Orijen food recall

This is what Orijen pet food has done to our cats in Australia

Three cats have died of seizures, one of a spinal tumor. Fifteen have been euthanised and approximately 80 others have symptoms ranging from hind limb ataxia to full paralysis, spinal cord damage, brain damage and spasticity.

Upon entry into Australia, Orijen pet food was gamma irradiated. Amongst the mounds of paperwork needed to be signed in order to release a new product on the Australian market (import permit, export documentation, signed authorities to irradiate, accounts for irradiation treatment and arrangement of transportation of the goods to and from the irradiation facility) is the AQIS Authority to Treat Goods Document. This document states the amount of gamma irradiation that will be used, renders the goods safe for quarantine purposes ONLY and states that the owner/agent should make their own enquiries as to the suitability of this or other treatments for the end use of their goods. This form NEEDS to be signed prior to any treatment despite Champion petfoods (Manufacturers of Orijen and Acana) constantly claiming they knew nothing of this procedure and that the irradiation went ahead without anyones knowledge. We have enquired about this and find Championâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s claims to be untrue.

It is Champions responsibility to work with their importer to ensure the safety of their food, not just send it out and collect the cash. Peter Muhlenfeld (Champion Petfoods) said they made a mistake, indeed they did. According to AQIS they had the option of heat treatment or irradiation. Why would you choose irradiation over heat treatment when claiming to be a company who has our pets best interest at heart.

Champion appears to have done the right thing in carrying out testing on their food, but all we have found out from one of Champions representatives, Clark Stride on the Itchmo forum, is that BHA & BHT (preservatives) were found in Orijen kibble during the testing. We were told it came from a dried chicken product added to Orijen petfood. Quote from Championâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s website “…..world-class ingredients fished or raised within our region and delivered to our factory FRESH- never frozen and without preservatives- each day.†Another untrue claim it seems from Champion

Champion and their Nutritionist, who they refer to on many occasions, may not have found the studies linking irradiated pet food to neurological damage in cats, but given their specialty would or should have known about Vitamin depletion which results from gamma irradiation. A very well known fact. Champion claims to have researched once they apparently found out the petfood was being irradiated, yet Champion still insisted on selling their ‘Biologically appropriateâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji] food to the Australian market. Obviously more driven by money than for the welfare of our beloved animals. If our cats did not suffer from neurological damage, the long term effects of a diet depleted in Vitamins would have been catastrophic

Champion keeps trying to blame someone else. This is their third recall. The first to do with mad cow disease, the second was very large and sharp salmon bones in Orijen kibble and now us. When are they going to step up their quality control? Our pets lives are at stake.

We have also had two Champion representatives Clark Stride and Michelle contradict each other on forums about weather they new about the irradiation, how many shipments there were, test results, and announcements. Once we started questioning these contradictions they disappeared, we were ignored and our questions were left unanswered.

It took Champion 2 months after Australian vets had found the link to pull their product from our shelves. If they had acted promptly the number of cats suffering this horrid syndrome would have been far less as would the severity. Some pet suppliers were not told what the issue was and not all were told about the recall straight away and were still selling Orijen. How hard is it for Champion to contact all of their suppliers (given that there werenâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t many) and let them know exactly what is going on. Because of Champions lack of urgency with announcing this recall people were still feeding this food for weeks after their announcement.

Champion have offered all affected cat owners a ‘Compassion Fundâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji] A limit of $2000AU per affected cat. This covers Veterinary bills only. We have sent champion many emails outlining what is involved to care for and treat our cats. We have broken it down to list most items with explanations of why these are needed. Items like antioxidants, supplements, laxatives, vitamins, animal pens, incontinence pads, soft bedding, larger & lower litter trays, kitty litter, shampoos/soaps, physio balls/slings, heavier water & food bowls, drinking fountains, barricades/plastic trellis, boarding costs, carpet shampoos, uric acid cleaners, acupuncture, physiotherapy, herbal remedies. The list goes on.
One such example from one of many emails to Champion.

I am sure you are aware that there are cats whose owners were left with no choice but to place them in animal pens to keep them safe while on their own. People work which means they can be out of their house for at least 8 hrs at a time. I do not understand why you feel it would be fine to leave these sick, disabled cats in their pens with no food or water for this period of time. Hence the need for heavier food and water bowls. I know of one owner who reported coming home from work to find that her beloved cat had not only knocked over both food and water bowls in the animal pen but had also defecated and urinated. There was an absolute mess as this poor cat was dragging herself around the pen. I am sure you can imagine that the food and water was now contaminated

Would you like to feed your pets food contaminated with their own faeces and urine? I am sure you wouldn't.

