Two companies pull Chinese jerky treats
OFF THE MARKET AT LAST
It was a long time and hundreds of dog deaths coming, but Del Monte and Nestle Purina announced this week that they will cease to market Chinese-made chicken jerky treats sold under their brand names.
Del Monte’s Milo’s Kitchen products and Nestle Purina’s Waggin’ Train and Canyon Creek Ranch treats will all be pulled from the market after the New York State Department of Agriculture found possible contamination by an antibiotic that is illegal in the U.S.
The treats have been anecdotally linked to kidney failure, illness and death in hundreds of dogs, and the FDA — while never going so far as to recall them — has issued three different warnings to pet owners in the past five years about possible risks.
FDA tests for toxins and heavy metals have found no explanation for the alleged illnesses, and its unclear if the banned antibiotic is the culprit in the hundreds of dogs deaths in which the treats were suspected to be a factor.
Nevertheless, Nestle Purina and Del Monte decided to pull their products after New York officials announced they had found trace amounts of the banned antibiotic in tests of the products, ABC reported.
“Pet safety and consumer confidence in our products are our top priorities,” said Rob Leibowitz, Del Monte’s general manager for Pet Products. “While there is no known health risk, the presence of even trace amounts of these antibiotics does not meet our high quality standards. Therefore, today we decided to recall both products and asked retailers to remove the products from their shelves.”
Nestle Purina also stressed that “there is no indication that the trace amounts of antibiotic residue are linked to the FDA’s ongoing investigation of chicken jerky products.”
Posted by jwoestendiek January 11th, 2013 under Muttsblog.
Tags: animals, canyon creek ranch, chicken, china, chines, deaths, del monte, dog food, dogs, fda, gone, hazards, health, illness, investigation, jerky, kidneys, market, milos kitchen, nestle purina, off, pet food, pets, pulled, recalls, related, safety, suspected, tests, treats, waggin train
Comments
Comment from Anne’n'Spencer
Time January 12, 2013 at 12:05 am
We don’t eat jerky treats, but I wonder: Do they have to be labeled as being a product of China? As far as I’m concerned, any food ingredient originating there is suspect–for humans or pets.
Comment from Fran
Time January 15, 2013 at 12:07 pm
I just saw these treats last weekend at a Wal-Mart in Germantown, MD.
Comment from Eighteenpaws
Time January 11, 2013 at 10:51 am
Finally, thank goodness! I have literally sent messages to every store (from Walgreen’s and Safeway to PetSmart, Petco and others)whenever I have seen these products on their shelves. A couple years ago I bought some of these attractively-packaged and well-marketed items and fed to my dogs. Never in decades of having multiple dogs have I ever seen such immediate, consistent vomiting of treats. I tossed the product then, grateful that it did not do permanent damage or kill my dogs, and afterward started to read stories about these horrible products. Not sure why it’s taken so long for these mega-companies to acknowledge and remove them. However thank for your bringing this to the attention of many.