The FDA sent U.S. Marshals to seize “various animal food products” stored at a PETCO distribution center in Joliet, Illinois yesterday, because the storage conditions had been deemed unsanitary twice in a row:
During an FDA inspection of a PETCO distribution center in April, widespread and active rodent and bird infestation was found. The FDA inspected the facility again in May and found continuing and widespread infestation.
The feds say nobody’s reported any pet illnesses so far, but it looks like they’re not taking any chances.
“We simply will not allow a company to store foods under filthy and unsanitary conditions that occur as a direct result of the company’s failure to adequately control and prevent pests in its facility,” said Margaret O’K. Glavin, associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. “Consumers expect that such safeguards will be in place not only for human food, but for pet food as well.”
The distribution center in Joliet, Ill., provides pet food products and supplies to PETCO retail stores in 16 states including Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.
FDA has no reports of pet illness or death associated with consumption of animal food distributed by PETCO, and does not have evidence that the food is unsafe for animals. However, the seized products were in permeable packages and held under conditions that could affect the food’s integrity and quality.
As a precaution, consumers who have handled products originating from the PETCO distribution center should thoroughly wash their hands with hot water and soap. Any surfaces that came in contact with the packages should be washed as well. Consumers are further advised as a precaution to thoroughly wash products sold in cans and glass containers from PETCO in the 16 affected states.
If a pet has become ill after eating these food products, pet owners should contact their veterinarian and report illnesses to FDA state consumer complaint coordinators.
“FDA Requests Seizure of Animal Food Products at PETCO Distribution Center” [FDA]
(Photos: Sister72 and Getty)
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@dry-roasted-peanuts: That’s true!
Without any sense of historical irony whatsoever – if only they had cats living in the warehouse, as were the same reasons and conditions that felines were originally domesticated – then they wouldn’t have had the rodent and bird problem in a warehouse full of CAT FOOD in the first place!
@LastVigilante: There are mail order services that you can use that you can all sorts of live insects from.
Also, if you’re the hobbyist-type, you can try your hand at insect-rearing. I saw a special on pbs or the discovery channel on where farmed crickets come from. It was interesting and definitely low tech.
Ironically the Petco sells rat and bird food. Really people, I think we have bigger things to worry about than if a petco distribution center has a rat problem. I’ve seen what my dogs, if left to their own devices, will eat. sticks, mice, dog poop, cat poop, cow pies, horse poop, charcoal, dead birds, grass, legos, etc. I’m not too worried. Plus, who buys over priced animal food from petco anyway. I go to the grocery store and scan the tags for lowest price/qty.
I used to be a member of PETA, but they want to me to pay more dues and encourage me to be vegan. The only thing I am against is the murder of animals in public places, like birds at hospitals, or piegeons at airports…they can get rid of them in non-violent ways.
That is all.
This has got to explain why we found rat droppings and chewed styrofoam in the cat tree box from Petco. Gross.
@Ex_EA_Slave:
Surely you can’t be referring to the People Eating Tasty Animals? No way…
I’m kidding, by the way, before I set off a flame war.
Anyway, back to the post. I didn’t know that the FDA monitored animal food too. Interesting. Rats are going to happen anywhere, but it should have been up to PETCO to take care of the problem.
Cheers!
I’m not trying to defend Petco, but this occurred to me-
I somehow don’t think Petco Corporate knew, the offices are in San Diego. Yes, warehouses and stores get walk throughs from bigwigs periodically. I also know there is almost always prior notice of this with Petco.
Drawing from my own work experiences, it sounds like the buck should stop at the warehouse manager. It is a warehouse manager’s job to make decisions about things like pest control, also their duty to report potential issues to Corporate. I have definitely seen potential hazards on sites (fish cannery, vegetable cannery)iced over and omitted when they should have notified a higher up.
I’m so happy to not do the type manual labor/summer jobs that I did in my youth.
@Mudpuddle: Let me explain…animals are not human beings and therefore they DON’T HAVE RIGHTS!!!
All’s I can say is that the Petco near me is a pit. It’s filthy and smelly and disorganized and everything is broken. The bird section is usually quarantined because of sick birds (!!!). They refuse to sell me goldfish because I don’t have a tank with an aeration system. (Which I think is bull, because the last goldfish I had lived for THREE YEARS in a plain glass bowl). Yet THEIR fishtanks are always dirty and full of algae and dead fish.
It’s utterly depressing.
@Bladefist: Maybe they are such animal lovers, they just couldn’t help but to let the poor rats eat their fill. Seriously though, I’m sure the government did take this seriously. My dad used to work as a forklift driver for a division of Del Monte Foods in a distribution center for their animal foods. I remember my dad telling me that the sanitation requirements for pet food was the same as that of human food. The forklift operators even had to wear hairnets, when they were just moving shrink-wrapped pallets of finished product.
Just a quick aside to the people saying Petco and other chains are just overpriced and they buy the cheapest food from the grocery store – that’s fine. However, some people like giving their animals food with actual nutrition. Good pet food gives animals better coats, includes ingredients that prevent joint problems, and improve health. Would you be happy eating only corn your whole life? Cheap pet food is gross.
Dogs and Cats = Human created for Human needs. I wonder if PETA evens knows anything about Beasts of Burden. i suppose they don’t.
and people who are stupid enough to be vegetarians (non medical conditions aside) because they think this is how nature intended us.. are just plain ignorant.
we are Omnivores, we eat both! so eat both stupids.
and you know PETCO is where the PETS go.. so maybe rats can read now.. i mean the ones in NY are bigger than some Dogs. maybe they’ve evolved!
aren’t rats pets too?
@Ex_EA_Slave:
lets not forget how they run incredibly sexist ad campaigns. I am all for animal rights but peta goes about it the entirely wrong way.
@nygenxer: Yeah, I know… ironically I once purchased from Petco.com a 500 waxworms box because they are much cheaper ($5.00 per 50ct. in store, $20 per 500ct. online) but over half of them arrived dead! If you’ve never experienced the smell of 300 dead, decaying waxworms, believe me, its about as close as I can imagine what 300 miniature rotting human carcasses smell like. The UPS driver even complained when he delivered them. Petco refunded all my money, but I’ll never do that again.
PetCo is a deplorable company and I refuse to shop there.
Guess I’ll be shopping at PetSmart now.