Tuesday, May 1, 2012

ANOTHER (not so) Tasty Tuesday May 1 2012

I swear, they're going to kick me off the blog hop.

But really, this stuff is really bugging me.

According to Dogster, the first class-action lawsuit has been filed over Waggin' Train Chicken Jerky, which is made by Nestle Purina Petcare. Nestle Purina's reaction? Quoted from the Dogster article: "We believe that the claims made in the suit to be without merit and intend to vigorously defend ourselves. We can say that Waggin' Train products continue to be safe as directed." This is pretty much what they said in July 2011, according to the Snopes.com article: "The safety and efficacy of our products is our top priority, and consumers can and should continue to feed Waggin' Train treats with total confidence.

According to to the Reuters article on the lawsuit: "The biggest challenge to Adkins' Waggin' Train lawsuit will be proving that the treats resulted in Cleopatra's death. He claims that, other than feeding her the treats, her diet remained the same. Moreover, he did not feed the Yam Good treats to Pharaoh, his other Pomeranian. He remained in good health." Adkins dog supposedly ate a Waggin' Train treat a day for three days, and then got sick and died of kidney failure.

So let's see. Hundreds of dog owners are complaining about jerky treats imported from China. The FDA, since 2007, has warned against the feeding of them. I'm seeing claims that there are warnings on the bags (I keep forgetting to check this when I'm in the store. If I finally do remember, I'll take a picture), and Nestle Purina isn't going to consider the possibility that maybe somebody is dropping the freaking ball.

Business is business. I get that. But this sort of "It's safe because we say it's safe" attitude, coupled with stores' refusal to pull the products really bothers me. I mean, come on, Excedrin, Gas-X, NoDoz and Bufferin were recalled because they may or may not have been contaminated by opiates. But for Nestle Purina, 500 dogs actually getting sick, many also dying? Nah, we're safe. They all had to have gotten sick from something else.

This isn't one batch, folks. This is since 2007.

I wonder when dog owners are going to decide that enough is enough. After all, feeding chicken jerky and other jerkies seems like it should be super healthy, right? I'm sure many dog owners feel misled, and then, when hearing the Party Line response, betrayed. Why not boycott?

I'm not just talking about Waggin' Train products, though those should be gathering dust on the shelves at this point. I'm not even talking about just Nestle Purina products, though ditto with the dust gathering. I'm talking about the whole Nestle train. Here's an A-Z list of the brands that are all owned by Nestle. If we stop buying them, maybe Nestle will get the idea that we aren't partial to companies that are so cavalier about sickening and killing our dogs on our dime.

Here again is an FDA Q&A Regarding Chicken Jerky Treats From China, which includes a link to Customer Complaint Coordinator phone numbers for each state and also more information on How To Report a Pet Food Complaint.

Granted, not every illness and death has been from Waggin' Train. According to the article on MSN.com, the other two brands are Milo's Kitchen Home-Style Dog Treats (a Del Monte brand) and Canyon Creek (another Nestle Purina brand). In that same MSN article, it is stated that since November, "more than 530 additional complaints of illnesses and some deaths have been filed."

Also, because I'm just a ray of sunshine, Diamond Pet Foods (who I already discussed here) has expanded their voluntary recall (voluntary, Nestle Purina, voluntary!) to include batches of Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul Adult Light Formula and Diamond Puppy Formula dry dog food, in addition to the original Diamond Naturals Lamb Meal & Rice. According to the Washington Post article, "no canine illnesses have been reported".

12 comments:

  1. I think it is a sad comment on dog owners that with all the publicity they continue to buy pet products made in China.

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    1. It kind of is, unfortunately. County of origin matters in products for a variety of reasons, but "this might kill your dog" is a banner that can't be ignored, in my opinion.

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  2. Woof! Woof! Golden Thanks for sharing this important information. Due to my allergies we are very careful on what we buy ... we totally avoid food in general that is not made in the US. Happy Tasty Tuesday. Lots of Golden ALOHA n Woofs, Sugar

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    1. It seems like lately, I get all kinds of reminders about being careful about where things come from!

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  3. Thanks for sharing. Pet food can be so confusing and choosing a quality food can be pretty scary

    urban hounds

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    1. Before getting Elka, I didn't know there was so much of a difference between food qualities! It is a scary thing, I'm glad that there's so much information out there, really.

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  4. I am not much for boycotts and I am always suspicious of class action where the lawyers are the ones who get rich. It seems to me that if (and that is a big if), there were problems with the treats that someone would have found something that can be proved by scientific evidence especially if the problem has been there since 2007. So far the FDA has found nothing. All that testing and nothing. Didn't Mr. Class Action Lawyer do independent testing? Where are the results? Why are they not public? I am guessing because they showed nothing. It could just be that the dogs who had the problems had underlying medical issues. I hope Nestle vigorously defends this, but the reality is that it will probably be settled due to the cost to litigate and the lawyers will make a bundle and Nestle will pass the costs on to the consumer.

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    1. It does seem weird to me that nothing has been found. I do think that the lawsuit bandwagon can be a treacherous one, but I do have to wonder about what has or hasn't been found, why certain information is available, etc. I'm not a conspiracy theorist or anything....but the whole situation is weird. I don't want to see a company go down in flames that isn't culpable, but I'm not sure they aren't, and I haven't been happy with the response that they've been giving to concerned customers. Just because they're accused doesn't mean they're guilty, obviously, and there are multiple companies with problems.

      It is possible that those dogs had underlying medical issues, certainly. I guess we'll probably just never know.

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  5. I think the problem is that there are a lot of people who aren't as savvy as a lot of bloggers and other people who share information about their pets online. They don't have a clue about how dangerous a lot of the things are that they feed their pets. How to reach those people seems to be the biggest problem. There are a lot of things I won't feed my dogs, but I try to keep track of things that are safe or unsafe for them! Nestle's reaction, while disappointing, doesn't really surprise me.

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    1. Nestle's reaction doesn't really surprise me either, I guess.

      Before I was a dog owner, I didn't think much about the pet food industry. I didn't know anything about rawhide. I never thought about the food at the grocery store versus other brands. Now that I do have Elka, I think about all these things, and it makes me a little nuts, really!

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  6. We JUST heard about this and have examined packages of "beef flavored" chicken dog treats and chicken canned dog food. There is nothing on it to indicate where it is made, only distributed by. I called the number and they were closed. If anyone can help with a way to tell where the products are made please let me know. My uncle's dog ate one of the possibly contaminated chicken jerky treats and he has been sick all day. Okay with leaving my email: kperiman (at) yadtel.net

    Thank you,

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    1. I wish that I had an answer for you, but I do not. I do hope that your uncle's dog gets better soon, though, and you should consider reporting the brand to the FDA site.

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