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Wal-Mart announced that it had stopped selling Chicken Jerky Strips from the Import-Pingyang Pet Product Company and Chicken Jerky from Shanghai Bestro Trading in July, after customers complained of the products sickening their pets. Wal-mart also placed a computerized block on all cash registers to prevent workers from selling the products to consumers. Deisha Galberth, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said the company was aware of other retailers that were selling the products, but declined to identify them.
Wal-Mart said 17 tests conducted by a laboratory showed trace levels of melamine in the Chinese-made dog treats. In light of the store's removal of the items, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) started an investigation of their own on August 22, 2007, but did not detect any chemical or biological contamination. According to an FDA spokeswoman, Kimberly Rawlings, the agency had reviewed Wal-Mart's lab report that mentioned 20 parts per million of melamine. "This level of melamine would not be expected to result in any animal illness," she said.