US Petfood contamination was deliberate

While the Veterinary Information Network issued its first major national
survey of veterinarians, concluding that at least hundreds and most likely
thousands of animals have died as a result of the contaminated food, now the FDA
is suggesting that the contamination may have been done deliberately.

FDA
Stephen Sundlof said Friday that “somebody may have added melamine to the wheat
gluten in order to increase what appears to be the protein level. Wheat gluten
is a high-protein substance and by trying to artificially inflate the protein
level, it could command a higher price”.

Delayed
notification
Menu Foods has admitted delaying the announcement of
the recall for a month after first receiving complaints about pet illness from
the company’s food in mid-February.

The company’s chief executive and
president said the company wanted to first confirm that the animals had eaten
its product before death.

As a result, they reportedly fed their
contaminated food to 40 to 50 cats and dogs in their laboratories, resulting in
seven deaths before they announced the contamination.

CFO sold
shares
It has now been learned that in the month between learning of
the contamination and the time that Menu made it known publicly, the company’s
chief financial officer told nearly half of his stock in the company which had
reported profits of nearly $6 million for the last quarter of
2006.

According to a published report from “The Globe and Mail”, Menu’s
CFO Mark Wiens sold 45% of his stock or 14,000 shares three weeks before the
March 16 product recall. The company first began receiving complaints in
mid-February.

Wiens claims that he didn’t hear about the contaminated
food until after the first of March, after he had sold his stock.