Another owner reported hearing a crash during the night and found that her cat had collapsed into her water bowl and broken it. So for hygiene and safety reasons reconsidering the need for heavier bowls is more appropriate in this situation.

There are many other explanations like the one above that have just been ignored by Champion. They came back with their pathetic offer of $1800AU for veterinary bills, $100AU for Supplements listed on their website and $100AU for animal pens, incontinence sheets and plastic syringes. All they have done is reduced the Veterinary bills by $200AU. The vets, although extremely helpful and doing the best they can, cannot offer a lot. The advice is feed them a high quality raw diet and give them time. So vet bills for most are not too high. What is costing an arm and a leg is all the other costs (not covered by Champions Compassion Fund). An animal pen is more than $100, incontinence sheets are costing up to $50/week and this can go on for months, but all they are allowing us to claim is $100AU. Basically you can spend $2000AU but only be able to claim $300AU. I am now hearing of owners struggling financially and wondering if they should make the decision to PTS because they canâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t afford treatments that Champion will not cover.
Our emails are ignored, our questions go unanswered but Champion finds the time day after day to reach out to other countries to say how they regret the circumstances in Australia and really feel for us. They claim to care for animals and all have pets of their own but will not pay for what their negligence has caused.

There are also a few claims outside of Australia of people seeing the same symptoms with their cats. Champion has contacted 2 that I know of and have told them to retract their comments without making the moral decision to check if their claims are viable. Thatâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s what I call putting animals first, sorry did I say animals, oops, I meant money.

Pet food companies need to take responsibility for their products and if nothing is done, we will see another recall like that of the 2007 menu foods recall that killed thousands of cats and dogs in US. I am not going to ask people to boycott this company but ask you to make an informed decision as to weather you would want to support a company that has in our case been negligent, rude and ignored us. Most of the statements from Champion regarding the Australian recalls do not match what our research has uncovered together with the misconceptions from Champion I have pointed out above. As the owner of two affected cats, I have experienced first hand the lack of consideration Champion is giving us and how looking after these poor affected cats totally takes over your life.

Lastly, Peter, I am asking you one last time to make the moral and humane decision to cover ALL of our costs incurred whilst nursing our sick and disabled cats hopefully back to health. Our beloved cats are in this situation due to your companyâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s negligence despite what you say. Your importer represents your product. Your product, your problem

Hi all. Peter Muhlenfeld from Champion has written a post on a UK forum in regard to misinformation with this issue. Please note my response, after months of research, pointing out the many inaccuracies with Peter's post. I would now be very concerned in dealing with a company who repeatedly has given misguided information.

