Against the Grain Pulled Beef with Gravy Dinner for Dogs
12 ounce can
Lot Number: 2415E01ATB12
UPC Code (second half): 80001
Expiration Date: December 2019
About Pentobarbital
Oral exposure to pentobarbital can cause side effects such as drowsiness, dizziness, excitement, loss of balance, nausea nystagmus (eyes moving back and forth in a jerky manner), inability to stand and coma.
To date, no complaints have been reported to Against the Grain for this single lot number nor any of Against the Grain’s pet foods.
Where Was It Distributed?
The recalled product was distributed (in 2015) to independent pet retail stores in the following states:
Maryland
Washington
The company has verified that the affected lot is no longer on any store shelves.
What to Do?
Consumers may return any can with the relevant lot number to their place of purchase and receive a full case of Against the Grain food for the inconvenience.
Customers with questions may contact the company at 800-288-6796 between 11 AM and 4 PM Central Time, Monday through Friday.
U.S. citizens can report complaints about FDA-regulated pet food products by calling the consumer complaint coordinator in your area.
Blue Buffalo Homestyle Recipe Healthy Weight, Chicken Dinner with Garden Vegetables
12.5 ounce can
UPC: 8-40243-10017-0
Codes: Best By 08/03/2019
The “Best By” date is on the bottom of the can.
No other Blue Buffalo products are involved. The company has not received any reports of illness or injury as a result of the problems giving rise to this recall.
What to Do?
Customers are invited to return the impacted product to your local retailer for a full refund. For additional information, call 866-800-2917.
U.S. citizens can report complaints about FDA-regulated pet food products by calling the consumer complaint coordinator in your area.
(And please note my ‘excuse-me’ at the end of this post!)
The first:
PetSmart Grreat Choice Dog Food Recall of February 2017
February 8, 2017 — PetSmart has issued a voluntary recall of one production lot of Grreat Choice Adult Dog Food with Chicken and Rice Classic Ground due to possible metal contamination.1
What’s Recalled?
The recalled product includes:
Grreat Choice Adult Dog Food with Chicken and Rice Classic Ground
Size: 13.2 ounce cans
UPC: 7-3725726116-7
Best By Date: 8/5/19
Lot Code: 1759338
The Best By date is found on the bottom of the can.
What to Do?
The company writes:
Please stop feeding this product to your pet and bring any remaining cans affected by this recall to your nearest PetSmart for a full refund. We recommend the other varieties of Grreat Choice canned dog foods as alternate options until this product is once again available.
For more information, please contact PetSmart Customer Service at 1-888-839-9638.
U.S. citizens can report complaints about FDA-regulated pet food products by calling the consumer complaint coordinator in your area.
This came in late yesterday afternoon, Pacific Time.
This was the email that was sent out.
Evanger’s Dog and Cat Food Company of Wheeling, Illinois, has announced it is voluntarily recalling specific lots of its pet food due to its potential to be contaminated with pentobarbital.
To learn which products are affected, please visit the following link:
If one goes to that Evanger’s Recall Link then this is what you will read. It is republished in full.
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Evanger’s Dog Food Recall of February 2017
February 3, 2017 — Evanger’s Dog and Cat Food Company, Inc. of Wheeling, Illinois, is voluntarily recalling specific lots of its Hunk of Beef product due to potential contamination with the deadly drug, pentobarbital.
Pentobarbital can affect animals that ingest it, and possibly cause side effects such as drowsiness, dizziness, excitement, loss of balance or nausea — or in extreme cases, death.
What’s Being Recalled?
Although pentobarbital was detected in a single lot, the company is recalling all related Hunk of Beef products manufactured the week of June 6 through June 13, 2016.
The affected lots numbers that start with 1816E03HB, 1816E04HB, 1816E06HB, 1816E07HB, and 1816E13HB, and have an expiration date of June 2020.
The second half of the barcode reads 20109, which can be found on the back of the product label.
Where Was the Product Sold?
