Jerky Pet Treats Warning

[rthstewart]

I've been following this on and off since 2007 but did not realize until I saw a Salon article yesterday that the problem has persisted.  Almost 600 dogs and cats have died since 2007 after ingesting jerky treats most made in China.


As the US FDA states on its website:

Within hours of eating treats sold as jerky tenders or strips made of chicken,

Comments

[rthstewart]

I've been buying from Carolina Prime for a while now, http://www.carolinaprimepet.com/ because the packaging says they are Made in US. The dogs love the sweet potato and salmon treats and the price point is great. They've had two FDA recalls, both for salmonella, and one of those involved that huge peanut problem that nearly put Peter Pan foods under. (I've seen people flip out over irradiated treats and I"m thinking, BETTER IRRADIATION THAN SALMONELLA) I really don't want to abandon this product -- and we've been using them since 2007. But it's very worrisome.

A part of the problem is that even if the product is manufactured in the US, where are the ingredients sourced from? Technically a Made in US claim on a product like this means that it was made here and most of its raw ingredients were sourced from the US. A few years ago a bunch of generic over the counter drug companies got into problems with the FTC over that -- they could not make MADE IN US claims when their active drug ingredients came from China and India (which is there they all come from now).

Further, a very few number of manufacturers actually MAKE stuff. All these different companies -- including the very high end one -- all contract the same manufacturer and provide them with their proprietary formulas. So it's made in the same place, the same way.

So, are these pet food companies lying on their labels? Possibly. Or maybe it's made here but the ingredients sourced elsewhere? Or maybe it is accurate? There is no way to know.

[heliopausa]

"...their active drug ingredients came from China and India (which is there they all come from now)."

I didn't know that. :(