To the UK cat community, given the negative posting concerning our company, I thought it may be appropriate to provide a quick posting from Champion. As is often the case in circumstances like these, facts often give way to misinformation.
I would like begin by telling you that we are a family-owned and family oriented, award-winning pet food maker here in Alberta, Canada. We have a long and proud tradition of producing innovative foods from fresh regional ingredients since 1985.
Like most of you on this site, we are pet lovers too. Every member of the Champion family shares their home with dogs and cats (dachshunds for me) and thatâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s why we make the kind of foods that we do. Just like you, we are shocked and terribly saddened at the situation that unfolded in Australia.
As there are some errors regarding the situation in Australia, Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]d like to clarify on a few points.
First, the recall is limited to Australia and results from the high level of irradiation (61kGY) that our foods were exposed to when entering the country. This irradiation process is unique to Australia and our foods in other markets are not affected.
Australia does not irradiate all pet foods – only those made with fresh ingredients (like ORIJEN) and/or cooked at low temperatures (like ORIJEN) are irradiated.
The unique nutritional make-up of ORIJEN foods (including high levels of long chain DHA and EPA omega-3 fatty acids from fresh fish) make ORIJEN highly susceptible to the effects of irradiation treatment. Delicate long chain fatty acids are easily compromised by high irradiation, which in turn causes the formation and release of toxic oxidative by-products.
When consumed by cats, these oxidative by products have a profound effect on the nervous system. Unfortunately, due to the obscure nature of this problem, no one in the industry – including Champion - was aware of the potential danger irradiation posed to our cat foods. Indeed, even after we discovered our foods were to be irradiated, we were assured by government authorities that the process was safe.
When we began to receive strange reports of cats falling ill in Australia, we subjected all foods shipped to Australia to a complete battery of tests. These tests included every known toxin and a complete chemical screening to identify any possibility that our food may have contributed to the reported illnesses. All tests showed the foods to be fine.
Enquiries into all other markets (50 countries) where ORIJEN is sold revealed there were no reports or problems with the foods anywhere else – including foods from the very same productions that were sold in Australia. As the symptoms reported from Australia are indicative of a wide number of possible health problems, we decided to put a stop sale on our cat foods in Australia and send a staff member to Australia to investigate first hand.
Realizing the problem was unique to Australia, we started to investigate for local factors ranging from water supply, gardening chemicals, spider bites… a vast number of possibilities.
It wasnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t until we began running tests on ORIJEN cat foods irradiation chambers here in Canada that we began to strongly suspect the high levels of irradiation were causing the problems. Indeed, like everyone else we had assumed that irradiation process was safe.
We began to research irradiation and cat food and found one single published study linking irradiated foods to the same problems that were reported among cats in Australia. Since then, one more study has been published that draws the same conclusions in the dangers of irradiated dry cat foods.
These studies are available on-line and can be accessed through our website at championpetfoods.com (click on the Australia icon)
We understand the criticism directed at us for the events that occurred in Australia. We have also done our best to be open, honest and transparent. All of our actions, investigations and subsequent findings were (and still are) posted on our website.
Our mistake was trusting that the irradiation process was safe. Our sales in Australia were a very, very, small fraction of our sales worldwide, and our exports to Australia were and are not “greed motivatedâ€.
In retrospect, we wish we would have known more about the process, and how our food in particular would be affected by irradiation.
To support cat owners in Australia, we established the ORIJEN COMPASSION FUND to provide financial assistance to offset medical and related costs up to $2000 for each affected cat, announced a $10,000 donation to support homeless cats in the Sydney area, and will publish the research we have compiled in the hopes that others can learn from this tragic event.
We have since changed our export policy and will never again ship to a destination requiring irradiation, or any other unnatural process, as a precondition to market entry.
To set the record straight, we made 2 shipments to Australia. A third shipment was made but stopped before it entered the irradiation chamber and returned. In total, less than 3 pallets of ORIJEN cat food were sold in Australia between November 20, 2007 and the recall date of November 2008. This compares with thousands of pallets of the very same food shipped worldwide during that same period.
Champion Petfoods and my family personally are very sorry for all of the families in Australia who have been affected by this terrible circumstance. We hope that of this tragedy a new awareness and understanding of the potential effects irradiation has upon cat foods. We pledge never again to allow our foods to be compromised.
Sincerely,

Peter A. Muhlenfeld
Champion Petfoods Ltd.


MY RESPONSE

Yes Peter you are right, as is often the case in circumstances like these, facts often give way to misinformation.

1)You said "We have a long and proud tradition of producing innovative foods from fresh regional ingredients since 1985." Your company representative said you found BHA & BHT during your testing, preservatives possibly from a dried chicken product
2)You said "the recall is limited to Australia and results from the high level of irradiation (61kGY) that our foods were exposed to when entering the country." AQIS said that this treatment will not go ahead without an Authority to Treat Goods document signed by Manufacturer or importer or agent which states the level of irradiation applied and that AQIS render the goods safe for treatment purposes ONLY. The irradiation company also offered to irradiate a sample for testing , which to their surprise was refused which does not happen often.
3)You said "Australia does not irradiate all pet foods – only those made with fresh ingredients (like ORIJEN) and/or cooked at low temperatures (like ORIJEN) are irradiated." AQIS said you/importer/agent was given the choice of heat treatment OR irradiation.
4)You said "no one in the industry – including Champion - was aware of the potential danger irradiation posed to our cat foods." Sorry is this the pet food industry or the irradiation industry. Are you telling us that you have checked with everyone in the entire world an no-one was aware of the potential danger of irradiation. 30 seconds on Google Peter
5)You said "we began to receive strange reports of cats falling ill in Australia." If you owned one of these cats strange is not a word that comes to mind absolutely devastating is closer.
6) You said "All tests showed the foods to be fine." Fine maybe but also containing preservatives which contradicts what your website says
7)You said "Enquiries into all other markets (50 countries) where ORIJEN is sold revealed there were no reports or problems with the foods anywhere else." I have spoken to few people who have reported similar problems only to be told to retract their comments. I am not saying your food was the cause but we will not know as these reports were not followed up.
8)You said "we decided to put a stop sale on our cat foods in Australia and send a staff member to Australia to investigate first hand." Correct but not in that order. Your staff member came to Australia prior to your recall which took at least 2 months for you to co-ordinate, quite poorly I might add.
9)You said "Indeed, like everyone else we had assumed that irradiation process was safe." Peter please, There are so many studies and advocacy groups stating otherwise. That is a very big assumption indeed.
10)You said "We have also done our best to be open, honest and transparent. All of our actions, investigations and subsequent findings were (and still are) posted on our website." mmmmmmmmmmmmm. Were are the test results on your food that Champion said would be posted 2 months ago. Is there something to hide?
11)You said "Our mistake was trusting that the irradiation process was safe." No misconception there.
12)You said "In total, less than 3 pallets of ORIJEN cat food were sold in Australia between November 20, 2007 and the recall date of November 2008." Your statement on your website says 6
13) You said “announced a $10,000 donation to support homeless cats in the Sydney areaâ€. You also told us this would be announced in January. Still waiting and itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s almost 2 months later Peter.
14) You said “A third shipment was made but stopped before it entered the irradiation chamber and returnedâ€. AQIS said all 3 shipments had been irradiated.
15) You said “We pledge never again to allow our foods to be compromised.†Are you saying it has taken your company 34 years to come to this conclusion. Should have been done from day 1 when animals lives are at stake.


