Boston, MA 05/21/2014 (wallstreetpr) – PetSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PETM) became yet another major pet food retailer to announce that it would not sell cat and dog treats that were made in China. The company announced that it would stop selling the China-made treats by the end of the year. It is important to note, that in a similar move, the rival of PetSmart- Petco also announced that it would not sell Chinese treats for cats and dogs. The reason for putting a halt to the sale of these treats was raising fears of pets becoming sick.
What USFDA says?
It is important to note that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s investigators have yet not found out the reason of illness of the pets in the U.S. from these treats. The USFDA started receiving the reports of pets’ illness in the year 2007.
USFDA said that so far, it received over 4800 complaints of people’s pets getting ill. There have also been over 1000 reports of deaths of dogs after they ate the Chinese chicken, sweet potato and duck. The initial tests conducted by the FDA discovered antiviral drug amantadine in a few samples of Chinese chicken jerky treats, but the investigators said that they did not think it to be the reason of the illnesses. However, the investigation would continue.
Reason Of The Decision
PetSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PETM), which runs more than 1300 stores in the country, is among various other pet food retailers who decided to stop selling these pet treats from China because of pets’ illnesses and deaths reported across the country. This can affect the sale as well as reputation of the company in a negative way.
Spokeswoman Statement
The spokeswoman at PetSmart said that the company planned to have the China-made treats off the shelves of their stores by March 2015. Continuing fears of pets’ safety was a major reason to do so.
