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‘Use your best judgment’ on jerky treats
By Gina Spadafori
September 16, 2007
Elizabeth Weise of USA Today is following the apparent problems with imported Chinese jerky-style treats:
Six months ago, tainted pet food made from Chinese ingredients sickened and killed dogs and cats and led to a massive recall.
In the last few weeks, dog owners and veterinarians have noticed cases of dogs becoming sick after eating Chinese-made jerky treats. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea and lethargy. No deaths have been reported.
The number of reported cases is low, but the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine are all tracking the problem.
The AVMA has posted an alert on its website. It hopes to gather information quickly from members on whether there is a problem, and if so, how large it is, spokeswoman Sharon Granskog said.
Affected dogs show maladies that a typical clinic might see just once or twice a year, said Richard Goldstein, a veterinary kidney specialist and professor at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. He described them as “Fanconi-like syndrome” symptoms. Fanconi’s syndrome is an inherited disease that affects the kidney’s ability to function.
But suddenly, veterinarians have seen “three in one week,” Goldstein said. The contamination appears to be causing damage to a specific area of the animal’s kidneys, based on tests of affected dogs, he said.
The AVMA is advising owners to “use their best judgment.” Only non-brand-name jerky treats from China have been implicated.
The U.S. government is terrified of China, which has our economy by the proverbial short hairs. How many of us have been trying to find food, clothing or other products that are American-made and coming up with now much luck? Six months and nothing – nothing! – has changed to protect our food supply from poor manufacturing practices in China.
Again, we have to say, our pets are the canaries in the coal mine. Do we really have to have a mass poisoning of the America people before anyone seriously addresses the food import problem?
In the meantime, “use your best judgment.” And good luck with that!
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Yep. Good luck with that best judgment.
They are probably thinking about the chicken jerky strips while not saying chicken. What about the Chinese imported pork/hog jerky, chews, tendons, bones, etc. given the news reports of PRRSV blue ear hog virus in China? Are the hog/pork items from China safe for pets given the PRRSV or the opportunistic secondary bacterial diseases or their toxins or drugs given to the hogs to fight this virulent disease? I truly don’t know and wish some expert would chime in with PRRSV and Streptococcus Suis expertise as those relate to cross-species.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....s_business
http://www.iht.com/articles/20.....16pigs.php
While the top article mentions the U.S. doesn’t import Chinese pork (perhaps they mean human food imports), I found Made in China labels while visiting two known pet supply stores just days ago on hog/pork ears, dog chews, hog bones, etc. I deliberately have not named names, and I am not saying these products are unsafe. These are unanswered questions.
I also noted some labeled “Distributed in the U.S.A.” That label was reassuring.
I found one canned dog food beef with bacon labeled Made in China.
Comment by Dennis — September 17, 2007 @ 1:38 am
I went to my farm/feed store yesterday to look for dog toys. Except for the Kong rubber toys that you stuff with treats, everything was made in China. Even so-called U.S. companies have some lines of their toys made in China. We went through racks and racks of toys and brands searching for a U.S. toy — nothing there!
I told the assistant manager I AM NOT BUYING any dog toys made in China (and Mexico) and that if their store could find U.S.-made toys that use only U.S. materials that I would buy an armful. And I will.
We have to make our wishes known to the stores. He wrote down what I said and is going to talk to the manager & distributors.
Comment by petlover — September 17, 2007 @ 6:55 am
I’ve been wondering whether there would be any sort of update on how the survivors of the winter/spring petfood recall are doing. Since I lost one dog and am bringing another one along (good days and bad days) I’m curious to know what others have learned. But with new problems arising weekly, now even including toys, I don’t really know if there will ever be an end to this. Since my dog was poisoned he hasn’t wanted to play with his toys, and he stopped eating treats anyway (lots of food aversions as an aftermath to the event) so at least I don’t have one more thing to worry about. I guess home made food and home made toys are the way to go.
Comment by Nancy Nielsen — September 17, 2007 @ 9:11 am
also noted some labeled “Distributed in the U.S.A.” That label was reassuring.
I found one canned dog food beef with bacon labeled Made in China.
