Dog Community

Irradiated Dog Treats

Posted : 4/27/2007 2:41:10 PM

I have recently come across some information about irradiated dog treats; particularly chicken jerky treats.

My boys live for the Chicken Chips by Smokehouse (just like chicken jerky strips, but cut into tiny round chips - so convenient!). They're the only dog cookies they will eat now. I love them, because they're all natural and super low in fat. As of right now, they are not an irradiated product, but after emailing to find out if they were, the company informed me that they will be starting to irradiate the chicken treats soon.

I have heard some information suggesting that the irradiation has been linked to causing cancer and tumors in dogs. Is this true? Does anyone have any input or information on this that I could send to the company in hopes of making them think twice about doing this, if in fact, it has been linked to health problems?

Thanks in advance! I will be doing some searching as well!

Phil Fennern

Posted : 4/27/2007 3:37:15 PM

It is COMPLETELY safe for your pets.The FDA has approved the same technique for your food as well. The only reason your food is not being made bacteria free right now is the fear many people hold of radiation. This is a very low level that cannot harm you or your pets.

Margaret Tyler

Posted : 4/27/2007 5:55:19 PM

Maybe try Zukes Z-Filletshttp://www.zukes.com/shop/index.php?cPath=2_15

Lynn

Posted : 4/27/2007 10:37:22 PM

Yeah, well I'm one of those people who stay away from irridated food. No thank you! Ummm, the FDA approves of a lot of things that I personally don't approve of. [sm=2cents.gif]

DeAnna Haase

Posted : 4/28/2007 11:10:10 AM

I am another person who will not use irradiated products and resent the idea of our government possibly allowing irradiated products to be on the market without being labeled as such. Throughout our history there are many cases of our government telling us things are safe and then covering up the proof that they are wrong. Tobacco and flouride come to mind.
I urge you to research the topic, reading both sides of the issue before deciding to use irradiated products.

[linkhttp://www.citizen.org/documents/Top10.pdf]http://www.citizen.org/documents/Top10.pdf[/link]

MissMandy

Posted : 4/28/2007 3:02:16 PM

Thanks for the replies! I, too, am very leary of using irradiated food products, and would rather avoid them at all costs. It just stinks, because my boys have grown to love these chicken chips, and now they won't eat any other dog cookie! Sheesh!! [8|] Guess it's time to start finding an alternative! Thanks for the link to zuke's, jojothepogo. We might just have to try those!!

Thanks a ton for the link, Maisey. I will definitely send that along with my email to Smokehouse!

k_dawg

Posted : 4/28/2007 3:33:45 PM

"Food irradiation causes a host of unnatural and sometimes unidentifiable chemicals to be formed within the irradiated foods. Our ignorance about these foreign compounds makes it simply a fraud to tell the publis that 'we know' irradiated foods would be safe to eat. It is dishonorable to trick people into buying irradiated foods." -John W. Gofman, M.D., professor emeritus of molecular and cell biology, University of California at Berkeley; professor at the University of California School of Medicine in San Francisco; and founder of the Biomedical Research Division at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

If factory farms didn't let all of their meat get contaminated from fecal matter from the animal due to processing the animals so fast, then we wouldn't have to worry about bacteria so much. We shouldn't have to expose our food to nuclear radiation in order to make it edible. That is ridiculous. It's a quick-fix for food-borne disease and it's dangerous, because although it kills disease-causing bacteria, it doesn't clean up the cows who, covered in feces, urine, and pus, become our hamburgers.