The fallout from a tainted pet food scandal hit Menu Foods Income Fund again on Tuesday, when its biggest customer said it would stop buying some of its products in the fourth quarter. The unnamed customer, whose total purchases made up nearly 10.8% of Menu Food's sales volume in 2006, said it would stop buying 'loaf' products from the company beginning Oct. 1, Menu Foods said in a statement. Earlier this year, the same customer said it would stop purchases of other Menu Foods products. "Menu Foods is disappointed in the reaction of this customer to the pet food recall. The intentional tainting of product inputs from a third party supplier in China was a fraudulent act that victimized many pet food manufacturers, customers and consumers," Paul Henderson, Menu's president and chief executive, said in the statement. Menu Foods was one of almost a dozen North American pet food manufacturers that had used vegetable proteins contaminated in China with melamine or related compounds. In March, the company recalled millions of cans of tainted pet food manufactured at two U.S. plants after reports of some animal deaths. Menu Foods' units were down 50, or 16%, at $2.50 on the Toronto Stock Exchange at 2:30 p.m. ET.
(c) Reuters 2007 Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Friday, August 31, 2007
Menu Foods Looses Over China Made Ingredients
Counterfeit drinking water found in Beijing
National Post
BEIJING -- Up to half of the water used in water coolers across China's capital could be "fake," or not as pure as its manufacturers claim, state media said on Tuesday of the latest in a series of health scares. The bogus water was either tap water or purified water of miscellaneous small brands poured into empty barrels sealed with quality standard marks, the China Daily said, quoting Liu Xiaoyun, the Beijing sales manager of a of a bottled water brand.
Full Story
http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=0c53aaf3-3686-4e4d-ae59-86fb52d6a05f&k=75728
Toys "R" Us recalls China-made wooden art sets
By Nicole Maestri
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Toys "R" Us Inc is recalling 27,000 wooden coloring cases that were made in China and sold under its Imaginarium brand because lead was found in the printed ink on the art set's outer packaging and in some watercolor paints. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which announced the recall on Thursday, said the 213-piece coloring set includes crayons, pastels, colored pencils and water colors that were packaged in a light tan wooden carrying case.
The printed ink on the outer packaging of the case contains lead, and some of the black watercolor paint contains excessive levels of lead, the agency said. The cases were sold at the toy retailer's stores and on its Web site from October 2006 through August 2007 for about $20. Of the 27,000 cases that were recalled, Toys "R" Us said 8,300 were sold to customers during the recall period.
Read full article
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSWNAS317620070830
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Toy Story
Cookie Monster is quarantined. Elmo doesn't play well with others. Explorers Dora and Diego are grounded. The popular characters are among the 83 types of plastic preschool Chinese-made toys Fisher-Price recalled this month because they may contain lead paint. When ingested, lead can cause learning disabilities and behavioral problems. The recall involves 967,000 toys sold in the United States between May and August under the Fisher-Price line of Mattel. Learning that Big Bird could be toxic is like finding out your longtime baby sitter had a one-on-one confrontation with Chris Hansen on "Catch a Predator." You thought you were a cautious parent.
( read more at http://savannahnow.com/node/341373 )
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
How Not To Invest In CHINA
China's economy is expanding at the fastest pace in more than a decade. It seems at first like an opportunity not to be wasted, and anyone who has owned Chinese shares during the past two years has a lot to show for it. But one veteran manager of Asian portfolios warns that investors buying China today may be wasting money.
Investors in China are anticipating a lot, said Mark Headley, president of Matthews International Capital, a San Francisco firm specializing in Asia. What they hope for almost certainly is more than corporate China will be able to deliver.
"Shares are very expensive," he said. "There's wild, bullish sentiment practically everywhere in the Chinese realm. It's all going to end badly. It usually does."
Two developments may hasten the demise. One is ...
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Certified 100% China Free
It was going to happen sooner or later. With the backlash against China quality and product safety, some enterprising company was bound to capitalize on consumer fear against Chinese products. Well, now someone has. Just as many CPG providers are labeling their food, pharmacy and now even clothing products "organic" and "fair trade" -- don't get me started on that one -- one dietary supplements provider is certifying that its products are 100% China Free right on the label! Read here...
FDA Rejected Product list by Country
You want to import WHAT? This is the list of products attempted for import to United States but rejected because of FDA testing already in place. It only covers some products that are shippped, but I'm glad anyway that FDA tested them...
Monday, August 27, 2007
Vitamin-C
If you taking vitamins since you were little, you may have wasted your time all along. Learn healthy ways to improve your chemistry while taking vitamin-C made in China, Or should you switch your vitamins tomorrow? Read on...