The affected products were sold both online and also distributed to retail locations only in the following states:
California
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
New York
Ohio
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Washington
Wisconsin
About the Recall
The recall affects 5 lots of food that were produced from its supplier’s lot of beef, which is specifically used for the Hunk of Beef product and no other products.
To date, five dogs reportedly became ill. And one of the five dogs died after consuming the product with lot number 1816E06HB13. [Ed: My emphasis]
Evanger’s is proactively issuing a recall so as not to risk potential exposure to pentobarbital in the product.
According to Evanger’s, all suppliers of meat products are USDA approved.
The insists the beef supplier provides the company with beef chunks from cows that are slaughtered in a USDA facility.
Evanger’s continues to investigate how the contaminant entered its raw material supply.
Because it sources its meat products from suppliers that are USDA approved and since no other products have reported any problems, the company is not extending the recall to other supplier lots.
According to Evanger’s, this is the first recall event for the company in its 82 years of manufacturing.
What to Do?
Although it has been verified that little or no product remains on store shelves, consumers are asked to return recalled product to the place of purchase for a full refund.
Consumers with questions may contact the company at 847-537-0102 between 10 AM and 5 PM Central Time, Monday through Friday.
U.S. citizens can report complaints about FDA-regulated pet food products by calling the consumer complaint coordinator in your area.
I will, of course, continue to publish every dog food alert that comes into my in-box. But don’t let that stop you from signing up for recall alerts on your own account.
Finally, if any of you are users of Evanger’s Hunk of Beef dog food and want to share your experiences then I shall be very happy to publish them here for the wider benefit of every single person who loves dogs!
Together with helper Michael plus Jean supplying hot drinks and lunch I was outside from 08:00 until 15:00 (3pm PST in old money!).
We were assembling a new chicken run.
The unit comes from the UK and is known as the Omelet range of pet houses. There is a USA website here and the particular run that Jean and I chose is from here. We particularly wanted a walk-in run.
It was all very straightforward but I am bound to tell you, dear folks, I am knackered!
We have a rather run-down ‘home’ for our chickens close to the house. It was run-down before the snow fell and almost brought down the surrounding wire fence.
But, hopefully, this coming Thursday sees a new walk-in run being constructed for our birds so they are better protected.
It’s time we started paying attention to chickens, one of the most misunderstood and ignored species on Earth.
There was a time when chickens were viewed as exotic, fascinating birds. Descendants of exotic Asian jungle fowl, they were revered for their ferocity and intelligence, and domesticated around 8,000 years ago, more for cockfighting than eating. But then, we humans began eating them in ever-larger quantities, until we reached the point where we are now, with 20 billion (mostly white) chickens living in dirty, crowded barns, awaiting slaughter.
Chickens have been a part of human lives for millennia, and yet they are one of the most misunderstood, if not ignored, species on Earth. Lori Marino, an American neuroscientist and animal intelligence researcher, wants to change this. She is intrigued by the fact that chickens are so rarely recognized for their cognitive abilities and frustrated that studies about birds almost always focus on other, less-domesticated species, like crows and parrots.
“Arguably even the scientific community has been influenced by public perceptions of chickens as cognitively simple… This asymmetry in the literature is likely a reflection of, as well as a contributor to, the disconnect scientists and the public have between chickens as commodities and who they actually are as individuals.”
Chickens deserve more attention, and here are some quirky, interesting facts to get you thinking about chickens less as food and more as fascinating co-inhabitants of our world. These come via Marino’s recent paper, “Thinking Chickens,” published online in Animal Cognition in January 2017.
1. Chickens are a sub-species of the red jungle fowl that hails from southeast Asia.
The red jungle fowl (galls gallus) inhabit the edges of fields, scrubland, and groves. Domestication was well established 8,000 years ago, but some records suggest it could have started as much as 58,000 years ago.
2. Domestic chickens are similar to their wild counterparts.
Despite the intense breeding and genetic manipulation of recent years, chickens have not been cognitively or behaviorally affected by domestication. This stands in contrast to dogs and wolves, for example, which have diverged significantly due to domestication. Nor have chickens become less aggressive toward predators through domestication, which is a common outcome; in fact, some chickens are more aggressive even than red jungle fowl.
