LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) -- Tests of two Chinese brands of dog treats sold at Wal-Mart stores found traces of melamine, a chemical agent that led to another massive pet food recall in March, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.I'm too pissed and too tired to say more than this is bullshit - how long have they known this and why are they just announcing it now? Dogs died needlessly! See my other posts about these deadly treats...Wal-Mart Stores Inc. quietly stopped selling Chicken Jerky Strips from Import-Pingyang Pet Product Co. and Chicken Jerky from Shanghai Bestro Trading in July, after customers said the products sickened their pets.
No recall was announced at that time, but Wal-Mart said in a statement Tuesday that customers who bought one of the products should return it to the nearest store for a refund.
Company spokeswoman Deisha Galberth said 17 sets of tests done on the products found melamine, a contaminant that's a byproduct of several pesticides.
"There were very small amounts of melamine found," Galberth told The Associated Press. "The amounts were so small the laboratory recommended more testing."
Galberth had said late Monday that Wal-Mart pulled the products off store shelves based on the customer feedback but wanted to complete the testing before announcing anything publicly.
More than 150 brands of pet food were recalled earlier this year after U.S. inspectors said wheat gluten from China that was used to make the food was tainted with melamine. An unknown number of dogs and cats died.
Since then, other Chinese products including tires, toothpaste, seafood, juice, and toys decorated with lead paint have been recalled or have come under scrutiny.
Galberth said she couldn't say if the amount of melamine found in its dog treats would be enough to sicken or kill a dog that ate the suspect products. The Delaware County (Pennsylvania) Daily Times reported last week that a woman claimed her 2-year-old Chihuahua died after eating some of the products. According to the report, an autopsy found the dog died of an infection caused by toxic bacteria.
Wal-Mart's statement Tuesday said customers should be especially wary of jerky from Shanghai Bestro Trading with the UPC number 0087784900006 and item number 839751.
The Food and Drug Administration did not list the two Wal-Mart products on its recall Web site Tuesday. As recently as 2005, the FDA blocked some pet treat imports from Pingyang Pet Product Co. because of contamination with salmonella.
Galberth said she was not aware of the FDA's previous concerns with Pingyang but said the company was working with the FDA and manufacturers. She said she did not immediately know where the Chinese companies were based.
Bentonville-based Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, pulled the products from shelves July 26 and placed a computerized block on all cash registers to prevent workers from selling the products. Galberth said she did not know how many stores sold the treats.
"Generally, we won't do a pull-and-hold unless most stores are impacted," she said. "There's a high likelihood many of our stores would have been impacted by this one."
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Dog Treats sold at Wal-Mart Contain Melamine
From CNN...
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2 comments:
Stop buying anything from China, it will kill you, your family or your pets.
My name is Donna, and Gene and I just lost our 9 year old female Akita Meiko. She was murdered. Murdered by Wal-Mart who continued to sell the Bestro Chicken Jerky made in China even though they knew it was tainted with Melamine. She became ill June 15, 2007. She began vomiting everything we fed her. The vet came to the house to draw blood and take urine to see if he could determine what was causing her illness. She was in renal failure. Her creatine had gone from 3 to 14. We started an IV on her. We had IV poles and pumps on every floor in our home. We ran 54 liters of ringers through her in 72 hours. They retested her blood and her creatine had gone back down to 3, but her kidneys were permanently damaged and she would be on an expensive K-D diet the rest of her life. But we were still at a loss as to how Meiko came down with acute Kidney Failure. Within a couple of days of bringing her back to some level of normality a chief executive from Tyson Foods who spends a great deal of time at our home called to see if we were still feeding our pets chicken jerky from Wal-Mart. We said yes it is their favorite treat. He said to stop immediately that it was tainted with melamine and that was what was killing her. We thought we had her on the mend when she began vomiting again in September. The vet once again came and drew blood and took a urine sample. Her creatine was 15 this time. The damage that was done from continuing to feed her the chicken jerky was too great, we were not able to save her life, but we are still desperately trying to save the lives of our other 2 pets Yoshi and Chopper because they all ate the same damn jerky and the other two are both peeing whole blood. Had they pulled the jerky from the shelves and made a public recall, Meiko would still be alive today.
Our beautiful baby daughter is buried in our garden. Beware of what Wal-Mart sells and what they import and the country it is imported from. Not only do they import tainted pet food and pet treats, but they also sell the toys painted with lead paint and the baby bibs, etc. They do not care about you, your family or your pets, they only care about the almighty dollar and their bottom line. When we contacted Wal-Mart about Meiko, they sent us a letter stating that “Claims Management, Inc. manages claims on behalf of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and that they were very sorry to hear of the incident which involved chicken jerky. At this time we would like to share some information with you regarding the claims handling process. Upon reviewing your claim, CMI tendered the claim to the product supplier; Shanghai Bestro Trading. If you do not hear from the supplier in the next 10 days, please feel from to contact them directly 011-86-21-5848-6661. This is an overseas phone number.
This is your great Wal-Mart at its best, they don’t want to take responsibility for what they imported and sold at their stores. It may cost us more, but we no longer shop at Wal-Mart or any of its subsidiaries.
Love this post.
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