I am sorry this is so long but without all the information on this problem it is unfair to make a decision on where you stand. I understand concerns about blaming the Australian government but both AQIS (Australian Quarintine) and Steritech (irradiation company) require signed documents outlining that they take no responsibilty for damages and it is up to the manufacturer/importer to decide if there product is safe for end use. It is also not true that all food comming to our country is irradiated infact very little is. AQIS have also said that an option was given between irradiation and heat treatment. Steritech offered (as they always do) to irradiate a test sample (free of charge) for further testing. This was declined which they found odd. We have spent months researching this and given everything we have found it is very hard not to find Champion negligent.

Thank you for your time

I have followed this tragedy closely since I first discovered "whisperings" of it on the CatWorld site in November - and then posted about it here on TCS, I have to say that I'm deeply disturbed by the details and information that have come to light.

I, too, have read Mr. Muhlenfeld's post on the PetForms Community site (petforums.co.uk). Mr. Muhlenfeld is the Sales and Marketing Manager of Champion Pet Foods, the manufacturer of Orijen. I'm just left shaking my head in disbelief at his statement: "even after we discovered our foods were to be irradiated, we were assured by government authorities that the process was safe." So, this implies that they obviously had concerns about irradiation...but, instead of researching the potential results themselves, they chose to ask the very people who were mandating the irradiation??? I mean, come on.....did they actually expect some Government bureaucrat to suggest that the Government's own program "might" be dangerous??? That's tantamount to asking the fox (who you know is in charge of the chicken coop) IF the chickens are safe!!!

This is not the due diligence I would have expected from a company that I held in such high repute.

I have to say that, when I first learned of Champion's intention to cover the expenses brought about by all this, I was quite impressed. I was also quite proud to see a Canadian company step up to the plate and do the right thing (IMO Menu Foods, also Canadian, had been a national embarrassment). Now, as it is becoming apparent that these cats may be left with recurring problems that the "Compassion Fund" will not cover, my expectation would be that owners be fully compensated....not "nickeled and dimed" - and, shortchanged...that's just not right, IMO.

A little something about we Canadians....part of our "national character" is that we like to consider ourselves 'just a little better' than some others...not in any snooty kind of way, just in a very nice and pleasant and "proper" Canadian kind of way. Champion's behaviour, in the compensation issue, doesn't measure up to the "Canadian way", IMO.

Thank you to those who have posted more information about this. I find it interesting, and devastating to those who have suffered losses or illnesses because of this occurrance.

My stance on Champion has changed a bit since my last post, with the recent information that has come in. They definitely shoulder some of the blame for this occurance and, perhaps, should be providing more compensation.

That said, how come no one is blaming the government or the irradiation company for this as well? I don't care if they make companies sign waivers and forms negating any responsibility for damage. It is up to the irradiation company to make sure their processes are safe for the products they are using it on. I don't understand how this is questionable. And I don't get why the pet food was irradiated at such high levels in the first place. Human food would be irradiated at 1/10th to 1/5th of that level. Haphazardly irradiating pet food at that level, to me, shows a lack of value of people's pets. If we wouldn't do it to our food, why would we do it to their food? Forms may legally protect those companies, but there is no reason they should not be shouldering the moral blame for this occurance.

Now, should Champion have researched the irradiation process more? Probably. However, a very quick google search for me was mostly positive about the benefits of irradiation, so much that the Canadian government is considering approving irradiation of meats imported into Canada. Yes, there are some negative studies/discussions....but you can find that about almost anything, including things that 99% of people would think valuable, worthwhile, and safe. In this case, I think the problem was the shear level of irradiation...not the irradiation in and of itself.

