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Will the Darkest Secrets of Pet Food be Revealed?

What could be the pet food industry’s worst nightmare will be played out in a courtroom in Joplin, MO beginning January 2, 2017. A pet food trial unlike anything we’ve seen before.

What could be the pet food industry’s worst nightmare will be played out in a courtroom in Joplin, MO beginning January 2, 2017. A pet food trial unlike anything we’ve seen before.

Pet food consumers are told very little about the manufacturing of pet food. ‘They’ tell us it’s safe, ‘they’ tell us pet food is highly regulated. But is it? A pet food trial set to start a little over 3 months from now might give us a glimpse into some of the darkest secrets of pet food manufacturing; specifically the trial might give us details of the darkest secrets of the largest manufacturer of pet food in the world – Mars Petcare.

The lawsuit is multiple former employees of a Mars Petcare kibble manufacturing facility in Joplin, MO against Mars Petcare and a few other businesses; a sort of ‘David(s) v Goliath’. The former employees of the Mars plant (‘former’ employees as the pet food plant was shut down in July of 2013) initiated the lawsuit in August of 2012 claiming Mars Petcare was ‘negligent and careless’ in preventing employee exposure to pesticides and other toxins used on pet food ingredients or in the pet food product.

Not much is known about the case, very little has been written about it thus far (I suspect that will change dramatically starting in January). In September 2013 KOAM TV spoke with a former employee of Mars Petcare stating “It’s huge. It’s going to be the biggest thing to hit this area. It’s going to be a corporate killer.”

One website post on the lawsuit (in 2014) spoke with a former employee of the Mars Petcare plant…

“The former employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, also said, “We don’t know how much. We know there was stuff coming in that was fumigated and was not listed as being fumigated that went straight into making pet food.”

“According to the former worker, “They said the way the drought is, the farmers would be putting stuff under gas to kill the bugs. And that’s when they gave us the meters. They would have logs where they kept track of what the readings were, and they started taking those. They wouldn’t let us know, and they forged our signatures, saying the levels were at zero.”

Putting pieces of this pet food puzzle together…“putting stuff under gas to kill the bugs” and “fumigated” quoted above would be phosphine gas per a Centers for Disease Control National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) inspection report of the pet food plant (from 2012). Phosphine is a pesticide and rodenticide. In other words, this employee stated a pesticide and rodenticide “went straight into” the pet food.

The NIOSH inspection report – published on the Centers for Disease Control website – stated company phosphine (pesticide) gas monitoring sheets were examined from August 4 to December 17, 2012. NIOSH found the reports were incomplete – (bold added) “For some days, there were no entries on the log sheets. In other words, “no entries on the log sheets” – per the NIOSH report – appears to verify the former employee statement “they wouldn’t let us know”.

The NIOSH report also states company records indicated some days recorded dramatically high phosphine (pesticide) measurements within the pet food plant. Phosphine monitors sound a warning alarm at 0.2 ppm, company records indicated (bold added) “on two days there was a personal monitoring reading of 5.85 ppm around the auger.” Warning level 0.2 ppm – company recorded levels of 5.85 ppm; almost 30 times higher than safe levels for employee exposure. Once again, the NIOSH report seems to verify the employee statements of exposure to a dangerous pesticide.

The NIOSH report appearing to validate two of the employee statements…does make one wonder about the other statement; pesticides/rodenticides going “straight into” pet food.

The Joplin Globe (newspaper) posted a story in January 2014 also quoting the NIOSH report on the Mars Petcare plant. This story stated (bold added) “The company’s record for mold sampling…showed that airborne mold concentrations exceeded the measurement range…on multiple days at various locations in the plant.” Airborne mold within the plant “exceeding” measurement range. One more time, the NIOSH report appears to verify the foundation of this lawsuit – employee exposure to dangerous substances used to make pet food.

On the Joplin Globe Facebook posting of the above story was this concerning comment (name removed to protect the identity of this family)…

“I always said that placed killed my dad…”

 

I first learned of this lawsuit in February 2013. Since then I have had brief conversations with multiple plaintiffs, former employees of the plant not involved in the lawsuit, and several pet food ingredient providers to this Mars Petcare plant. These individuals provided me with little snippets of information (those involved in the lawsuit were not permitted to share details with me – protection order filed by Mars Petcare). What was shared with me – as stated by numerous former employees – was their concern to the safety of the pet food.

