There's a VERY long list of various companies who are exporting chicken jerky and like pet treats at AliBaba and on other internet trading sites.  So far, I've only found one company/factory that says it's 100% foreign (non-Chinese) owned.

I don't believe the bit about ADI owning factories in China--trading with them, sure, but not owning them.  What I think goes on is that they buy from various suppliers in bulk and then package them in the US.  Companies like Nestle/Purina, etc., ARE large enough to totally own factories in other countries--ADI/WT brand doesn't seem to be on that same level.

While many of those listed on the internet trading sites will do "jobber" work (packing your product in your branded packaging), it would make sense that they pack it here, soas to keep the outer packages consistent and this would also let them "shop around" for bulk suppliers of the chicken.

If we take a look at those items and suppliers whose products are being detained by FDA due to salmonella risk, we find PingYang Pet/Bestros and another Chinese company with a similiar name exporting chicken jerky:

http://www.fda.gov/ora/fiars/ora_import_ia7203.html

Firms recommended for Detention Without Physical Examination 7/20/07

Pingyang Pet Leather Factory

The deal for the products detained like this is that the importer has to pay for private testing which proves the products do not have salmonella before FDA releases their goods.  And in the case of both PingYang Pet/Bestros and WT brand, this detention/testing may account for why they were off the shelves at various times and places; they were still held by FDA pending negative test results.

OK--even if you are packing it here, if you can't get the bulk product released from FDA custody, you run into a "bump" re: supplying the product until there are enough negative tests to release it.

On the WT packaging, I believe Vendor # is just that--the company ADI/WT dealt with for the various chicken jerky treats--don't think it means they own factories and this is their factory number at all.

But we haven't any clue as to what toxin(s) we are dealing with--melamine/cyanuric acid, salmonella, or something else.

A relative had been giving her dog some Chinese chicken jerky treats not on any "bad" lists--she took him in for a check just to make sure he was OK.  Jan, I'd think seriously about doing the same thing, as if there is a problem, stopping the treats and medical help can often mean getting healthy again.  Conditions such as diabetes (before it's successfully controlled) can temporarily alter liver values; treating what's causing the alteration (in this example, getting diabetes under control with proper insulin doses) can mean that the values return to normal after a bit.

HTH!

Jan,

The only symptom was occasional vomiting.  He checked out fine--nothing in either blood or urine--they discovered the cause of the vomiting was a sensitivity to the food she was feeding which was never on recall, so that had to be changed.

Even though mine never had anything which was on the recall list--food or treats, I had him checked out earlier this year just to be sure.  He has a seizure disorder which we're treating and we also learned along the way that he has sensitivities to two treats; having them means having some seizures.  Taking them away means they stop.  So the treats, while never on the recall list, are gone from here because of that.

When it says "Made in China" it stays at the store, for me.  I don't care whose brand name's on the pack, I don't want the risks.  Nylabone now has some new treats out which are to be competitors for the Dingo (Made in China) lines.  Since the Nylabone Edibles were US-made, I had a look at the new Nylabone ones.  The "Made in China" print is getting smaller by the minute and being placed in sort-of obscure places on the packs.  May have looked at the packs about 5 minutes or more until I found where they were made.  These are, like Dingo, all Chinese-made, so they stayed where I found them.  When/if someone reputable has something comparable that isn't made there, I'll think about trying them.

This whole chicken jerky situation sounds a lot like Russian Roulette because I think whether or not there's anything wrong with the treats depends on where they originated from.  Even with the AliBaba exporters, you are not sure that those offering to sell the items actually produced them themselves or became "middlemen" by buying from someone else and reselling them.  Just think back to C-N and Xuzhou Anying's "wheat gluten"--the Chinese middleman in that was the textile company, who obviously did not produce the "wheat gluten".

Another thing that seems to support this thought is that when they go through the FDA hold for the salmonella testing phase, some make it to the store shelves because the tests are negative.  Others don't pass, and then there's empty spaces on the various store shelves which will stay empty until another shipment comes through which passes the salmonella tests.

Leslie,

No, he never was vaccinated for Lyme.  It appears to be idiopathic (meaning no matter what tests we do, we can't find a conclusive reason which would point to why this is happening).  Started connecting the dots re: this being a sort of absence seizure disorder after he'd come back from grooming and have them.  He'd look "blank" and confused for a moment and then would wet.

So we started working with the thought that he had absence seizures which could be triggered by stress. We actually started talking about this because there are a lot of children with this problem who are either undiagnosed/misdiagnosed as having ADHD, not paying attention in school, or being "difficult" there.  When people have this problem, the seizures cause them to "miss a beat" when conversing, listening to classroom instructions, etc. Whatever was said at the time the absence seizure was occurring is "lost" to the person; many have them and don't know they do.

He was put on meds for the seizures and he's now groomed at his vet's.  I have no more "post-grooming" seizures any more, but he needs to take his meds as prescribed.

The little one I had before this one also had a bout with idiopathic seizures and never had a Lyme vaccination.  We had every possible test run when they began but there were no conclusive results.  He went on meds and needed to stay on them less than a year because they dissappeared as strangely as they came.

Since they both were rescue dogs, you bet they both were checked for old head injuries--there were none.

JustMe,

In this case, I don't believe he was getting meds from them--had seen a lot of "hyper" dogs while we were going there and they appeared not to have been given anything to calm them. 

My guy also has a very bad Separation Anxiety problem, so this means he was stressing from the time I left the shop.  We'd worked previously with meds for it but nothing really did much for him in that respect. 

Before moving and going to the "old" groomer here, I took him to a place recommended by the vet, since that old practice didn't have grooming available.  When he'd return from there (even though nothing bad was happening there), he'd be on his guard for about a week or so after--watching the back door at night as if he thought someone was coming to murder us while we slept.

