Nineteen months past the deadline federal law required them to respond, FDA told pet food consumers they are denying our Freedom of Information Act request (Chinese jerky treat) because “disclosure could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.”

In a letter dated August 5, 2015, FDA told Association for Truth in Pet Food “We are denying your entire request. Exemption (b)(7)(A) Records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes when disclosure could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.”

The FDA response alludes to something more might be coming with the jerky treat investigation; ‘records compiled for law enforcement purposes could interfere with enforcement proceedings’. Sounds hopeful doesn’t it? Is this actually hope for thousands of Chinese jerky treat victims or is it something else?

Background: Almost 2 years ago – November 4, 2013 – our consumer association asked FDA for the test results performed by New York Department of Agriculture which gave foundation to finally getting deadly Chinese jerky treats sold by Purina Waggin Train and Delmonte Milo’s Kitchen off store shelves. We also asked New York for the same data (test results). The reason we asked is information FDA told the public about the Chinese jerky treat testing didn’t seem to add up – something seemed to be missing. New York Department of Agriculture responded to our information request in a timely manner, FDA did not.

Time line in reference to this request for information…

On January 7, 2013 NY Department of Agriculture (Erin Sawyer) alerted numerous individuals at FDA to their testing of “a number of samples of various brands of chicken jerky style dog treats” finding a “presence of antibiotics” (FDA – Ronald Pace, Matthew Palo, Robert Veitch.) Click Here to read various emails from New York Department of Agriculture to FDA and vice versa received via Freedom of Information request.

January 9, 2013 Nestle-Purina Waggin’ Train Jerky Treats and Del Monte Milo’s Kitchen Jerky treats recalled and/or voluntarily withdrew products from store shelves.

January 9, 2013 (same date as jerky treat recalls) FDA press release told consumers “Based on the FDA’s review of the NYSDAM (New York Department of Agriculture) results, there is no evidence that raises health concerns…”

Nine months later…October 22, 2013 FDA releases a lengthy update to jerky treat investigation including a report titled “Jerky Pet Treat Investigation Rationale and Results“.

In the above mentioned jerky treat investigation report, FDA statements of testing performed by NY Department of Agriculture did not appear to cause the recall or jerky treat product withdrawal. The information FDA provided the public didn’t make sense. Puzzled by the inconsistency of information…

On November 4, 2013 – Freedom of Information Act request sent to FDA and NY Department of Agriculture for jerky treat test results and all correspondence between both agencies.

December 2013 – NY Department of Agriculture provides complete Freedom of Information request. Information provided by NY shows FDA was less than accurate with Chinese jerky treat information provided to the public. Click Here for emails between two agencies, Click Here for Waggin’ Train/Canyon Creek test results, Click Here for Milo’s Kitchen test results, and Click Here for Cadet test results.

January 2014 – TruthaboutPetFood.com published NY Department of Agriculture testing results of jerky treats showing the significant differences between what FDA told the public and the actual test results from NY. Such as…

FDA told the public:

Drug: Sulfaquinoxyline – 27 treats tested positive, highest concentration 0.042 ppm.

Actual results from NY:

Drug: Sulfaquinoxyline – 29 treats tested positive, highest concentration .828 ppm.

FDA told the public:

Drug: Sulfaclozine – 30 treats tested positive, highest concentration was 0.257 ppm.

Actual results from NY:

Drug: Sulfaclozine – 79 treats tested positive, highest concentration was 1.598 ppm.

FDA told the public:

Drug: Tilmicosin – 9 treats tested positive, highest concentration was 0.005 ppm.

Actual results from NY:

Drug: Tilmicosin – 31 treats tested positive, highest concentration was 0.528 ppm.

As you can see, there is a significant difference in what the FDA told the public compared to the actual test results provided by NY Department of Agriculture. So…

February 2014 – we asked FDA why did the agency tell the public one thing, and NY Department of Agriculture reports something very different? The FDA responded that NY Department of Agriculture ran two separate tests – one in cooperation with FDA (part of Center for Veterinary Medicine Vet-LIRN Labs), and one all on their own.

We are not certain this is accurate information. On the FDA October 2013 release of information, specifically the document titled “Jerky Pet Treat Investigation Rationale and Results” – FDA includes two sections of test results (found on page 8). One is titled “New York State Laboratory”, the other is titled “CVM Vet-LIRN Laboratory Testing”. It appears FDA did include both test results from NY (independent testing and testing in cooperation with FDA) – but grossly understated the findings from NY independent testing.

And then…August 2015 – 19 months past the deadline, FDA tells us “We are denying your entire request…disclosure could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.” Click Here to view page one of FDA rejection letter, Click Here to view page two.



Two follow up phone calls to FDA Freedom of Information office have gone unanswered.

So…what is happening? Is there going to be “enforcement proceedings” on Chinese jerky treats? Or did FDA intentionally mislead the public? If the agency did mislead the public, why? To what benefit – to who’s benefit? Is the agency protecting trade interests of China (making the treats appear to have insignificant levels of antibiotics)? Did the agency protect multi-national corporations that imported the dangerous pet treats from China – the same corporations that have been involved in numerous lawsuits? Or, is FDA just hopelessly confused by the state of the art testing performed by New York?

This is a puzzle – more than 8 years in the making – at the cost of thousands of pets lives. Pet food/treat consumers deserve a lot better from FDA. We deserve to know the truth from FDA – we deserve to know the truth about Chinese imported jerky treats.

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton

Pet Food Safety Advocate

Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible

TruthaboutPetFood.com

Association for Truth in Pet Food

What’s in Your Pet’s Food?

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