Inside the Most Recent Recall

When the FDA notified us back in March that their testing indicated the presence of Salmonella in our meals, we sent samples of those same products to an independent lab to substantiate their results, as we believe in the quality of our product. In every case, these tests came back negative for Salmonella , Listeria and E. coli. These results confirm that, to the extent these bacteria have any presence in our meals, they are at such low levels as to be undetectable by standard tests.  At such low levels, it is quite unlikely for these products to pose a risk to most pets or their owners. However, the FDA's zero-tolerance policy requires tests for the slightest amounts of pathogens. Due to a few of the FDA's test samples apparently registering slightly above zero, we issued a voluntary recall. We respect the FDA’s concern for public health, and have made it our goal to meet the standards that they have set for pet food. That doesn’t, however, mean we agree with those standards. We think that the zero-tolerance standard that the FDA has set for pathogens in pet food is both unrealistic and unnecessary. Moreover, we think that the FDA has failed to establish a scientific basis for their position. The FDA agrees with many leading experts that, due to their digestive systems, it is very unusual for dogs and cats to become sick from food that contains low levels of Salmonella or other pathogens. And it is even more unusual for a human to get sick from handling their pet’s food. We do not believe that the FDA has demonstrated that setting a zero-pathogen standard has any materially positive impact on the health of either pets or pet owners sufficient to justify that standard. We also observe that the FDA is applying that standard unevenly, focusing their enforcement efforts on raw pet food manufacturers and ignoring other types of pet food such as kibble, although there is ample evidence that shows that these other types of pet food frequently also test positive for pathogens, and to the extent that they are more widely fed, represent a greater public health threat than raw food. For better or worse, this is the regulatory environment that we must operate in, at least for now. We hope that this explanation helps to give you a better understanding of what is causing all the pet food recalls that you’ve been seeing in the news. We also hope that it provides you some degree of comfort that, despite all the recalls (past and future), the food that you are feeding your pet is fundamentally safe for both your pet and your family.