by Robert Blevins

Created on: September 21, 2009

On November 18, 2008, a settlement was finally reached in the class action lawsuit between pet owners represented by Heffler, Radetich & Saitta LLP of Philadelphia, and Menu Pet Foods. Judge Hillman of the U.S. District Court in New Jersey ruled in favor of an agreement between the two sides to establish a $24 million settlement fund. He also denied all objections to the settlement. Legal documents and information on this matter can be found at the plaintiff's

Pet Food Settlement website.

All claims on this case have been filed, and no more will be accepted. The cutoff date for claims was on November 24, 2008. The exact number of plaintiffs is not known, but is estimated at around 9,000 in the United States, and a smaller number in Canada. The minimum payout to each plaintiff is $800 per pet, plus any additional expenses. This figure is limited to a maximum of $100,000 per pet, although the average claim is $1,100.

The final order for payment was also signed on November 18; however, no payments to plaintiffs have been issued. A small number of plaintiffs filed a final appeal, and no payments will be made until this appeal is heard in open court. This could take months, or years perhaps, according to Heffler, Radetich, and Saitta.

This tragedy was born not of error, but of deceit on the part of two Chinese companies - 'XAC' and

'Suzhou Textiles, Silk, Light Industrial Products, Arts and Crafts' who added melamine and cyarnuric acid to boost the protein levels of wheat gluten. They did this in an apparent effort to meet U.S. protein requirements for pet food. In his ruling, Judge Hillman made note of this deception, and he comments on the deliberate mislabeling of the products by the Chinese companies. This was done to avoid inspections by Chinese authorities before exportation to the United States.

In another section of his ruling, Judge Hillman ordered Menu Foods to implement full-time testing of all ingredients they use in any future production.

This case received international media attention. Within days after the opening of the Pet Food Settlement website, more than 40,000 visits were recorded. Veterinarians from across the U.S. and Canada came forward and said that although they had been baffled at first by the large numbers of pets dying suddenly from renal failure, that the tainted pet food was certainly the cause of the problem. Testing of the recalled products soon verified this as fact.

The end result of the Menu Pet Foods tragedy includes an upgrade in testing by other pet food companies, (who do not want to find themselves in a lawsuit, as well) and a boost in sales of natural pet food products.

Estimates of the total number of pets that died in the Menu Foods scandal range from 10,000 - 30,000 in the United States and perhaps 2,000 in Canada.

Learn more about this author, Robert Blevins.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.