Tag Archives: pet safety

Almost 6000 sick with 1000 dead dogs: Jerky pet treat investigation in US

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued an update on its ongoing investigation into pet illnesses and deaths in animals that ate jerky pet treats.

sadie.car.10As of September 30, 2014, the FDA has received approximately 5,000 complaints of illness associated with consumption of chicken, duck, or sweet potato jerky treats, most of which involve products imported from China. The reports involve more than 5800 dogs, 25 cats, three people, and include more than 1,000 canine deaths.

These numbers include approximately 270 complaints received since the FDA’s last update in May 2014. This is a significant decrease from the previous period (October 2013 to May 2014), in which the FDA had received 1,800 complaints.

Because of the sharp reduction in complaints, the FDA is tentatively planning to shift from a biannual routine reporting cycle to issuing annual updates. This shift in reporting cycles does not mean that the FDA is reducing its effort to investigate the cause of these illnesses: the agency continues to devote significant resources to its investigation, and will post non-routine updates if notable events occur.

Although it is impossible to determine in every case whether the events reported were in fact caused by eating jerky pet treats, the FDA continues to believe that there is an association between some of the reports and consumption of jerky pet treats.

The agency continues to caution pet owners that jerky pet treats are not required for a balanced diet, and encourage them to consult with their veterinarians, both prior to feeding treats and if they notice symptoms in their pets.

Know the risks of feeding raw foods to your pets

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Despite fawning media coverage, foods like raw milk comprise a small fraction of the U.S. market.

sadie.dog.powellNot so with raw pet foods.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Aministration, raw pet food consists primarily of meat, bones, and organs that haven’t been cooked, and therefore are more likely than cooked food to contain organisms that can make your dog or cat sick, says William J. Burkholder, DVM, PhD, Veterinary Medical Officer in the FDA’s Division of Animal Feeds. Moreover, raw food can make you sick as well if you don’t handle it properly. FDA does not believe feeding raw pet foods to animals is consistent with the goal of protecting the public from significant health risks.

The agency therefore recommends cooking of raw meat and poultry to kill harmful bacteria like Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes before you give the food to your pets. And as always, when working with food, you should follow FDA’s instructions on how to handle it safely.

Feeding raw food to a pet also increases the risk of contaminating food contact surfaces and other places.

“Even if the dog or cat doesn’t get sick, they can become carriers of Salmonella and transfer the bacteria to their surroundings, and then people can get the disease from contact with the infected environment,” Burkholder says.

Once Salmonella gets established in the pet’s gastrointestinal tract, the animal can shed the bacteria when it has a bowel movement, and the contamination will continue to spread. …

 “Feeding raw foods to pets increases the risk that both the pet and the people around the pet will encounter bacteria that cause foodborne illness, particularly if the products are not carefully handled and fed,” Burkholder says. “This is certainly one factor that should be considered when selecting diets for your pet.”

No answers, but jerky treats back in stores as pet mystery lingers

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JoNel Aleccia of NBC News writes that two of the top-selling brands of jerky treats for pets will soon return to U.S. store shelves, a year after a nationwide recall and with government experts no closer to solving the mystery that has linked the products to hundreds of animal deaths and thousands of illnesses.

Nestle Purina Pet Care officials say they’ll reintroduce a line of Waggin’ Train treats for dogs starting next month, including products made from a Waggin’ Trainsingle supplier in China and new products sourced entirely in the United States.

“We’ve worked hard to put in place the highest quality controls in the dog treat industry,” Waggin’ Train President Nina Leigh says in a promotional video.

And Del Monte Foods Corp. officials said they’ll resume selling Milo’s Kitchen Chicken Jerky Strips and Chicken Grillers Recipe treats in March using U.S.-sourced meat.

Federal Food and Drug Administration officials told NBC News they know about Nestle Purina’s plans and have reviewed them, but they said the company doesn’t need special permission, known as pre-market approval, to reintroduce the treats. And they said they couldn’t discuss the review.

That’s despite repeated FDA warnings that consumers should avoid jerky pet treats after the agency received reports that since 2007, nearly 600 pets, mostly dogs, have died and 4,500 have been sickened after eating chicken, duck and sweet potato products made in China. That figure is up by 900 reports since October.

The move drew immediate criticism from veterinarians, pet owners and animal advocates, who said it wasn’t clear exactly what changes, if any, the companies made to the products, and that they were worried their return to market would only sicken more pets.

Florida veterinarian Sofia Morales, who has treated at least three cases of Fanconi syndrome, a serious illness linked to the treats, said she would want to see results of clinical trials in pets showing that the revamped products were safe.

“Right now, what I’m recommending to people is not to feed jerky,” she said.

Jerky makers have consistently said there is no proven link between their products and the pet poisonings. FDA officials have not demanded recalls because they have no proof of contamination.

Nestle Purina officials said they have made “significant enhancements” to the Waggin’ Train production process, including limiting meat sourcing to single suppliers and requiring that each batch of treats be tested for a range of contaminants, including salmonella, melamine, di-ethylene glycol and antibiotics, as well as heavy metals, pesticides and mycotoxins, or molds.

It’s like marketing microbial food safety: the best companies will abandon the soundbites and provide actual data, in this case verification data, that their products are safe. Until then, it’s just marketing BS.

Do companies really need babysitters? China stiff-arms FDA on jerky pet treat testing, reports show

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It’s sometimes fun to jibe at health types – local, state, federal – but they have a tough job and I’d be lousy at it.

JoNel Aleccia of NBC News reports Chinese government officials overseeing plants that make chicken jerky pet treats blamed for thousands of illnesses and deaths among American dogs have refused to allow U.S. inspectors to collect samples for independent analysis, newly released records show.

Investigators with the federal Food and Drug Administration came away empty-handed after conducting April inspections at four jerky treat manufacturing sites in Liaocheng and Jinan, China, according to the records.

The plants make pet treats sold by the St. Louis-based Nestle Purina PetCare Co., including the popular Waggin’ Train jerky brands.

Chinese officials stipulated that FDA officials could collect samples only if they agreed to specific conditions, including a requirement that the samples be tested in Chinese-run laboratories.

As a result, “no samples were collected during this inspection,” wrote Dennis L. Doupnik, an FDA investigator who visited the sites.

In addition, the reports showed that the Chinese plants conducted either no laboratory tests or only sporadic tests of the raw materials, including meat used in treats fed to many of the 78.2 million pet dogs in the U.S.

But where’s the company at the center of some 2,000 pet illnesses, Nestle Purina? Hiding behind government, although the company makes the profit.

Elizabeth Mawaka, 57, a Hartford, Conn., woman who says her two Boston terriers, Max and Toby, died after eating tainted treats, got it right when she called on Nestle Purina to demand that samples be released to the FDA.

“It really comes down to the company,” said Mawaka, who is suing jerky treat makers and retailers. “We can talk all we want about China, but it’s really the company.”

However, a Nestle Purina spokesthingy said the inspections demonstrated no problems with the firm’s products, no evidence that they’ve led to illnesses in animals in the U.S., and that the terms of the inspection were set by the U.S. and Chinese governments, not by Nestle Purina or the manufacturing site officials.