What I know about the case, from multiple conversations with multiple individuals since 2013…I was told…

  • Pet food ingredients arriving at the plant and accepted by Mars Petcare were often a highly inferior quality;
  • The pet food plant had a “six foot hole in the roof over the mixer” for years;
  • Dangerous pesticides were applied to ingredients and those toxic pesticides were mixed into the pet food;
  • All of these conditions were reported to multiple pet food regulatory authorities and no recall ever occurred.

Armed with just these snippets of information, in August of 2013 I confronted one of the regulatory authorities aware of the conditions at the plant at an AAFCO meeting; Missouri Department of Agriculture. I asked why there has never been a recall at this pet food plant (the plant closed one month prior to this AAFCO meeting).

He told me “everything we saw looked good for the company, no issues”.

I then asked “What about the hole in the roof? Are you familiar with the Peanut Corporation of America recalls? A hole in the roof at that peanut plant caused thousands of products to be contaminated with Salmonella. So what about the hole in the roof in this pet food plant?”

Brace yourself.

He stated “It wasn’t raining the day we inspected.” (I kid you not – that was his response.) And he followed that statement with “the plant is now closed, pet food is no longer being made there”.

Following this lack of concern, I reported what limited information I had on this pet food plant to FDA. FDA dismissed the issue with a similar statement as Missouri Department of Agriculture; “the plant is closed”.

From my perspective, this lack of concern is standard with regulatory authorities (though the statement ‘it wasn’t raining the day we inspected’ beats all!). In my experience, it is standard for pet food regulatory authorities to openly defend a pet food manufacturer (that is unless you are a raw pet food manufacturer). FDA and the State Department of Agriculture this pet food plant was located in had not one concern of the pets consuming the food employees told them contained dangerous pesticides – and no concern to the safety of employees reporting concerns to them. Criminal.

I will be in that courtroom January 2…I look forward to learning every detail of this lawsuit. I look forward to learning if criminal charges will result from this lawsuit…maybe even criminal charges against regulatory authorities. Every detail I learn will be shared with all of you. We all deserve to know.

I would assume that many in pet food manufacturing will be in that courtroom watching (allegedly) the darkest secrets of pet food being revealed. I suspect their trade associations (PFI) will be there too, grimacing with each testimony.

And by the way, any consumer can be there too. Law requires the courtroom to be open to the public, and law requires that citizens have access to all court documents.

The NIOSH inspection report on this pet food plant made the following recommendation…(bold added) “Elimination and substitution of a toxic/hazardous process material have traditionally been highly effective means for reducing hazards. However, these may not be feasible approaches in this facility, because the potential hazards are inherent to the production of pet food.”
Should the accusations in this lawsuit prove to be true, will kibble pet food become the next asbestos? Will we begin to see law firms advertising on TV for massive personal injury lawsuits against many other Mars Petcare plants or other pet food manufacturing plants?

And…should the accusations prove to be true, will the dots be connected down to sick pets consuming the pet foods containing “potential hazards inherent to the production of pet food”?

This certainly will be revealing. I suspect the pet food version of Erin Brocovich.

For consumers that would like to follow details of this case, go to the Missouri Courts website search page – https://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet/cases/nameSearch.do. In the search box (titled Last Name or Business Name) enter Mars Petcare. This case is #12AO-CC00301 and #12AO-CC00301-01, Lonnie Boyd et al V Mars Petcare US, Inc et al. When you click on the Case Number link a new page will open. At the top are multiple tabs, information about the case is listed under ‘Docket Entries’.

marswedeserveanswers

 

 

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food

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31 Comments

31 Comments

  1. Karen Lucas

    September 27, 2016 at 1:40 pm

    What companies are under the MARS umbrella???

    • Susan Thixton

      September 27, 2016 at 1:44 pm

      Many human foods – candy, Uncle Ben’s rice. Pet food – Royal Canin, Nutro, Natura, Pedigree, Sheba, Cesar, Eukanuba, Iams, Whiskas, Temptations cat treats.

      • AlpenPaw

        September 28, 2016 at 9:56 am

        Also WisdomPanel, the dog DNA test that is operates off of the largest database (considered most “accurate”. See this for all current brands: http://www.mars.com/global/brands

  2. SweetKimy

    September 27, 2016 at 1:46 pm

    Wow, wish I lived in Missouri. I would be there!!!

