Yesterday, a Facebook friend notified me of a potential risk for peanut allergy sufferers. My understanding is that Petmeds includes a bonus dog bone/biscuit included in some orders. At least two families state that the dog biscuit was loose in the box and unlabeled. One child apparently had an allergic reaction--widespread hives--and the child's mother contacted customer service, who confirmed that peanut was an ingredient in the bonus dog biscuit. FDA regulations for allergen labeling do not apply to pet food.
If you visit the Facebook page for Petmeds, you can view the conversation. According to the Facebook conversation, Petmeds has apologized and is working on an alternative. No word on whether warning labels or any other changes are being made in the interim.
I'll provide an update as soon as more information is available. Please pass this alert on to friends managing peanut allergy, while we await resolution of this problem.
UPDATE: This afternoon (08/09/12), we received a comment (please see the comments below) and an email from Petmeds. Thank you to Petmeds for their speedy replies! I am copying and pasting the email below. Although Petmeds customer service initially had informed the customers that the dog biscuits contained peanut butter, Petmeds now has determined that the dog biscuits do not contain peanut butter.
Hi Jennifer. We received your email inquiry and saw your blog post regarding our dog bone, and possible concerns for allergy sufferers. We wanted to let you know that we have personally responded to the reader with the concern, and have also left a detailed comment on your blog post. As we noted in our response, we have determined that the dog bone does not, in fact, contain peanuts, peanut butter, or any other nuts. We have updated our website to reflect this information.
We appreciate the concerns of those with allergies, and any opportunity to better serve our customers. Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions, or if we can be of any further assistance.
Sincerely,
Abby, PetMeds Pro
UPDATE: This afternoon (08/09/12), we received a comment (please see the comments below) and an email from Petmeds. Thank you to Petmeds for their speedy replies! I am copying and pasting the email below. Although Petmeds customer service initially had informed the customers that the dog biscuits contained peanut butter, Petmeds now has determined that the dog biscuits do not contain peanut butter.
Hi Jennifer. We received your email inquiry and saw your blog post regarding our dog bone, and possible concerns for allergy sufferers. We wanted to let you know that we have personally responded to the reader with the concern, and have also left a detailed comment on your blog post. As we noted in our response, we have determined that the dog bone does not, in fact, contain peanuts, peanut butter, or any other nuts. We have updated our website to reflect this information.
We appreciate the concerns of those with allergies, and any opportunity to better serve our customers. Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions, or if we can be of any further assistance.
Sincerely,
Abby, PetMeds Pro
3 comments:
Frightening.... My daughter is severely allergic to milk protein. Another very common ingredient in dog treats, bones,and dog food is MILK. We have a dog and my daughter loves giving him treats. But she knows she has to put on gloves before she is allowed to put her hand in the box. So parents of milk allergic kids, this is another thing to keep an eye on.
Hi Lisa! Thank you for your comment. You make an excellent point!
It would be so helpful if pet food were labeled in the same way as our food. (and while we're at it, non-food items need allergen labeling too.)
In response to concerns about our Gourmet Dog biscuit, earlier this morning we pulled a box of this product from our warehouse to review the ingredients and realized the ingredient list on our product page was incorrect and did not match the manufacturer's ingredient list. The Gourmet Dog Biscuits we use do not contain peanuts, peanut butter, or any other nuts. As a result of this differing information, we have updated the ingredient list for this product on our website (http://www.1800petmeds.com/Gourmet+Biscuits-prod10463.html). Please know although there was a conflict in the ingredients list, the concerns of those with allergies have not gone unheard and we are considering other options for our complimentary dog bone.
~ Abby, PetMeds Pro
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