Going after the deepest pockets

Wal-Mart, Safeway, Del Monte Pet Products, Menu Foods.

Those are a handful of the American and Canadian companies named in hundreds of lawsuits spawned by the tainted pet food scandal. What's much harder to find are the names of any Chinese companies even though the source of contamination appears to be chemical-laced wheat gluten and rice protein imported from China.

American companies are easy to sue. Foreign companies with plants or sales representatives on U.S. soil are solid targets, too. But international red tape, low settlements in Chinese courts and the capricious manner in which export standards have been enforced have made Chinese producers the least likely to pay big over the pet food scandal.

Something smells rotten here.