If a company doesn’t follow safety precautions when producing dog food and treats, it doesn’t matter how healthy its products are. The production of dog treats plays a huge role in how the snacks will impact your dog. Sadly, a dog treat company recently received a warning from the FDA for violating an extensive amount of safety rules.
Pet Center, Inc. produces over 100 types of pet treats in their facility, but their horrific conditions have been exposed. The FDA announced that the company didn’t have proper safety plans in place, causing pests, feces, and fluids to come into contact with the food. While a recall hasn’t been announced, consumers should be cautious about purchasing from this company.
What Products are Affected?
Pet Center, Inc. manufactures all its pet products in the same facility. They produce snacks like bully sticks, chicken feet, and chicken breast tenders. On their website, they have over 100 pet food products listed. You can visit their website to see a list of all the affected products.
The FDA inspected the company’s facility in the summer of 2021 and found some concerns. When they returned in early 2022, many of the same concerns were present, along with some more severe ones. In February, the FDA issued a warning letter to the company.
What Caused the FDA Warning?
The FDA’s main concern was that Pet Center, Inc. has never established a written food safety plan despite being notified of it in the past. As a result, many aspects of the facility did not meet the FDA’s pet food safety regulations.
Here are a few of the violations that the FDA noted:
- Flies were in the facility and were landing on the raw food as it was processing.
- Blood and raw animal tissue that was on the floor came into contact with treats that were cooling off after being cooked.
- Animal feces was found in the meat washing room. Some of it was touching a bag of treats.
- The plastic clamps used to shape the bully sticks had dark brown and green filth on them.
- Surfaces weren’t properly cleaned and maintained.
The list goes on to explain additional violations and details of what inspectors saw. You can view the full FDA warning for more details.
What Will Happen to the Company?
It’s unclear what the company has done since receiving this letter. The letter clearly states that Pet Center, Inc. should respond to the warning within 15 business days. In their response, the owner must address what actions they are taking to fix these concerns. If they’re unable to fix the problems right away, they must explain why and give a time frame for when the issues will be corrected.
Even though this isn’t a recall, customers may want to avoid these products until the issues have been resolved. If you’ve purchased any of the treats recently, contact your place of purchase to ask about their refund policy. No dog deserves to eat treats made in such foul conditions.
H/T: fda.gov