Over 400 people and nearly 100 have been hospitalized due to salmonella poisoning from peanut butter! ConAgra foods, maker of Peter Pan peanut butter and Great Value brand peanut butter, is facing many lawsuits and expects thousands more from people who have eaten Peter Pan or Great Value peanut butter that is contaminated with salmonella.

The law firm of Milberg Weiss & Bershad LLP announces the filing of a nationwide class action lawsuit on behalf of purchasers of "cuts and gravy" style cat and dog food recalled by Menu Foods Income Fund ("Menu Foods") based in Ontario, Canada.

Toronto area news. A U.S. veterinarians' website suggests as many as 470 dogs and cats in the U.S. may have suffered kidney failure as a result of their exposure to the foods, and that up 104 of them may have died.

Minamata disease (水俣病, Minamata-byō?), sometimes referred to as Chisso-Minamata disease (チッソ水俣病, Chisso-Minamata-byō?), is a neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning. Symptoms include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, narrowing of the field of vision and damage to hearing and speech. In extreme cases, insanity, paralysis, coma and death follow within weeks of the onset of symptoms. A congenital form of the disease can also affect fetuses in the womb.Minamata disease was first discovered in Minamata city in Kumamoto prefecture, Japan in 1956. It was caused by the release of methyl mercury in the industrial wastewater from the Chisso Corporation's chemical factory, which continued from 1932 to 1968. This highly toxic chemical bioaccumulated in shellfish and fish in Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea, which when eaten by the local populace resulted in mercury poisoning. While cat, dog, pig and human deaths continued over more than 30 years, the government and company did little to prevent the pollution.As of March 2001, 2,265 victims had been officially recognised (1,784 of whom had died) and over 10,000 had received financial compensation from Chisso. Lawsuits and claims for compensation continue to this day.A second outbreak of Minamata disease occurred in Niigata Prefecture in 1965. Both the original Minamata disease and Niigata Minamata disease are considered two of the Four Big Pollution Diseases of Japan.