Agency claims there is no investigation, so records should be released, site argues

ConsumerAffairs.com has appealed the refusal of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to release lab results, citizen complaints and other documents related to NUTRO pet food.

The consumer Web site has received more than 800 reports from consumers who say their pets became ill and, in some cases, died after eating NUTRO products. ConsumerAffairs.com first requested the FDA documents under the Freedom of Information Action (FOIA) last spring, but the FDA denied the request, saying that granting it could interfere with law enforcement proceedings.

Questioned by ConsumerAffairs.com reporter Lisa Wade McCormick, an FDA official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that the request was denied because the agency was investigating NUTRO. But the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) then issued a press release claiming that NUTRO was not being investigated.

The CVM is not the FDA division that handles complaints about pet food and is not the division to which the FDA employee who confirmed the investigation is assigned.

“Though the reports on whether the FDA is investigating Nutro have been conflicting, the FDA’s official position is that there is no pending investigation of Nutro. Therefore, the FDA may not rely on the ‘law enforcement’ exemption of FOIA because, according to the FDA, there is no pending enforcement proceeding against Nutro,” said Cameron Stracher, a New York attorney who represents ConsumerAffairs.com.

Despite the FDA’s denial that it is investigating NUTRO, consumers have confirmed that FDA inspectors came to their homes investigating their pets’ deaths.

In one instance, the FDA investigator told a consumer that he had learned of her pet’s death by reading her complaint on ConsumerAffairs.com.

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~Sandy G.