  3. Teresa Johnson

    September 27, 2016 at 2:01 pm

    One of the first things that jumped out at me was language of the suit addresses health issues of humans only. Not once was mention of the tie to pet health. And if such harsh toxic conditions and ingredients existed where is tne link to consumer (human) health? Have humans other tjan employees been put at healtj risk handling their pet’s food? Snd what about that ocassional inquisitive toddler who samples from the pet’s bowl?
    I feel this suit will, and should, be only the beginning of raising consumer awareness and concern. Let’s hope real good comes from this.

  4. J. Rizk

    September 27, 2016 at 2:10 pm

    Just when I think I can’t hear anything worse. I’m so disgusted anymore. Is there seriously not one human being left on this earth that gives a c**p about anything other than the almighty buck? It’s appearing not……well, I guess there’s one…..Susan Thixton. I really appreciate your article on this.

    • Susan Thixton

      September 27, 2016 at 2:15 pm

      thank you! There’s a lot of ‘us’ that care…just not a lot of ‘them’ that care.

  5. Jackie

    September 27, 2016 at 4:46 pm

    Over fifty years ago I used to subscribe to Consumers’ Union, a magazine which reports on the best products to buy from new cars, vacuum cleaners, and yes, the food we consume. I had always used a very well-known brand of creamy peanut butter for my children until a report by CU knocked that well-known brand with the simple revelation, “_____” Peanut Butter has (x-amount/ppm/parts per million) a higher amount of rat hair and feces.” I was shocked that our government allowed this in our foodstuff! I switched to the next top brand, which, incidentally, had zero rat hair and feces in its creamy peanut butter. Obviously I switched brands immediately.
    With that said, I am not surprised about the many reports of what goes into the manufactured foods for our companion animals. I’m sure it beats a few rat hairs and feces by a country mile!!!

  6. Jeanne

    September 27, 2016 at 5:13 pm

    Well, I live in Missouri, and only 40 minutes from Joplin. Sadly, I babysit my grandchildren weekdays so cannot personally attend. I will be following closely however and will spread the information far and wide. There is still a dog (pet) food plant operating near Pittsburg, Kansas, which is still very local to the area, only barely across the state line. My son mentioned “that place is nasty!” once after having to go in there. Now I wonder if the very same conditions aren’t likely there as well. I haven’t trusted any manufacturers for years but didn’t realize how much the employees themselves were at risk besides the animals eating the food. Thanks, Susan, for this important coverage.

  7. M.L. Moore

    September 27, 2016 at 10:55 pm

    Two words: ROAD TRIP!!!!

  8. Julie

    September 27, 2016 at 10:58 pm

    If humans win then pet owners should follow up with a class action lawsuit.

    • Eve

      September 28, 2016 at 8:27 am

      AGREED ALSO SUE SUPERMARKET GIANTS WHO STOCK THE TOXIC FILTH….and its usually always stocked next to TOXIC CHEMICALS LAUNDRY DETERGENTS GARDEN FERTILIZERS ETC….I’m working on this to have it noticed here.

      • Pacific Sun

        September 28, 2016 at 10:42 pm

        Never thought about it before. But very, VERY true. They’d never align Baby Food products in the Rat Poison aisle. Why pet food?

  9. Jude

    September 27, 2016 at 11:04 pm

    You said, “I look forward to learning if criminal charges will result from this lawsuit…maybe even criminal charges against regulatory authorities.”

    We can only hope!

    Thanks for the info!

  10. NJ

    September 28, 2016 at 3:20 am

    Sadly, human grains are commonly fumigated the same way with Phosphine fumigants. If it’s not USDA organic it is probably fumigated.

  11. Peter

    September 28, 2016 at 7:15 am

    The plant may be “closed” but the food produced there can remain on the shelves for years.

  12. Eve

    September 28, 2016 at 8:03 am

    HORRENDOUS HOW DARE A PET FOOD COMPANY ACT WITH BLATANT LIES AND DECEPTION – SHAME ON YOUR COMPANY…I WISH FOR THESE PET FOOD MANUFACTURES TO SHUT DOWN – THIS IS DISGUSTING AND UNETHICAL. ANIMALS RIGHTS “MUST BE IMPLEMENTED IMMEDIATELY” WHERE THEIR BODIES ARE NOT FORCED TO EAT TOXIC SLUDGE UNDER BULLSHIT MEDIA AND CORPORATE LIES. PROSECUTE THESE MASS MURDERING COMPANIES IT WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED IN HUMAN FOOD IF THEY TRIED THEY’D BE SHUT DOWN INSTANTLY AND SEVERE PENALTIES. I LIVE IN AUSTRALIA AND NOTICED IN ALDI THEY HAVE HORRIBLE PROCESSED PET FOODS WITH A GIANT JIVE TALKING TEXT ON BAG SAYS: PET FOOD MADE BY USA STANDARDS! OMG ALARM BELLS AND SIRENS….OUR COUNTRY ALLOW THIS CRAP INTO OUR STORES. I WISH i could stop all this but some people play ignorant and STILL buy processed food instead of giving their pets raw meat and bones. Feeding processed pet food IS ABUSE