One question I have....who would have signed the papers about irradiation? Would it have been someone at Champion? Or would it have been the importer? If the importer, is this person part of Champion or an external person who is just "buying" the food to distribute in Australia? I'm not familiar with import/export processes, and perhaps more information about that would help me understand better.

I am not at all trying to excuse Champion for this. By the sounds of it, the company has made mistakes in this situation. Although they have taken measures to rectify the situation, not being directly affected, I am not one to say whether those measures are sufficient. Those directly affected seem to think they have not done enough, and I will not argue with that.

However, I do think those people also need to be questioning the Food Inspection Angencies and irradiation companies also responsible for this. Just because they make the importers sign a form, does not mean that it is okay that they are processing foods in ways that make them dangerous. They should be responsible for this as well....and compensating accordingly....

Originally Posted by BLAISE

A little something about we Canadians....part of our "national character" is that we like to consider ourselves 'just a little better' than some others...not in any snooty kind of way, just in a very nice and pleasant and "proper" Canadian kind of way. Champion's behaviour, in the compensation issue, doesn't measure up to the "Canadian way", IMO.

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Off-topic, but something I've learned from my experiences in life, with media, and through the internet, is that we're really not that much different. Good people are Canadian, American, Australian, etc. Bad people come from all countries. Capitalists and greedy companies, as well as generous companies come from all countries as well. I don't expect any more or less of Champion than I do of any other company simply because they are Canadian.

I don't really know where I'm headed here, except to say that any Canadians here who think we are better (or more proper) than anyone else need to look around and see that we really are no different than anyone else.

Originally Posted by zoeysmom

My stance on Champion has changed a bit since my last post, with the recent information that has come in. They definitely shoulder some of the blame for this occurance and, perhaps, should be providing more compensation.

That said, how come no one is blaming the government or the irradiation company for this as well? I don't care if they make companies sign waivers and forms negating any responsibility for damage. It is up to the irradiation company to make sure their processes are safe for the products they are using it on. I don't understand how this is questionable. And I don't get why the pet food was irradiated at such high levels in the first place. Human food would be irradiated at 1/10th to 1/5th of that level. Haphazardly irradiating pet food at that level, to me, shows a lack of value of people's pets. If we wouldn't do it to our food, why would we do it to their food? Forms may legally protect those companies, but there is no reason they should not be shouldering the moral blame for this occurance.

It's much easier to get money from a company than the government.

However, I do think those people also need to be questioning the Food Inspection Angencies and irradiation companies also responsible for this. Just because they make the importers sign a form, does not mean that it is okay that they are processing foods in ways that make them dangerous. They should be responsible for this as well....and compensating accordingly....

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But if that happened, then people wouldn't be able to put all the blame on the company and get money from them.

I do understand that some folks have lost their beloved pets and that's tragic but I still maintain that Champion isn't the only one to blame in this tragedy. Yes, they should have refused to supply Orijen to Australia when they found out about the irradiation process, heaven knows they have enough business in the rest of the world where their food is considered a quality food, but they shouldn't be held wholly responsible IMO.

As for BLAISE's comment regarding Canadians thinking they are better than others, I have to disagree although I've certainly met some who thought they were pretty much better than anyone and perhaps even God him/herself but I didn't put that down to them being Canadian so much as having an ego problem. We'd like to hope our Canadian companies will stand by their products and be accountable.

As to Menu foods, although they are in Canada, the problem did not originate in Canada if my memory serves me correctly.

I would also like to see a link to where Orijen recalled their product because of mad cow disease. I had not heard that one.

So...somebody thinks that every food shipper should question every statement from every government.

Does that mean that, oh, say Chile should question the inspection of fruit coming into the U.S?

Does that mean that the Central American companies should challenge the FDA on their requirements for fumigation of coffee bean shipments to the U.S?

Eventually, someone has to step up and say, "The Australian government should have adopted safe standards, and not expected that their work should be second-guessed by every vendor sending foodstuff into the country."

It's sad about the cats, but I don't see where any company has the resources to back-check every government policy in every country they ship to. In my book the Australian government is the party at fault in this debacle.

It's different with the melamine thing. The shippers in China KNEW they were violating the law and they KNEW it would harm anyone or anything eating the product.

Today two more cases surface.

Again, the delay in symptom onset:

...His cats remained symptom-free until late last month when their hind legs began to fail.

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That's nearly three months after discontinuing the Orijen.