3. A chicken’s beak is highly sensitive to touch.
The beak, with numerous nerve endings, is used to explore, detect, drink, preen, and defend. This also means that when a bird is de-beaked, as often happens in industrial farming, it experiences great pain, sometimes for months, which changes its behavior. Marino writes, “At the end of the beak is a specialized cluster of highly sensitive mechanoreceptors, called the bill tip organ, which allows chickens to make fine tactile discriminations.”
4. Chickens have finely tuned senses.
They can see long distance and close-up at the same time in different parts of their vision. They can see a broader range of colors than humans. They can hear at low and high frequencies at a variety of pressure levels. They possess well-developed senses of taste and smell. They can orient to magnetic fields, like many other birds.
5. Chickens are surprisingly good at math.
Three-day-old chicks are able to perform basic arithmetic and discriminate quantities, always opting to explore a set of balls with the greater number, even when an object was visibly transferred from one set to another. Five-day-old chicks have been found to track up to five objects.
“When they were presented with two sets of objects of different quantities disappearing behind two screens, they were able to successfully track which screen hid the larger number by apparently performing simple addition and subtraction.”
6. Chickens can exercise self-control.
In an experimental setting, chickens have been given the choice between 2-second delay with 6 seconds of access to food, versus a 6-second delay with 22-seconds of access to food. The hens waited for the longer reward, “demonstrating rational discrimination between different future outcomes while employing self-control to optimize those outcomes.” Self-control usually doesn’t appear in humans until four years of age.
These are just a few of the remarkable discoveries described in Marino’s study, a highly readable, entertaining paper. It’s an important reminder that chickens, arguably the most ubiquitous animals in our world, deserve far more respect than they currently receive. Hopefully this will lead to more people questioning the horrific conditions in which most of them are kept.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of looking for a humourous way to close today’s post. But a more responsible approach would be to repeat the words from the start of the article to serve as a reminder of trying, wherever possible, to think about the food we eat, especially when animals and birds have to be slaughtered to provide us with that food.
…. we reached the point where we are now, with 20 billion (mostly white) chickens living in dirty, crowded barns, awaiting slaughter.
But please don’t leave this page until you have watched the following video.
Published on Dec 3, 2014
After 22 years of raising chickens for Perdue, one brave factory farmer Craig Watts was at his breaking point and did something no one has done before. He invited us, as farm animal welfare advocates, to his farm to film and tell his story. Ask your supermarket for Better Chicken at http://better-chicken.org.
As released by Dog Food Advisor at 07:45 PST today.
Blue Ridge Beef of Eatonton, Georgia, has announced it is voluntarily recalling one lot of its raw frozen pet food due to its potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes bacteria.
To learn which products are affected, please visit the following link:
When one goes to that Blue Ridge web link this is what you will read:
ooOOoo
January 17, 2017 — Blue Ridge Beef of Eatonton, Georgia, has announced it is voluntarily recalling one lot of its Turkey with Bone raw frozen product due to its potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.
What’s Being Recalled?
The affected product is sold in 2 pound chubs and can be identified with the following manufacturing codes:
Blue Ridge Beef Turkey with Bone
Size: 2 pound chubs
UPC Code 854298001887
Lot #103 mfdga12716
About Listeria
Listeria can affect animals eating the product.
And there is a risk to humans from handling contaminated pet products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surface exposed to these products.
Healthy people infected with Listeria monocytogenes should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever.
Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare provider.
Where Was It Distributed?
The affected products were distributed to retail stores in the following states:
Florida
Georgia
North Carolina
South Carolina
What Caused the Recall?
This recall was initiated as a result of an FDA inspection and sampling of the product. This recall is being made with the knowledge of the US Food and Drug Administration.
What to Do?
Consumers who have purchased the above lot of Blue Ridge Beef Turkey with Bone raw frozen product are urged to stop feeding the product and return it to the place of purchase for a full refund.
Or dispose of the affected product immediately.
Those with questions can email the company at blueridgebeefga@yahoo.com
U.S. citizens can report complaints about FDA-regulated pet food products by calling the consumer complaint coordinator in your area.
