Mortified parents accidentally feed kids pet treats

  • 15/06/2017
Scooby Snacks dog food treats (Woolworths)
Ruh roh. Photo credit: Woolworths

Several Whanganui parents have been left mortified after accidentally feeding their children dog food, after getting mixed up at the supermarket.

The treats were labelled 'Scooby Snacks' and had a large image of cartoon character Scooby Doo, a dog famous from a show of the same name.

Shaped like little bones, the snacks seemed like a perfect snack to pop into a child's lunchbox. With one flaw - they were dog treats, not human treats.

"A child at work had these today. By the time I saw it she had eaten all of them," one Whanganui woman shared on Facebook.

Some parents claimed the dog food was placed in the chips aisle alongside regular food in the Whanganui Pak'nSave, prompting the mix-up.

But the claim has been refuted by Foodstuffs, which owns Pak'nSave.

Antoinette Laird, head of external relations at Foodstuffs NZ, told Newshub the treats for in the 'Aisle of Value' area, which contains a range of products and is not restricted to just food items, and were clearly labelled as pet treats.

"But unfortunately it appears some customers mistook them for human food. The store relocated the product to the pet food aisle, and has since decided to withdraw the product from sale and return it to the supplier," she said.

She said the product packaging says it's a pet food and not intended for human consumption, although they are "human friendly".

"On reflection, we can see how the cartoon characters on the packaging might be confusing!"

It's believed the parents confused the dog food with other snacks with similar labelling, small packets of vanilla biscuits intended for children, also emblazoned with Scooby Doo's face.

Instead, the Scooby Snacks meant for dogs are advertised as supporting bone strengthening and skin- and coat-health - not likely to be an issue for young children.

Ms Laird apologised for the distress the mix-up may have caused to some people and says anyone who accidentally bought it thinking it was human food will be offered a refund.

Newshub.