I said this is Champion's third recall, not Orijen's. Here is the link

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news03/dog_food.html

Although this was not a product under Champion's name, they were the manufacturers. I, like most, thought I had found the perfect pet food company. Champion's website sounds like they truly have our pets interest at heart. I would also like to add that in terms of kibble, Orijen sounds like one of the best on the market. I am not saying it is a great food, as due to all the reasearch I have done, I now think that all kibble is not really appropriate for obligate canrnivores and have now converted to raw, but in terms of kibble, I guess it is up there. However, I think the point here is that Champion is claiming to be putting our pets first, how they all have pets of their own and make their company decisions with their pets in mind. Yet, they were willing to be the manufacturers of a pet food that was using a diseased carcass (the cow tested positive to pneumonia before BSE) and passed unfit for human consumption as an ingredient and IMO are putting themselves in the same class as a lot of other PFC's. Would any of you even consider feeding your pets a diseased carcass? IMO Champion is showing to me, that money comes BEFORE our pets wellbeing by deciding to be the manufacturers of a substandard pet food which could put our pets health and lives at risk. This totally contradicts what Champion claims to stand for.

I do not want anyone to think for one minute that we, the owners of affected cats, are letting Biosecurity Australia, AQIS and Steritech off the hook at all. There have been many discussions with law firms and unfortunately due to the documents that were signed these organisations can in no way be held legally liable. Due to how we all feel about this, we are spending every spare minute we have lobbying our politicians to get the legislation changed to stop irradiation practices on pet food/food and labelling laws in Australia. We feel very strongly about making sure no other cat ever has to go through this devastating neurological syndrome again and can assure you we will make every effort possible to get the job done. One of the affected cat owners has put together an 80 page "Government On Notice" paper which has been sent to 90+ recipients, (Government, Opposition, Greens party, Biosecurity Australia, AQIS, Steritech, Animal & Veterinary Associations, CSIRO, Advocacy Groups and Media). We are following these up daily, getting media involved to make others aware and thankfully we are getting noticed by all including government bodies.

However, we have been told that legally Champion are liable. As manufacturers of Orijen they are ultimately responsible for their product from the time it left their plant to the time it reaches our shelves. Peter agreed and stated this in a telephone conversation with one of the affected cat owners and also admitted not once but several times that Champion did not do due diligence when entering the Australian market. This was mid December 2008. Peter has admitted they made a mistake but for some reason we, the affected cat owners, are left to pick up the peices both emotionally and financially.

Do you think it is fair that our cats have neurological damage due to negligence and that we have to suffer by paying the costs to treat and make sure our cats are as comfortable as we can make them while they hopefully recover. The emotional burden of seeing my 2 beautiful 1 year old cats with spinal cord damage, brain damage and spasticity day in day out is tragic. Seeing them fall everywhere is tragic. Seeing them covered in their stools and urine because they can't balance is tragic. Seeing them being scared of things that aren't actually there is tragic. Seeing them trying to jump to their favourite spot and falling off is tragic. Seeing them lie there helplessly struggling to move is tragic. Supporting owners whose cats now have bed sores is tragic. Welcoming new affected cat owners to our group, still to this day, is tragic. Supporting owners who have lost their cats to brain seizures or have had no option but to PTS is tragic. Supporting owners who were one of the first to come across this syndrome and had their cats PTS because noone thought there was a chance of recovery is tragic. Going to your vets and being told there is nothing they can do but to change their diet to raw food and wait and see is tragic. Not to mention all the cleaning, feeding, medicating, massaging and physio that needs to be done on a daily basis.I am sorry but somebody should be paying for this and legally the ball drops at a certain company's door.

I find comments like "it is much easier to get money from a company than the government" quite upsetting. We are not after money, we are after compensation for all the costs incurred while looking after our cats while they hopefully recover, not some cleverly crafted Compassion Fund that won't come close to covering our bills. IMO Champion is responsible for this. The paperwork speaks for itself.

I am not here to argue with anyone, believe me with a full time job, lobbying our government, trying to get compensation for all our costs and looking after my 2 wonderful 1 year old cats that are now suffering from brain damage, spinal cord damage and spasticity, I simply do not have the energy. So while I am all for people expressing their opinions I would like to ask if we could be respectful of eachother and understand that we are entitled to just that, our opinions. Thank you all and cuddles to all your furkids.

Originally Posted by Yosemite

But if that happened, then people wouldn't be able to put all the blame on the company and get money from them.

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This is a very cold statement especially being made by a moderator. I don't understand how you can say that, when pet parents have completely paralyzed kitties and have been nursing them around the clock for 6 months. All they are asking for is reimbursement for their expenses from the direct result of Champion's negligence in not assuring the food wasn't poisoned after it was irradiated and the government told them to test it to be sure.

These pet parents are not just blaming Champion either. They have lobbied all levels of their government to stop the irradiation on pet food through hundreds of letters, emails and phone calls so this tragedy doesn't occur again.

