May 23, 2008 - $24 Million Settlement Reached in Contaminated Pet Food Suit

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Canadian-based Menu Foods and other pet food manufacturers and retailers implicated in the largest pet food recall in history last year have agreed to establish a $24 million fund to compensate aggrieved pet owners, according to a tentative settlement filed Thursday in U.S. District Court. The agreement is still awaiting court approval.

The pet food products contained a tainted ingredient from that caused illness and death to thousands of dogs and cats. The settlement, which has been in negotiation for 7 months, would resolve over 100 lawsuits brought in the and a dozen more in .

The fund, if approved, would distribute cash funds to plaintiffs over a period of several months. Most of the money will be disbursed to pet owners whose pets became ill or died as a result of consuming the contaminated pet food.

Expenses that would be compensated for under the agreement include veterinary bills, pet food costs, burial costs, replacement pet costs, property damage and lost wages to care for sick animals that ate the recalled pet food on or after March 16, 2007.

Two ingredients in the tainted pet food—wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate—were contaminated in with the industrial chemical melamine, which enhanced the protein-rich appearance of the ingredients.

The FDA did not announce how many pets were affected by the tainted pet food, but did disclose that it received more than 17,000 complaints from pet owners.

The recall involved 180 different brands of pet food and pet treats.

The agreement will also require that pet food makers conduct testing of product ingredients for the presence of melamine.