News

— Menu Foods Income Fund, still struggling with the fallout from its massive recall of tainted pet food, posted a third-quarter loss Wednesday and said that customers who accounted for more than a third of its sales in 2006 will no longer do business with the company.

Menu said it lost $19.3-million, or $1.01 a unit, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30. That compared with a profit of $1.3-million, or 7 cents a unit, in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue fell to $78.1-million from $90.1-million a year earlier, and the company's forecast was bleak.

"The fund has been informed that customers whose volume represented approximately 37 per cent of sales in 2006 will no longer be purchasing these products from Menu," the company said. "The effects of this lost business will be felt over time."

As well, customers whose 2006 volumes accounted for almost 14 per cent of sales "have already stopped doing business with Menu," it said.

Menu's recall, first announced in March, has been expanded several times and is now one of the largest in North American history.

The company said that during the quarter it booked $11.1-million in recall expenses.

The company halted shipments and said it was recalling many of its pet foods after discovering they contained Chinese-sourced wheat gluten contaminated with melamine or related compounds.

Menu released its results after markets closed Wednesday.