China's leading quality supervisor has refuted accusations that a widely spread pet sickness in the United States is due to some pet snacks manufactured in the Asian country.
On Tuesday, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) denied allegations that incidents of pet food poisoning in the U.S. have been caused by some snacks made in China.
After conducting its own investigation and tests on the pet treats in question, the AQSIQ had confirmed that there is not a single poisonous or hazardous ingredient included in the snacks, therefore concluding the absence of evidence to directly link the pet deaths in the U.S.
The AQSIQ investigation came in the wake of a declaration from the U.S.-based pet specialty retailer Petco that it would be pulling out all Chinese-made pet snacks from all of its 1,300 stores nationwide.
According to Petco, the pull-out is in response to concerns of thousands of American owners whose pets either got sick or died and blamed it on the Chinese pet products.
PetSmart Incorporated, another pet treat retailer, also announced that it would be removing all treats manufactured in the Asian country by March this year.
According to the United States' Food and Drug Administration, veterinarians who had examined affected domestic animals, including more than 1,000 dogs, had associated the animal sickness and deaths to their consumption of products such as chicken tenders, strips or treats that are all from China.
After receiving the complaints, the FDA has then issued a cautionary warning to all pet owners in the western country in Sept. 2007 regarding the chicken jerky products.