Rachel Ray was featured on the cover of “Modern Dog” Magazine with an accompanying article promoting her new pet food line, “Nutrish.” Inside there was also a recipe from Rachel that looked like it was a pet food recipe. She called it “Isaboo’s Butternut Squash Mac and Chedder,” named after her pit bull Isaboo, who loves squash. The only problem was that the recipe contained onions, which are completely toxic to dogs and cats and can kill them. It was intended to be a people food recipe, but was not labeled as just for people, was misleadingly named after her dog and seemed like a recipe specifically for dogs.
The recipe is still on Rachel Ray’s “Everyday” Magazine website under a “Pet Friendly” header and accompanied by a photo of her dog looking like he’s chowing down on the dish – which again contains onion:
To promote her “Nutrish” line of dog food, the super chef recently published a recipe that’s intended for human consumption in a popular dog lover’s magazine. The recipe, “Isaboo’s Butternut Squash Mac and Chedder” was inspired by her pit bull Isaboo’s love of squash. But readers were confused and believed the dish, that included an ingredient that could kill dogs, was mean for their dogs.
Nowhere in the dog magazine did it state that the recipe was intended for humans, not dogs. And the text accompanying the recipe contained a disclaimer warning owners to check with their dogs’ veterinarians, again leading many to believe the recipe was for dogs…
Dr. Dana Harman, D.V.M., of Boca Raton, Fla, explains that onions can cause “potentially fatal hemolytic anemia” in dogs.
[From The National Enquirer, print edition, January 5, 2008]
“Modern Dog” has since added a mild disclaimer to the website about how the recipe was intended for people but the amount of onion wasn’t that much anyway. The commenters are upset, though, and say that “Modern Dog” should have known better than to present a dish containing onions as if dogs could eat it. They also say that while Ray may be a dog lover and does promote shelters, she’s openly talked about getting her dog from a breeder.
Hopefully no pets were harmed by Rachel Ray’s misleading recipe. The Rachel Ray people really need to change their website soon, so that no one else makes it for their dog thinking it’s ok.
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