China is often held responsible for manufacturing products that are contaminated with toxic substances and then shipping them to other countries like the United States. In this case, the product is jerky treats for dogs. The FDA has been trying to track down the cause for the damage being done to major organs in dogs and even resulting in the dog’s death. Links have been made to at least 3,600 dogs and 10 cats since 2007. Hundreds of dogs have died as a result of eating contaminated, adulterated jerky treats.

The FDA is struggling to actually determine the source of the problem with little success, even though they removed some jerky treats laced with drugs and saw a slight reduction in the reports of illness or death to dogs come in from pet owners and veterinarians. The FDA is enlisting the help of pet owners to solve this mystery.

The jerky treats are made of chicken, duck, sweet potatoes, and dried fruit. Within hours of consumption, the animals are demonstrating diarrhea, vomiting, decreasing activity, or decreased appetite among other symptoms – some even die without further warning. The experts aren’t sure what the ‘mechanism of action’ is in these cases.

In my world, I would begin to use my EAV equipment to test the jerky treats. I’m betting that I could figure it out in a few days, but I haven’t been brought into the investigation. I would have to purchase some of the jerky treats to test. I would start by looking at the agricultural chemicals used in the feed for the chickens and the ducks, then look at the soil that the fruit and sweet potatoes was grown in. This would lead me to look at the methods of processing the sweet potatoes and dried fruit. Sulfur and other chemicals are often used to dry fruit. Sweet potatoes can be grown in contaminated soil. There has to be evidence along the chain of the food supply that will zero in on the target and reveal the cause of the problems with the jerky treats. If I do test them, I will let you know what the results provide in terms of useful information.

Here’s the article to read more about the FDA investigation of jerky treats:

Deaths in Dogs and Cats Traced Back to Jerky Treats Imported from China

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 23rd, 2013 at 7:46 am and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.