(This was first posted on December 8th, 2016. It is being republished because of the mention of peanut butter in the article presented in my post that came out an hour ago.)
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Keep peanut butter away from your dogs!
Because it could kill your beloved companion.
Fellow author Judi Holdeman sent me an email that contained a warning that had been in a recent health newsletter from Jeff Reagan. Here’s the essence of that warning (and my emphasis in parts):
If your dog is anything like my dog, they probably love a good scoop of peanut butter.
As I’m writing this, my pup Ellie is actually snuggled up next to my leg and going to town on her peanut butter filled Kong. She’s in heaven…
But I want to warn you about a NEW problem with dogs and peanut butter.
There’s been a number of reports lately of dogs who are winding up dead because of their beloved peanut butter.
How is this happening?
It has to do with a new ingredient being used in certain peanut butters.
That ingredient is xylitol.
Xylitol is an artificial sweetener that you’ll recognize from things like gum and candy.
And while it’s generally “safe” for humans to eat, it can be deadly for dogs. Just a small amount of it can cause severe liver damage and can even kill your dog.
From my research, I’ve found 5 brands of peanut butter that have recently added xylitol to their ingredients. I’m listing these brands below…
– Go Nuts Co
– Hank’s Protein Plus Peanut Butter
– Krush Nutrition
– Nuts N More
– P28
Now luckily most of these are NOT the most popular brands.
These brands are usually sold at specialty shops or health food stores.
But I still wanted to alert you to this…
Because if your dog is anything like mine, they probably love peanut butter.
So make sure you’re staying away from the brands I listed above.
And double-check the label on your peanut butter to make sure it doesn’t have xylitol in it.
Feel free to forward this email on to your friends or family that have dogs so they are aware of this…
– Jeff Reagan. Editor, Patriot Health Alliance
Please, good people, do share this as far and wide as possible.
Dear Fellow Dog Lover,
Because you signed up on our website and asked to be notified, I’m sending you this special recall alert. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please click to unsubscribe.
Blue Ridge Beef of Eatonton, Georgia, has announced it is voluntarily recalling 2 of its raw frozen products due to their potential to be contaminated with Salmonella and Listeria bacteria.
To learn which products are affected, please visit the following link:
If you visit that Blue Ridge link you will read the following:
ooOOoo
December 8, 2016 — Blue Ridge Beef of Eatonton, Georgia has announced it is voluntarily recalling two of its frozen products due to their potential to be contaminated with Salmonella and/or Listeria monocytogenes.
What’s Being Recalled?
The affected products are sold in 2 pound chubs and can be identified with the following manufacturing codes:
Lot #mfd ga8516
Beef for dogs
UPC code 8542980011009
Lot #mfd ga81216
Kitten grind
UPC code 854298001016
Where Was It Sold?
The affected products were distributed to retail stores in the following states:
Arizona
Florida
Georgia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Texas
About Salmonella and Listeria
Salmonella and Listeria can affect animals eating the product.
There is a risk to humans from handling contaminated pet products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surface exposed to these products.
Healthy people infected with Salmonella and/or Listeria should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms:
Nausea
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Bloody disarrhea
Abdominal cramping
Fever
Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare provider. Consumers should also follow the simple handling tips on the package.
What Caused the Recall?
This recall was initiated after the FDA received two complaints associated with these products, including one complaint of two kitten illnesses and one complaint of a puppy death.
Subsequent testing by the FDA of a 2 pound chub of beef for dogs and kitten grind collected at a veterinary office revealed the presence of Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes.
There is no direct evidence linking these unfortunate instances to contaminated product.
This recall is being made with the knowledge of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
What to Do?
Consumers who have purchased the above lots of beef for dogs or kitten grind are urged to stop feeding them and return products to the place of purchase for a full refund.
Or dispose of them immediately. Those with questions can email the company at blueridgebeefga@yahoo.com
U.S. citizens can report complaints about FDA-regulated pet food products by calling the consumer complaint coordinator in your area.
Learning from Dogs 