Many pet owners will remember the name – Gambol Pet Products. They were one of several Chinese jerky treat manufacturers linked to many deaths and illnesses of dogs in the US. Now Gambol has opened a US division.
The last update from the FDA on Chinese jerky treats stated “As of December 31, 2015, FDA has received approximately 5,200 complaints of illnesses associated with consumption of chicken, duck, or sweet potato jerky treats, many of which involve products imported from China, which produces much of the jerky pet treats on the market. The reports involve more than 6,200 dogs, 26 cats, three people, and include more than 1,140 canine deaths.”
One of the Chinese companies involved in the “1,140 canine deaths” was Gambol Pet Products located in Liaocheng, China. In April 2012 FDA performed an inspection of the Gambol plant. Below are some highlights of the FDA inspection report:
FDA inspection found Gambol Pet Products was improperly registered as a canning facility – not a jerky treat manufacturer.
FDA inspection found that export/import records did not properly disclose them as the jerky treat manufacturer; from June 2008 to April 2012 “the firm’ s products were exported to the U.S. under an unrelated Chinese broker/shipper’s food facility registration number…” (Law required Gambol to be stated on all export documents as manufacturer.)
Gambol did not fully cooperate with FDA inspectors – “samples could not be collected during the inspection unless certain sampling conditions were agreed to by FDA.”
And…“A review of some of the firm’s production records documenting the drying of the jerky products appeared to have been falsified based on the uniformity of the writing.”
Now…Gambol Pet Products has “launched a new American subsidiary, Gambol Pet USA. The new California corporation will produce “made in USA” pet treats using U.S.-sourced natural ingredients.”
A Chinese company with a history of improper registration, improper documentation on export/import records, lack of cooperation with FDA, a documented case of falsifying records – and most importantly, a company with a documented history of producing treats firmly linked to pet death and illness – has now opened a division in the U.S.
The PetAge.com news story on Gambol Pet USA states “Gambol Pet USA is headquartered at its newly-acquired, state-of-the-art production facility in Perris, California. The custom-designed 50,000-square-foot facility has been awarded GFSI, BRC and Organic certifications. With a world-class facility and cutting-edge technology for food processing, drying, extrusion and packaging, Gambol Pet USA can assure brand marketers and retailers their products will be produced with unparalleled quality, safety and production yield.”
Question…
Will you trust this new ‘American’ “world-class facility” with “cutting-edge technology” with your pet’s life?
Remember the name – Gambol Pet USA.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
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From the Pet Age article: “Gambol Pet Group is a leading producer of high-quality pet food, and it is the largest provider of private-label pet treats for Walmart in the US and Canada.”
I’m presuming (but don’t know) that Walmart is liable for the Gambol product quality, defects and contamination as well as ensuring their compliance with FDA and all applicable state statutes / regulations?
I don’t know if Walmart will be a customer of Gambol USA. The company itself will be liable for compliance to all US regulations (I’m curious if they will be at the next AAFCO meeting – will let everyone know).
Easy enough to remember: DON’T GAMBLE WITH GAMBOL!!
No
It is so very easy to make your own jerky, I see no reason to ever buy it again. If you have an oven , a cookie sheet ( or a dehydrator)and the ability to slice what ever meat you want to dry, you can make your own. We have been doing it for years after our Kiddo got sick on 3 different occasions from eating that Chinese jerky crap.
NO! Just NO!
Will you trust this new ‘American’ “world-class facility” with “cutting-edge technology” with your pet’s life?
No…No way…..Hell No!!!
No. Make my own. I trust no one in the dog food or feed or treat making business, especially one from China.
no way! First of all, they will be using USDA discarded animal carcasses; regardless of any chemical or denaturing that may take place to produce the ‘jerky’ they will be using products not suitable for human consumption, and the FDA will sign off on it because of their laxity in enforcement as well as different standards for stuffs otherwise considered safe as previously stated — DON’T GAMBLE WITH GAMBOL!
Makes me sick that the Chinese are infiltrating us with their poison products in the guise of Made in the USA!
This scares the hell out of me….with their nefarious background, how can the FDA and other regulating bodies even allow them to open in the USA? They are all about lying and cheating to make a buck, and have no regard at all for the lives of the animals they killed!! They can not be trusted, period.
Just when you think it can’t get any worse…
If they are making “private label” products then they won’t say Gambol anywhere on them, they will just have glossy marketing trumpeting “made in USA.” Which I concede is actually some improvement over made in China. What we really need is a label requirement that private label products need to have a statement on the package saying who actually makes them e.g. “SoundsGreat dog treats are manufactured for SoundsGreat by Gambol USA.”
I just saw an announcement of this on a pet food industry site – and there was NO mention of the company history. So, once again, thank you Susan for bringing us the rest of the story!
Any idea who their organic certifier is? Or which brands of organic food they produce?
The scary thing to me is that if people who do not read your info google this company and do not google extensively they may think this is a great company. Or even folks that do won’t have it top of mind a year from now. Hopefully people will just remember do not gamble with gambol. They will see U.S., human quality, made in our own state of the art plant. It takes a lot of effort in searches to find anything derogatory. To the innocent person perhaps the only red flag is a company from China. I wonder why searches do not bring up all of the issues. The only thing I found was an FDA inspection report from 2012. Wondering why I did not find the awful stuff you noted. Perhaps I did not search “correctly” but if I didn’t…… It scares me that I didn’t find info that I would certainly want to have…
…”The custom-designed 50,000-square-foot facility has been awarded GFSI, BRC and Organic certifications.”….
So? Evanger’s has an organic certification, too. The certification isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on if the holder wants to play games. Just ask Party Animal.
No just NO
Having lost my Cloë (the Saint Bernard) to these Treats and 5 of my other dogs, I never bought any chicken Jerky treats since.
Will not start now and will warn anyone buying these treats! 🙁
5 of my other dogs sick *
Yes: to me, the truly terrifying part is that their products may not even list the manufacturer; as noted above, they may just say “SoundsGreat…made in the USA.” So now, even that is not reliable. I don’t buy this stuff, but I have friends who do, and they give them to my dogs when we visit…after I read the package.
Thanks AGAIN, Susan.
Thanks for the report and no, never.
I wouldn’t care if Mickey Mouse also added his approval to this “USA” company
Wouldn’t give them a dime if my money
Be aware that while the manufactures name is GAMBOL, they’ll be packaging under different names and private labels like say a Walmart brand and you’ll never see the name Gambol. The only lead that you can use is that there has to be writing on the packaging giving you the producer/manufacturer. That will probably be in black ink, where you’d see the code or pull by date
Is there a way to find out their inspection schedule and get reports? Can we find out exactly who does inspections?
the chinese elite are buying up our land and homes, our businesses, and our food supply, and our government is letting this happen because they are loyal to the almighty dollar, not the people who live here.