Menu Foods Limited, based in Streetsville in Mississauga,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada, was the largest maker of wet cat and dog food in North America, with its products sold under 95 brand names, which the company identifies as supermarkets,

big box Big Box, Big box, or Big-box may refer to: *Big-box store A big-box store (also hyperstore, supercenter, superstore, or megastore) is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, ...

and pet product retailers and wholesalers. It was bought out by

Simmons Foods Simmons Foods and its affiliates process and supply poultry, pet, and animal food. It supplies retail products and wholesale products to other manufacturers, including manufacturing wet pet food for different brands. Operations are based in Arkans ...

in August 2010. In March 2007, after numerous animals fell ill and died during quality-control tests, the company recalled over 60 million containers of food. Subsequent to the recall, the Animal Health Laboratory at the

University of Guelph , mottoeng = "to learn the reasons of realities" , established = May 8, 1964 ()As constituents: OAC: (1874) Macdonald Institute: (1903) OVC: (1922) , type = Public university , chancellor ...

in Ontario, identified contaminants in some of the recalled food: aminopterin, melamine (a plastic precursor that may also be used as a fertiliser), and cyanuric acid (which is commonly used to stabilise chlorine in swimming pools).U.S. study ties 27 pet illnesses and deaths in Canada to pet food recall
/ref> If consumed by themselves, isolated doses of melamine or cyanuric acid should not cause health issues in pets. However, when these two chemicals are mixed together, an insoluble crystal is formed, that can rapidly obstruct the

kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; bloo ...

s and cause kidney failure. The incident has been labelled "one of the largest consumer-product recalls in North American history".

Company structure

In 2002, Menu Foods Limited and Menu Foods Operating Limited Partnership were owned by Menu Foods Limited Partnership. In turn, the Menu Foods Income Fund had 72 per cent share in Menu Foods Limited Partnership.

Overview

Menu Foods manufactures both low cost and high end pet food products. It manufactures pet food for 17 of the top 20 North American retailers, including PetSmart,

Safeway Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, de ...

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarte ...

, Pet Valu,

Kroger The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States. Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinci ...

, and Ahold USA. It is also a contract manufacturer of branded pet food products, manufacturing for five of the top six branded companies in North America, including

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...

,Verrinder, Matthew
"Animal Owners Frantic on Pet Food Recall"
Associated Press, March 17, 2007. for which it is the exclusive supplier of canned wet pet food sold under the Iams brand, P&G having sold its

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

plant to Menu Foods in 2003. Menu Foods also produces Loblaws' ''President's Choice'', A&P's ''Master Choice'', Sobeys's ''Compliments'', Safeway's ''Select'', '' Eukanuba'', and '' Nutro''. Menu's production facilities are located in

Emporia, Kansas Emporia is a city in and the county seat of Lyon County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 24,139. Emporia lies between Topeka and Wichita at the intersection of U.S. Route 50 with Interstates 335 ...

; Pennsauken, New Jersey; and Streetsville, Ontario. The plants produce wet pet food in aluminum and steel cans at a rate of 1,000 cans per minute, or 1,110 85-gram pouches per minute. Jointly, the plants are able to produce over one billion containers a year. Paul Henderson serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Menu Foods. Mark Wiens is Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer.

Store-brand cat food retailers

The following is a partial list of retailers that sell or sold store-brand cat food manufactured by Menu Foods. (The source material was revised and as of 2 May 2007 no longer lists retailers, only brands. A similar list existed for dog food.)menufoods.com
* A&P Supermarkets (The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company) *

DeMoulas' Market Basket DeMoulas Super Markets, Inc., under the trade name Market Basket, is a chain of 90 supermarkets in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, and Rhode Island in the United States, with headquarters in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. From 1990 through ...

* Food Lion * Foodtown *

Hannaford Hannaford may refer to: People * Alf Hannaford (1890–1969), South Australian inventor and industrialist * Ann Hannaford Lamar (born 1952), American jurist * Charlie Hannaford (footballer) (1896–1970), English footballer * Clive Hannaford (19 ...

* H-E-B (As Hill Country Fare) * Hy-Vee *

(As President's Choice) * Loblaws * Meijer * Petsmart * Price Chopper * Safeway Inc. * Save-A-Lot * Sobeys *

(As Ol'Roy and Special Kitty) *

Wegmans Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is a privately held American supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Gates, New York, and was founded in 1916 in Rochester. As of , Wegmans has 110 stores, mostly in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions. T ...

* Winn-Dixie

Recall

The

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. n ...

reported on March 16, 2007, that Menu was recalling dog food sold under 53 brands, and cat food sold under 42 brands, after an unknown number of animals suffered kidney failure after eating it. Chief Executive and President Paul Henderson said the company had received an undisclosed number of complaints that pets were vomiting and suffering kidney failure. At least 471 cases of poisoning have been reported and 104 animals have died.

References

External links

{{Portal, Canada, Companies
Menu Foods Pet Food Recall Website
(Archive)

- U.S.

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

(FDA)
FDA Consumer Complaint CoordinatorsMenu Foods Lawsuits & FilingsUnofficial pet death registry
- Universal Press Syndicate Pet Connection
Menu Foods recall timeline and fact sheet
- Itchmo.com Animal food manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Mississauga Cat food manufacturers originating in Canada