    • Chris

      October 2, 2016 at 10:02 am

      Unfortunately, this is the American way. Profits are all that matters.

  13. Eve

    September 28, 2016 at 8:24 am

    Hi Susan:-) I just ordered your book BUYER BEWARE. Thanks

  14. Terri Janson

    September 28, 2016 at 1:00 pm

    I hope the get punished this time! Just so unblieveable to me. This is why I make my 6 dogs food myself.

  15. barbaraM

    September 28, 2016 at 3:41 pm

    I followed your instructions to go to the Missouri Court website, clicked on the case number, but the only thing that comes up in Docket Entries are misc Summons and so on. There is no original Complaint there. Where can I find it? Thanks.

    • Susan Thixton

      September 28, 2016 at 4:26 pm

      Yes – the Missouri Courts website doesn’t provide many documents. I am going to request them from the courts soon. The original complaint is linked above – here is that link: http://ftpcontent2.worldnow.com/koam/Docs/Mars.pdf

  16. Kate

    September 28, 2016 at 10:14 pm

    And then people wonder why the cancer rate is so high in pets and they are getting it younger and younger…. it is the food.

  17. Pat P.

    September 29, 2016 at 1:08 am

    Pretty outrageous and sickening!
    I really hope this opportunity to illuminate the public while condemning the pet food industry is taken advantage of. I would hate to see this chance squandered.
    I like to see the “ordinary citizen” take on the big guys–and win! The process though makes me nervous, for fear that money and power will win over, as so often is the case. This time we MUST be lucky!

  18. Merete Prior

    September 29, 2016 at 7:25 am

    Thank you Susan for all the hard work you are doing for our pets. It is highly appreciated. Greetings from Denmark 🙂

  19. Tracey

    September 29, 2016 at 3:24 pm

    #17 on the complaint: “Defendant Presto-X provided fumigation for various railroad cars that provided organic products to the Mars Petfood plant. This fumigation was to rid the raw material for the pet food of pests found in the material.”

    If they were claiming ORGANIC on the label of the Pet food, (I’m assuming that the FDA definition of “organic” pertains to petfood?) then that would appear to be a “small” problem as well? Throws a whole new problem into the mix!

  20. Lisa Marie

    October 4, 2016 at 11:31 am

    Wow, justice comes late but sometimes it comes … bravo to those former employees who filed suit. This may be the genesis as far as lawsuits for this appallinglyly shameful industry. Between this and Pet Fooled, others will finally begin to see what you, Susan, have so dedicatedly given your time towards. Many thanks for your tireless effort and all you do on behalf of our furry friends. 🙂

  21. Tim Basta

    October 16, 2016 at 10:54 am

    Parts of your article are unnecessarily alarmist. Phosgene is a gas. It is the same gas that was used on the battlefields of WWI, it caused the injuries in India when the Union Carbide plant had a release, and it’s why you need to take your birds away when the refrigeration repairman replaces your cooling / frig compressor.

    The thing is is that it is a gas that is deadly or injurious upon exposure. For employees, it is a serious issue if they are around when the gas is applied. But once applied, it quickly dissipates into the surrounding air. In other words it does not stick around and leaves no residues. This is a much better approach than other methods which may leave residues on the product being fumigated.

    Now the poor condition of the facility making this pet food is a serious issue. And it is unacceptable if Mars Pet Products let this situation fester for years.

    • Susan Thixton

      October 16, 2016 at 11:05 am

      It’s phophine – not “phosgene”. Not sure if your comment included a typo or if you are referring to something else. And I doubt the employees that filed the lawsuit feel their lawsuit was ‘alarmist’.

  22. Misty

    January 5, 2017 at 9:11 am

    I went to check this and for case #12AO-CC00301-01, Mars Petcare was dismissed as a defendant 11/15/16. It also says it was settled completely 12/20/16 and the trial canceled. So I guess we won’t know their secrets….again….

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