Both old places had very small holding cages; he was rescued from Animal Control because his time there was up.  On arriving from there, it was found he had a fractured pelvis (abuse somewhere).  We think both of the groomers' cages somehow reminded him of Animal Control and whatever happened there.  Previously, I couldn't even take out the trash or get the mail without taking him with me as he barked nonstop otherwise.

Since we started the antiseizure meds and he is now groomed at his vet, the Separation Anxiety which seemed to have no "fix" but to take him with me wherever possible or board him when not, has eased considerably.  I can get the mail, get rid of the trash, and go out for up to 2 hours (longer times as yet untested ;-)) without him continuing to bark and carry on.  Now, when he's done with grooming, he has a nice large indoor/outdoor run to wait for me in. There's nothing there which might remind him of Animal Control.  He knows and likes all at the vet's, so that too is a big help. (He gladly gets in the car with his vet hoping to go for a ride!)

I'll be needing to go back to the area we used to live in tomorrow as I have an older relative there with health problems.  My buddy will be spending the day at his vet's, since I'll be gone most or all of the day.  He'll have a fine time in one of those big runs and playing with his friends there--and I know there'll be no absence seizures tomorrow night when he comes home.

You bring up a good question.  The company who originally made them was sold to Mars last year:

http://www.greenies.com/en_US/faq.asp

"New Greenies® came about following S&M NuTec’s recent acquisition by Mars earlier this year. Mars brought important research that played a critical role in the development of the new product."

http://www.greenies.com/en_US/press_product.asp

"Mars, Incorporated's PEDIGREE and WHISKAS brands are the number one global brands of dog and cat food respectively, making Mars the leading pet food manufacturer in the world. A privately-held company, Mars, Incorporated also produces some of the world's leading confectionery, food, beverage, and health food, and operates in more than 65 countries. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Mars, Incorporated employs more than 7,000 associates in the United States and 39,000 associates worldwide with 39 manufacturing facilities nationally and more than 100 manufacturing facilities globally. The company owns some of the world's favorite brands including M&M'S® Brand, SNICKERS® Brand, UNCLE BEN'S® Brand, PEDIGREE® Brand Food For Dogs, WHISKAS® Brand Food For Cats and Greenies®. The company's global sales exceed $18 billion annually; the U.S. business has more than $5 billion in annual sales. "

I think they were US made and may still be; here's the URL for their Customer Service:

http://www.greenies.com/en_US/consumer_affairs.asp

Have seen a lot of Greenie look-alikes being offered for sale by Chinese exporters; just because they're green doesn't mean they are a Greenie.  You might want to send them an e-mail asking where they're currently made and post the reply here so all will know.

menusux: Thx for the info. I e-mailed Greenies Customer Service Dept from the website you provided, and they already wrote back (vs. Beefeaters Tasty Strips who I e-mailed almost two weeks ago with no answer yet ....). Greenies said as follows:   

"Thank you for your email. S&M NuTec brands, including GREENIES®, FELINE GREENIES®, SMARTBISCUIT® and PILL POCKETS® for both dogs and cats are safe for pets to enjoy and manufactured here in Kansas City, Missouri. All of our corn, soy and wheat gluten comes from North America and not China. None of our brands include rice gluten from the foreign suppliers linked to the recall. Our products have never been involved in any recall and all of our products meet or exceed industry standards for quality."

I don't know about anyone else, but this reassures me - I think I'll keep using them unless someone has other conflicting info - car   

Have just found more re: WT:

Take a look at this link which has photos of the visible mold on the chicken jerky in a WT package. And also see the auto-respond message this person got when attempting to contact the company.  It's the same 2 messages Stern and Bernstein have sent out as press releases to fill cyberspace when WT is Googled:

http://diethelm.blogspot.com/2007/08/my-consumer-alert.html

I remember seeing a post from someone who said she was a vet on either the Topix.net or eopinions forums.  She said that to be effective in killing bacteria, irradiation had to be done AFTER the items were packaged.  Bottom line is that if the food is irradiated before being packed, there's still a chance for contamination during the packaging process.

The blogger's follow-up post is worthwhile too:

http://diethelm.blogspot.com/2007/08/update-on-jerky-treats.html

http://petfoodtracker.blogspot.com/search/label/Waggin%20Train

http://petfoodtracker.blogspot.com/2007/08/tainted-treats-from-walmart-suspected.html#comment-3632736318195054753

More bad reports about WT, Pet Essentials brand from Target, and Costco's brand, Kingdom Pet at links above.  Beefeaters' Chicken Jerky, which is also made in China is mentioned as causing illness too.

So the problem is, as we thought, not limited to W-M or to PingYang Pet/Bestros.

Now let's see how sharp you are--see if you know who posted this:

http://petfoodtracker.blogspot.com/2007/08/fda-testing-dog-treats-more-deaths.html#comment-4611781483042664772

Uh-Huh--the C-N Crisis Manager Stern--posted the day after he and Bernstein started the WT blog and cluttered the internet with the 2 press releases saying there's nothing wrong with WT.  Guess he thinks that posting them to PetFoodTracker makes them credible.  BTW--these 2 news releases are the e-mail "replies" received by the blogger above when she attempted to contact WT/ADIPet about the obviously moldy WT chicken jerky strips shown in her photos.

What I especially love is that he's posting this on legitimate PF blogs but when you go to the WT "blog", it's closed to comments from everyone but Stern, Bernstein, & Company.  If these 2 press releases were true, there would be no need to have the blog closed to outside comments; what they don't say and/or won't let others say says a LOT!

All mouthpieces and importers of food products should be forced to eat them for a given period of time before either pitching or selling them to the public.  We'd certainly be well rid of many who ail us.