Don’t Be A Jerky – by Dawn Todd
Once again treats from China are making the news, and not in a good way. Last month the FDA issued another warning advising consumers who feed their dogs chicken jerky products made in China to watch their dogs closely for a range of symptoms- vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, increased water consumption and urination– some dogs have even died. The FDA has not issued a recall, because scientists have not been able to identify a specific contaminant that is making dogs ill. This is the third warning about these products from the FDA. Complaints about these products began surfacing in 2007. Click here to read the full warning.
I shopped the aisles of the Franklin Walmart and Kmart. Although you really have to read the fine print, every chicken treat they sell in these two stores is manufactured in China. They go by different names — Chicken Jerky, Chicken Bites, Chicken Chews, Chicken Chips– but although “American Owned Company” is prominently displayed on some of this packaging — bring your magnifying glass, because the fine print tells the whole story.
Let the price be your guide. A 3.3 oz bag of Milo Chicken Jerky costs $2.48 at Walmart. While the company boasts being based in San Francisco, these treats are manufactured in China. The ingredients are: Chicken breast, Glycerin, Sugar, Salt, Natural Flavors, mixed tocopherols.
These treats could be ½ sugar or more, since both glycerine and sugar are sweetners. I don’t know any dogs that need their chicken sweetened before they’ll eat it!
I’ve talked directly to the production manager at Bravo– our manufacturer of choice for “clean”, healthy treats. It takes approximately 1.5 pounds of chicken tenderloins to yield 4 oz. of their dry roasted chicken breast strips. Bravo Dry Roasted Chicken Breast Strips have exactly one ingredient: Chicken Breast Tenderloins. We retail them for $8.99, with a very small mark up. It’s expensive to take real meat, process it safely, package it, and ship it.
You all know the old saying: “If it seems too good to be true it probably isn’t.” I think we can adapt that to the arena of pet food and treats…. “If it seems to cheap to be healthy, it probably isn’t!”
Dr. Todd and I advise you to entirely avoid any type of treat manufactured in China.
I just worked a craft show over Thanksgiving weekend. I had flyers about the recent 2011 FDA warning about Chinese chicken treats and was giving them out and educating anyone I could stop who answered “yes” to the question, “do you have a dog or cat?”
A groomer I spoke with that weekend told me that she had a client whose dog just passed away from Chinese chicken. My dogs are my children. I can only imagine how devastating that was for that family…
If you’re looking for a REAL ‘American Made’ chicken treat, we started making our own Chicken Jerky after we ran across the FDA warning of 2008 about Chinese chicken treats making dogs sick or killing them. It turned into a cottage business and we now sell our TriPom Chews online and in 20 stores in the New England area. Our products are the only ‘Maine Made’, ‘American Made’, chicken jerky produced from whole, restaurant-quality chicken breasts containing NO Additives and NO Preservatives. We had to make them super wholesome as our 3 Pomeranians (our babies) taste test every batch for quality.
Please allow this comment. We offer a healthy, SAFE alternative treat to ones that are making dogs sick or killing them. We are just trying to get the word out too…
There is a NEW article (December 28. 2011) on MSNBC which reports that the FDA is now saying that 353 dogs have gotten sick or died from eating Chinese chicken treats this year. The link is: http://on.msnbc.com/vKKHKK
Personally, I think the number of dogs sick this year is well over one thousand from the number of websites I’ve visited where I have seen dogs that are ill or that have died being discussed. I am almost certain it is something the Chinese are feeding the poultry used for their treats.
Did you know, according to Wikipedia and a New York Times article, that the Chinese fed Melamine to livestock? Melamine, as you may know, was the non-listed ingredient responsible for the pet food recall a few years ago. If you haven’t, you should search for “Melamine” on Wikipedia and read the article.
Melamine is a principal ingredient in making Formica countertops and causes kidney failure if eaten. The Chinese were also caught putting Melamine into kids’ milk and infant formula.
The only truly safe treat is one that you make yourself or that you buy from a company you trust. We make and sell our own chicken jerky, TriPom Chews, and only buy from other “Mom & Pop” sized treat makers that we have met or spoke with.