The Oakland-based pet retail chain Pet Food Express is removing all pig ear dog treats from stores after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration linked them to 127 cases of salmonella.
The FDA is investigating 127 human cases of salmonellosis, an infection caused by salmonella bacteria, with a suspected link to the treats. Some of the treats originated in Argentina and Brazil.
The FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are advising consumers to avoid all pig ear pet treats and for retailers to stop selling all pig ear treats at this time.
Pet Food Express is removing all of the treats from its 65 stores in California, according to the company. If pet owners have purchased pig ear treats at Pet Food Express or any other store, the company is offering to exchange them free of charge for a safe treat or toy.
The chain has also provided guidelines to prevent employee and customer illness related to the treats, including washing and sanitizing all bins or surfaces that may have come in contact with the treats.
One distributor of pig ear treats, Lennox International Inc., has recalled some of the treats involved in the outbreak. Retailer Pet Supplies Plus also recalled bulk pig ears after samples tested positive for salmonella.
According to the FDA, if someone has pig ear treats, they should throw them away in a secure container where animals cannot access it, wash their hands thoroughly and disinfect any surfaces that may have come into contact with the treats.
11 comments
Just when I’d figured out how to make silk purses. 🐷
luv me some Pig Ear Soup
I wouldn’t expect anything else from Pet Food Express. It is a great pet supply store and their employees are so nice and helpful.
Oh Thank Goodness I no longer let my dogs eat those!!
@ Mimi (original) – I never give our dogs tried animal parts. Used to occasionally years ago. Late dog Titus because ill with vomiting and lethargy. Vet suspected he had consumed something with enough toxicity to make him sick. Couldn’t prove it, but always suspected it was the dried lamb esophagus we had recently started to give him as a treat. That stuff went in the trash. Never again.
Don’t know why anyone would give this to their dog in the first place. Brutalized pig parts? Gross.
We gave our dog Milkbone Dog Biscuits to chew and for a treat. A manufactured product, wholesome, sanitary, and nutritious. She loved them, but she was very sweet and well behaved, always.
Wheat flour, Wheat Bran, Meat and Bone meal, Milk, Wheat Germ? What’s a wheat germ? These are just the first 5 ingredients. I’m not putting you down for feeding your dog these treats, my dogs personally would itch so bad after giving them these. It’s just a shame that a pig ear, you would think that is all natural would be great for them, until they spray preservatives and who knows what else on it. My dogs get RAW beef bones from the Steers we buy, but only once in a while, and even then I sit outside and watch them. Never leave a dog unattended with a bone. It could get stuck in their mouth, or they could swallow it whole, or even crack a tooth. But really good for them.
The pigs ears were recalled because they were suspected as the culprit in salmonella poisoning in humans who had handled them. I don’t know what the pigs ears did to the dogs, but it seems like they would have been effected, also.
Wheat germ is the germination part of the wheat plant, like a tiny kernel at the heart of the wheat tassel that kickstarts the germination of a new plant. You can purchase it separately to add to cereal. It’s very tasty and packed with nutrients.
Our dog got an occasional beef bone, but the Milkbone kept her teeth clean and healthy and she loved them. She didn’t have allergies and was very healthy.
Dogs like to chew, so you give them tough leathery things to chew and it satisfies that craving and keeps them from barking too much.
I quit giving my dog rawhide chew bones because the dang dog got a undigested chunk of that stuff stuck in it’s gut and the Vet was about ready to remove it surgically.
He said we could try some veggie oil and wait & see overnight…. dog slurped it down and it popped out the next day! much to everyone’$ relief.
I don’t offer bones of any sort now, the dog turns into a friggin demon if I give’m a real bone….. gets real viscous if I try to take it away…. then it gets buried in the garden and brought back in later covered in mud.
Gross!
We used to give our dogs cow knuckle bones from the butcher. Dog would work on it for a week.
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