Antibotics Prompt Hartz Chicken Chews Withdrawal

Hartz Mountain Corp. of Secaucus, N.J., is the latest company to pull its chicken treats for dogs off the market after testing the Chinese-made items for antibiotics. Hartz is at least the fifth company to jerk the treats off the U.S. market after residue of unapproved antibiotics were detected in samples.

 

In Hartz’s case, the antibiotic residue was detected in about one-third of tested samples after the company began testing for it following the initial withdrawals by Nestlé Purina and Del Monte and subsequent ones by Publix and IMS Trading Corp.

 

"Upon learning about the nationwide voluntary withdrawal of several other brands of chicken jerky products through media reports, Hartz acted immediately to begin additional testing to determine if the same unapproved antibiotic residues were present in our products," said Sean McNear, senior director of quality and regulatory at Hartz.

Hartz is voluntarily withdrawing all of its Hartz Chicken Chews and Hartz Oinkies Pig Skin Twists wrapped with Chicken for dogs because of trace amounts of the residue. 

Antibiotics detected include sulfaclozine, tilmicosin, trimethoprim, enrofloxacin and sulfaquinoxaline. The FDA withdrew enrofloxacin’s approval for use in poultry in the United States in 2005 due to concerns that it was contributing to fluoroquinolone-resistant strains of Campylobacter, a bacterium that can cause foodborne disease in people. Although the antibiotics are not approved in the U.S. for use in poultry, they are approved elsewhere in the world, notably China and Europe. 

While there has been widespread safety concerns regarding Chinese-made chicken jerky treats (and other jerky-type treats) for pets, the U.S. FDA has been unable to definitively link the products with adverse event reports. All of the recalls thus far have been because of this antibiotic residue, which all concerned have described as a technicality rather than a safety issue. Thus, pet owners will be able to find the Hartz products on Canadian shelves even though they’re being recalled in the U.S.

 

 Consumers with these products can contact the Hartz Consumer Affairs team at 800-275-1414 for a product refund or go to www.hartz.com for additional information.