Wal-Mart Quietly Pulled Dog Treats

By now most of you have heard about the newest Wal-Mart "recall." I found this interesting article on how Wal-Mart went about pulling the items from the shelves. More products from China...shouldn't we know by now to be more careful of any edible products from China?

I can understand Wal-Mart's PR concern of wanting to have more information before announcing what was wrong with the items they pulled, but wouldn't it have been nice to inform the general public so that others who might be using these jerky strips could stop feeding them to their dogs?? To me that would be the more responsible thing to do.

Anyway, here's the article:


By JON GAMBRELL
The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 21, 2007; 1:45 AM

LITTLE ROCK -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. quietly stopped selling two brands of dog treats in July, after customers voiced concerns that the Chinese products may have caused their pets to fall ill, but no recall has been announced, a company spokeswoman confirmed.

The world's largest retailer started pulling Chicken Jerky Strips from Import-Pingyang Pet Product Co. and Chicken Jerky from Shanghai Bestro Trading on July 26, spokeswoman Deisha Galberth said late Monday.

Wal-Mart also placed a computerized block on all cash registers to prevent workers from selling the products, Galberth said.

"When we took it off shelves at the end of July, we pulled it based on the customer feedback so we could do testing prior to announcing anything publicly," Galberth said. "That's why did not make a public announcement _ it was still going through the testing process."

Wal-Mart's action follows a massive pet food recall in March, when retailers began pulling products made in China that included the chemical melamine _ a contaminant that's a byproduct of several pesticides.

Galberth said she did not know what the specific customer complaints were about the dog treats, nor when the testing would be complete.

Galberth said she did not immediately know if the treats were sold at every Wal-Mart store.

"We are diligently testing this product," she said.

Philadelphia television station WPVI reported last week that a woman claimed her 2-year-old Chihuahua died after eating Bestro Chicken Jerky Strips. The station reported that an autopsy found the dog died of an infection caused by toxic bacteria.