Ralston Purina Co

The company that invented baby food is having a harder time selling it these days. Gerber Products Co., the company that brought the first strained peas onto the market in 1927, has lost market share to second- and third-place competitors since implementing a price increase last September that wasn't initially matched.

It was no contest. A real tiger upstaged three dozen schoolchildren Friday when the youngsters decorated their faces with fake cat whiskers and took part in a "Roar-a-Thon" competition at the Los Angeles Zoo. The kids were judged on who "roared" the loudest. The gruffest growlers won the right to present a $50,000 check to the zoo in a ceremony staged by a pet food company in front of the tiger compound. But the 400-pound cat that lives in the compound proved he's no publicity hound.

Clarence Thomas, President Bush's nominee for the Supreme Court, may have violated judicial ethics in a 1990 ruling involving his political mentor, Sen. John C. Danforth (R-Mo.), a court watchdog group charged Sunday. Thomas, a federal appeals court judge, wrote an opinion throwing out a $10.4-million fine against Ralston-Purina Co., the St. Louis-based pet food concern founded by Danforth's grandfather, said Supreme Court Watch, a nonprofit group headquartered in New York.

Ralston Purina Co. said today it is shipping four tons of dog and cat food to Charleston, S.C., to feed thousands of pets left homeless by Hurricane Hugo. The company said the food will be distributed to the Charleston Humane Society, which is attempting to feed thousands of homeless dogs and cats until they can be reunited with their owners. The company is the world's largest producer of dry dog and cat foods.

A federal judge has awarded $10.4 million in damages to Alpo Petfoods Inc. after ruling that Ralston Purina Co. made false advertising claims touting the benefits of Purina Puppy Chow. U.S. District Judge Stanley Sporkin ruled against Ralston's marketing campaign, begun in 1985, in which the firm contended that its Puppy Chow products helped promote proper hip joint development. Ralston will appeal the judgment, the company said Monday in a statement from its St. Louis headquarters.