Comment by Dennis — September 17, 2007 @ 1:38 am
Dennis, “distributed in the USA” is NOT reassuring! That only means it could have been made ANYWHERE, and sent here to be distributed by a U.S. company.
Current regulations, and I think this is under the Dept. of Commerce, are that food products that are canned in another country HAVE to say Country of Origin in a way that is easily found.
At this time, we only have mandatory country of origin labeling on fresh fish, if the fish is cooked or cooked and breaded it DOES NOT have to be labeled as to COOL.
“Product of USA” or “Produce of USA” or “Manufactured in USA using USA ingredients” are the only safe labels. (If indeed they are telling the truth!
Congress has passed mandatory Country of Origin Labeling for other meats, fruits, vegetables, and peanuts, but this will not be in effect until September 2008.
Until then, we are on our own and must ask the right questions of companies and inform them we will NOT buy ANYTHING made in China!
Each time I shop in a store that has numerous items from China, I buy only USA made products, and I tell the checkout person EACH TIME that I will not buy from China, and please pass the comment on to the manager.
Comment by Elaine — September 17, 2007 @ 11:35 am
With so many HUMAN food recalls, one would think Americans would pay some attention. We must have the shortest attention spans of any group in the world. I think our sense of entitlement gives us a sense of false security - you may get poisoned but not me! We always do something AFTER the fact.
I have avoided WalMart for years as I believe they treat their employees shabbily. Try to comment on Chinese made goods to everyone I meet - both in a store and anywhere else. Is very hard to find US made goods at any price.
Comment by Carol — September 17, 2007 @ 12:21 pm
Thanks for mentioning the Distributed in the U.S.A. Elaine. I meant that comment as strong sarcasm and figured all would catch that. I hope no one else misses that Distributed in the U.S.A. or Packaged in the U.S.A. is a lame way to not label country of origin.
Comment by Dennis — September 17, 2007 @ 1:10 pm
http://ap.google.com/article/A.....4HpcPV-jxg
Comment by The OTHER Pat — September 17, 2007 @ 2:16 pm
Sarcasm noted, Dennis! The one that just frosts my cookies is “PROUDLY distributed by’this company’”. As Lucy would say “AAaaaghhh!”
Comment by Elaine — September 17, 2007 @ 2:54 pm
I was outraged by the internal Petsmart memo posted over at Itchmo. So I emailed and called PetSmart’s “customer care” number to file a complaint: If it ain’t safe enough for you to sell, don’t you think you ought to tell your customers who just bought it that maybe we should hold off giving it to my pets?
No response. But hey, they “care about pets.”
You know, the recalls were bad enough. But stealth non-recalls are even worse. Stock prices down? Then don’t admit what you’re selling is toxic - just pretend you’ve run out of it.
Yeah, right, @&&holes.
Comment by LauraL — September 17, 2007 @ 7:16 pm
I was in my local grocery store (Wegmans) this past weekend and what do yI seew…all those empty racks that previously held chicken strips! They were removed but there was no posting that warned customers to throw them out if they bought them or return them for a refund. I’m surprised at Wegmans’ sneaky actions. They usually have a superlative customer service dept.
Comment by perkysmom — September 18, 2007 @ 7:53 am
Perky’s Mom said: I was in my local grocery store (Wegmans) this past weekend and what do yI seew…all those empty racks that previously held chicken strips! They were removed but there was no posting that warned customers to throw them out if they bought them or return them for a refund. I’m surprised at Wegmans’ sneaky actions. They usually have a superlative customer service dept.
Maybe you can call corporate headquarters and tell them what you know (referencing the article here or on itchmo about the 3 places investigating the treats) & ask that they put a sign up chain-wide warning people, since the jerky treats issue seems to be a “silent recall.”
Comment by petlover — September 18, 2007 @ 2:10 pm
As of this evening, October 6, 2007, the Petsmart store in Overland Park Kansas has Smokehouse strips, etc. dog treats on the shelves. They have multiple types, and are very well stocked on more than one shelf.
It appears their internal communications with stores and between them and the AVMA may be lacking.
Comment by Dennis — October 6, 2007 @ 5:47 pm