A website has been established regarding a settlement agreement in the lawsuit against Midwestern Pet Food. The website states “If you are a person or entity residing in the United States who purchased one or more of the pet food products made by Midwestern Pet Foods, Inc. and/or Nunn Milling Co., you may be entitled to monetary benefits under a Class Action Settlement.”
Per the agreement, Midwestern Pet Food has “agreed to create a $6,375,000.00 Settlement Fund…for Pet Injury Claims, Breeder Claims, and/or Consumer Food Purchase Claims.” For veterinary treatment claims, it appears the settlement will pay “100% of approved documented losses”. However, the agreement also states under this category “Payment amounts may be reduced depending on the number of valid claims submitted.”
And, “Pet Injury Claims…Paid at $75 for pets that became ill but did not die and $150 for pets that died.” But again, the agreement states “Payment amounts may be reduced depending on the number of valid claims submitted.”
The lawsuit settlement also will pay 100% for documented pet food purchases, and up to $50 for undocumented pet food purchases.
Per the FDA Warning Letter to Midwestern Pet Food, “approximately 104 products of dry dog and cat diets” were recalled from October 2020 thru March 19, 2021 due to high levels of aflatoxin. FDA testing of Midwestern pet foods found aflatoxin levels “as high as 558 ppb.” The maximum amount of aflatoxin allowed in pet food is 20 ppb.
FDA inspection of Midwestern pet food facilities found “significant violations” of legally required food safety preventive controls. The FDA found that Midwestern “failed to follow proper (corn) sample preparation procedures, as outlined in the aflatoxin test kit manufacturer’s recommended procedure” leading to inaccurate test results.
Questions…
Based on the serious manufacturing failures of Midwestern Pet Food documented by FDA, is a $6 million dollar settlement enough?
When an FDA investigation of a recall documents serious failures of a manufacturer (legally required food safety failures), should the lawsuit settlement amount be doubled or tripled?
Personal opinion: Mistakes can happen to anyone. However when a pet food manufacturer is so reckless they don’t abide by legally required safety procedures and don’t read or follow the instruction manual for testing procedures – the penalty should be significantly more. Even prison sentences should be considered (it has happened in human food).
This all could have been prevented, but it wasn’t. These deadly pet food mistakes continue to occur. Lawsuit after lawsuit, reckless manufacturing errors continue to sicken and kill pets. Something needs to change.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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T Allen
May 9, 2023 at 4:06 pm
I’d like to know what the value of the company is and how much the CEO makes. It was only a matter of time before this happened with corn but the fact that they aren’t being shut down totally is a matter of politics from what I learned at FSIS. They won’t deprive people of their livelihood even if those people are outright crooks. 🙁
S. Hillerby
May 9, 2023 at 5:27 pm
Is there a pet guardian alive who would agree that $150 is adequate compensation for the loss of a beloved animal?
Karin Yates
May 10, 2023 at 2:06 am
If a pet food contains corn, it is undoubtedly crap food that also contains by-products, artificial colors, and probably “animal fat”, that is skimmed from the top of boiled-down dead animal carcasses.
Jessica
June 28, 2023 at 7:05 pm
Spot on. I just received a card to join the settlement as I had purchased the wholesomes beef brand that did not contain corn. I know better… but still this is terrible. I wish more people knew that most corn used does contain aflatoxin.
Kyle
May 10, 2023 at 10:26 am
What’s the life of your pet worth?
Apparently $150 at maximum. Shame, MWP.
Jean wylie
May 10, 2023 at 12:30 pm
Totally absurd! $150 does not even cover the cost of vet care for dying animal, let alone investment in that pet, the cost of replacing, or the grief suffered by owner. The agency is saying they do not value the lives of pets which they are charged with protecting!
This is a slap in face of all pet owners.
Bell Jones
May 13, 2023 at 4:34 pm
Consider that in 2021 Hill’s settlement provided $12.5 Million for the excessive vitamin D in 44 veterinary canned diets in 3 recalls.
Also, the settlement that was provided by many manufacturers and pet food brands in the melamine toxicosis in pet foods with over 180 companies in 2006 and 2007, was only $24 M, of which the lawyers took $12 M, and over 20,000 pets were killed or sickened. The pet owners got about $0.45/$1.00 spent on medical bills. Vitamin D toxicosis and aflatoxin is very preventable. Melamine is now too, though at the time it was not.
Wanda
November 4, 2023 at 7:25 am
Can someone please give me the names of trustworthy dog foods with a good long history? In the last 15 years I’ve only used BlueBuffalo before they sold their business to Nabisco(?) without warning and then Earthborn Holistic. Now, I don’t know who to trust. What do you trust?