Menu Foods to Pay Veterinary Bills

Menu Foods, manufacturer of the tainted pet food that is blamed for injuries and deaths of hundreds of cats and dogs across the country , announced on Friday that it would compensate owners for their pet's medical bills.

Chief Executive Paul Henderson said during a news conference Friday "if we can identify the cause of expenses incurred and they prove to be related to the tainted food, Menu will take responsibility."

Authorities in New York State announced that testing has confirmed that a poison called Aminopterin was found in samples of the recalled products. The poison is illegal for use in the USA however, it is used overseas. Environmental Protection Agency officials said it was found at levels of at least 40 parts per million in the tested cat food samples. Dog food samples were not tested.

New York state and federal officials said they have no idea how the poison might have gotten into the pet food. On March 16 reports of sickened animals led to the recall of approximately 60 million cans and pouches of pet food produced by Menu Foods and sold throughout North America under 95 different brand names.

After Friday's announcement, Menu foods advised all retailers to remove all brands from their shelves. According to a company spokesperson, the recall still applies only to the dog and cat foods identified on its website from the March 16 recall. Those cover cans and pouches of food packaged from Dec. 3 through March 6.

Menu spokesperson Sam Bornstein said Saturday "The recall has not been expanded," They are getting media reports that the recalled items were still on store shelves along with others, and it would take too much time for retailers to sort through all the dates on containers, he said.

The findings by New York were the "root" of the problem and the company was "happy and relieved." Henderson said. The focus of the ongoing investigation remains on how the poison got into the products and Menu will be testing all suspect raw ingredients.

Executive Vice President Richard Shields, who joined Henderson at a news conference, said no pet food maker would screen raw ingredients for such an unusual toxin. He continued to say the Menu foods quality control was not lax.

According to Donald Smith, dean of Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine, the drug Aminopterin, is used as a cancer drug, it is highly toxic in high doses. Aminopterin inhibits the growth of malignant cells and suppresses the immune system however, in dogs and cats; it can cause kidney failure. Humans touching the food are not at any risk, officials said. Only eating the food is dangerous.

There are two labs in New York state that are part of a network created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack to keep the nation's animals and food supply safe. They are the New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell and the New York State Food Laboratory. The two labs tested three ca