

Henderson refused to comment on reports from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that the company knew as early as Feb. 20 that there were issues with its products.

and

Despite engaging "top North American experts" and an investigation by the FDA, Henderson insisted there was no obvious cause of the animal illnesses.

"All the tests that we have done to date have indicated that there is nothing wrong with the product," Henderson said.

The illnesses coincided with the introduction of "an ingredient" from a new supplier, but Henderson refused to identify it.

and

"Our hearts go out to all of the pet owners across North America for any of their losses and certainly for any of the worry that this event has caused," Henderson said.

"We're also grateful for them for their patience as we hunt down and try and discover what the root cause of the problem is."

And from earlier statements/reports:

Menu Foods' chief executive and president Paul Henderson told the Associated Press on Friday that the company was still trying to figure out what happened. He said that the company had received an undisclosed number of owner complaints that dogs and cats were vomiting and suffering kidney failure after eating its products. He estimated that the recall would cost the company, which is mostly owned by the Menu Foods Income Fund, an estimated $26 million to $34 million.

Right, our pets - our family members - are dying and he talks about the cost of the recall?

"We take these complaints very seriously," Paul Henderson, Menu Foods' president and CEO, said in the statement. "We will do whatever is necessary to ensure that our products maintain the very highest quality standards."

Um, how do any of their actions reflect this statement?