Menu plans brief shutdown of Emporia Plant
10:24 a.m. Friday, March 23, 2007
Menu Foods, dealing with the after-effects of a massive recall of pet food, said Wednesday that it would shut down its Emporia plant for a few days but that no layoffs would be involved.
A spokesman for Menu Foods’ corporate offices in Canada said the shutdown would probably last two or three days. He called it “absolutely a byproduct of the recall,” saying that the company needed to reorganize schedules as it pulled back old food products and prepared to make new ones.
“There is absolutely zero impact on employment,” he said. “The company has certainly been challenged by what has been one of the biggest recalls in consumer history, but our consumers are loyal, the company is strong and business is moving forward.”
Menu recalled 60 million containers of wet pet food Friday after reports of deaths and kidney failure among pets. There have been 16 deaths of cats and dogs linked to the pet food so far, according to The Associated Press. No dry food is affected by the recall. The food was manufactured at the Emporia plant and a plant in New Jersey.
Recall info
Menu Foods recall of pet food was likely caused by rat poison, which was found in the tainted pet food, according to the Department of Agriculture. Find out how many pet deaths are related to the recall here.
The Menu representative said he did not know whether workers would be paid during the shutdown period. But he said he expected the company would do the right thing.
“These employees are highly valued, important contributors to our success,” he said. “We will treat them right.”
Inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration have been sent to the plants to investigate the food. No cause of the problems has been announced by either the company or the FDA, although Menu officials have said the company hired a new wheat gluten supplier around the time that the suspect batch of food was made.
The FDA has told media that wheat gluten by itself would not cause kidney failure, but the ingredient could have been contaminated.
Forty-two brands of cat food and 53 brands of dog food are affected by the recall. A complete list, along with specific product information, is available on the Web at www.menufoods.com/recall. Consumers can also call (866) 895-2708 for information.
The Toronto Globe and Mail reported today that a class action suit has been filed against Menu in Windsor, Ontario. The suit alleges that the company was negligent in preparing the food and that it “failed to disclose to the public that their pet foods contained problems and that other pets had died after ingesting the pet food.”
A Chicago woman whose 9-year-old cat suffered kidney failure sued Menu on Tuesday. She said the cat had eaten one of the affected brands, Special Kitty Select Cuts, and had to be put down four days later. A Long Island family also sued Wednesday, saying its 2-year-old dog had died of kidney failure on March 10, a few days before the recall was announced.
Menu’s spokesman said the company was not in possession of the suits yet and could not respond to them.
“When we see them, we will look at them,” he said. “We may respond in court or we may respond through the media.”
Menu Foods was founded in 1971. It first talked to Emporia officials in 1994 about setting up a plant in the city and a deal was eventually reached in 1997. The plant opened in 1998 and has been one of Emporia’s more successful industries.
According to the Regional Development Association of East Central Kansas, the Menu plant in Emporia employed 476 people as of September, including permanent and temporary workers. That makes it the city’s sixth-largest employer.
Information for this story provided by The Emporia Gazette
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