If they were merely out to get some money, they wouldn't care about changing the laws so others don't suffer the same fate they have.

I would like to say my heart goes out to the Australian cat owners and their cats that are dealing with this devasting problem.

To learn more about this subject, I visited the Itchmo forums and read the thread on the Orijen recall, all 47 pages (at that time), plus some of the links provided. Champion Petfoods made a major mistake in not investigating the irradiation process before importing Orijen into Australia and they admit this! (There is no mention of the recall on the Orijen website, but it is on the Champion Petfood website.)

The government of Australia considers petfood to be a 'biological' and may be subject to irradiation on importation into the country. However, the AU government states that it is up to the companies importing 'biologicals' to test for safeness after treatment. Champion did not test the food to see if there were any detrimental changes. Tests should have been done before Orijen was imported. This is where Champion failed their Australian customers and their cats.

People in Australia are going after the governing bodies responsible and are working to change things. They are holding both Champion and their government responsible and rightly so IMO.

Keep in mind, people have lost lost beloved pets and others are dealing with this on a day-to-day basis trying to keep their cats alive long enough to hopefully recover.

Originally Posted by mrblanche

So...somebody thinks that every food shipper should question every statement from every government.

Does that mean that, oh, say Chile should question the inspection of fruit coming into the U.S?

Does that mean that the Central American companies should challenge the FDA on their requirements for fumigation of coffee bean shipments to the U.S?

Eventually, someone has to step up and say, "The Australian government should have adopted safe standards, and not expected that their work should be second-guessed by every vendor sending foodstuff into the country."

It's sad about the cats, but I don't see where any company has the resources to back-check every government policy in every country they ship to. In my book the Australian government is the party at fault in this debacle.

It's different with the melamine thing. The shippers in China KNEW they were violating the law and they KNEW it would harm anyone or anything eating the product.

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Yes, every food shipper should COMPLY with the country of importation's laws. If Champion would have done so, they would have tested their food prior to it being put on the market in Australia. The government warned them to test their food after irradiation and they failed to do so.

Fumigation and irradiation are two totally different types of treatments and a quick google search will produce studies that show irradiation has much more negative effects and a higher variation in lipid stability on foods than fumigation does.

If the company doesn't have the resources to "back-check every government policy in every country they ship to" then they should not be allowed to export their foods. That, by the way, is exactly how the laws are written and interpreted. Or, for the lay person, ignorance is no excuse.

Originally Posted by Perseus

This is a very cold statement especially being made by a moderator. I don't understand how you can say that, when pet parents have completely paralyzed kitties and have been nursing them around the clock for 6 months. All they are asking for is reimbursement for their expenses from the direct result of Champion's negligence in not assuring the food wasn't poisoned after it was irradiated and the government told them to test it to be sure.

These pet parents are not just blaming Champion either. They have lobbied all levels of their government to stop the irradiation on pet food through hundreds of letters, emails and phone calls so this tragedy doesn't occur again.

If they were merely out to get some money, they wouldn't care about changing the laws so others don't suffer the same fate they have.

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Being a Moderator has nothing to do with my personal opinion. I do feel very bad for those whose cats have suffered but my point is (I've reiterated this several times) is that Champion Foods are not the only one at fault here but they will be the ones that are being sued - not the government. And the reason that will happen is because suing a government will not get any of those owners a penny but they hope to get money from Champion Food. I also realize the money is to help pay their vet bills which is also fair, but that doesn't change the fact that Champion is only partially to blame but they will be the only ones that will have to pay up.

That, IMO is not fair and that has nothing to do with me being a Moderator. It's all about justice and fairness.

Yosemite I do not know how the laws in regard to taking legal action against your government apply, However this has been done on many occasions in Australia with a favourable outcome. If we had a case against our government we would be pursuing it. If it were only money we were after do you think we would be spending countless hours every day lobbying our government to assure this horrible syndrome never happens again due to people not reading what they are signing. I am an animal lover and in my eyes sitting back and letting this happen again is pure animal cruelty just like not reading/ignoring crucial documents and declining a test sample. We have also spoken to Steritech the irradiation company who told us an offer to irradiate a sample batch for free (for testing) was declined and that this rarely happens. Steritech were a little amaized at this. I respect your opinion. But please do not think it is money we are after, again in my eyes, I think what is unfair is that Champion are legally responsible, Peter has said they made a mistake and did not do due diligence when entering the Australian market but for some reason have had their lawyers craft a very cleaver Compassion Fund which does not even entitle us to 1/4 of our costs. This is what I feel is unfair. But then I have a constant reminder of the negligence day in day out nursing my 2 cats every day. By the way we just lost another beautiful fury friend to the rainbow bridge yesterday.

Originally Posted by maxymia

Yosemite I do not know how the laws in regard to taking legal action against your government apply, However this has been done on many occasions in Australia with a favourable outcome. If we had a case against our government we would be pursuing it. If it were only money we were after do you think we would be spending countless hours every day lobbying our government to assure this horrible syndrome never happens again due to people not reading what they are signing. I am an animal lover and in my eyes sitting back and letting this happen again is pure animal cruelty just like not reading/ignoring crucial documents and declining a test sample. We have also spoken to Steritech the irradiation company who told us an offer to irradiate a sample batch for free (for testing) was declined and that this rarely happens. Steritech were a little amaized at this. I respect your opinion. But please do not think it is money we are after, again in my eyes, I think what is unfair is that Champion are legally responsible, Peter has said they made a mistake and did not do due diligence when entering the Australian market but for some reason have had their lawyers craft a very cleaver Compassion Fund which does not even entitle us to 1/4 of our costs. This is what I feel is unfair. But then I have a constant reminder of the negligence day in day out nursing my 2 cats every day. By the way we just lost another beautiful fury friend to the rainbow bridge yesterday.

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I appreciate your feelings on this matter, however, we will have to agree to disagree. I think all parties - Champion, government and irradiation company need to come to the table and take responsibility for their own actions in this matter. Steritech can say they were not in any way at fault - that doesn't mean they aren't just because they say so no more than Champion are not at fault just because they say so.

So, again, we will have to agree to disagree.

Yosemite, I still think you're missing my point. I was taking exception to one statement you made:
"But if that happened, then people wouldn't be able to put all the blame on the company and get money from them."

I will reiterate again, no one is putting all the blame on Champion. They are not trying to "get money from them." They are simply trying to get reimbursed for their expenses. This is how a democratic and moral society works.

Originally Posted by Perseus

Yosemite, I still think you're missing my point. I was taking exception to one statement you made:
"But if that happened, then people wouldn't be able to put all the blame on the company and get money from them."

I will reiterate again, no one is putting all the blame on Champion. They are not trying to "get money from them." They are simply trying to get reimbursed for their expenses. This is how a democratic and moral society works.

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I had to go back and re-read each post and I don't think I'm missing any point at all. In every post the blame is being put on Champion, not the irradiation company and not the government. The only people who are holding the government and irradiation companies partially responsible are those of us that are not in Australia. So no, I have not missed anything.

And FWIW, there is a better chance of successfully suing a company than the government in any country IMO.

Yosemite We are not letting the Australian organisations/companies off the hook at all. One owner with my full support, has sent many videos containing footage of our poor cats with pretty forcefull messages to all involved. They recieve constant phone calls/letters in regard to our cats and the need for a change in legislation. I agree that morally they are also to blame but legally they are not. There job was to keep our nation secure from pathogens etc. and they have done their job even if I do not agree with their methods. Champion however is legally and morally to blame. Even after they researched the effects of irradiation they knew that this process was leaving their product depleted of essential vitamins and minerals but still thought it would be fine to sell this 'high end product' in our country. Champions job is to ensure we the buyers are getting a product that matches it's claims

I accept that we have to agree to disagree but you also need to realise that we are by no means protecting the other parties involved. Apart from changing our legislation so no other cat or owner ever has to endure this (which is my number one priority) we would also like to be able to give our cats what they need to hopefully recover and again legally Champion is the only one that can do that.

After speaking with many law firms it is actually easier to sue an organisation in your own country, government or not, than it is with a company that has left our shores. This is not my opinion this is fact.

I will leave this conversation as is and I truly hope that you or anyone you know never ever has to watch your beloved pet suffer from the negligence of any pet food company or any other companies invovled. Unfortunately if PFC's keep getting support when they have done wrong, we will see devastation like this again and again.

Thank you for your time and best wishes

Just wondering - after the rep disclosed that they found BHA and BHT in their dried chicken product used in their pet foods, have they changed suppliers or had anything done about it at all? I want to know that if I do feed my cat Orijen again in the future (he's only had it once in his rotation), that he's not eating BHA/BHT.

I sent them an e-mail yesterday, but so far, I haven't gotten a response yet.

You can't quote me on this one, but I remember hearing something like it will be cleared up in a few months. Something like this was said by one of the reps (Clark OR Michelle) on Itchmo forums before they disappeared. I was led to believe that they said they would fix the problem but do nothing about all the food already produced and on shelves. Again not putting animals best interest at heart. It is stated on their website that Orijen contains no preservatives. Champion went quiet on this issue as well.