photo credit: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID, NIH
The recall of Natural Balance Sweet Potato & Chicken was triggered when the FDA reported a random sample tested positive for salmonella. There have been no reports of illness. This recall effects:
Sweet Potato & Chicken Dry Dog Food
- 5lb. bags
- best-by-date June 17, 2011
- UPC code 7-23633-9000-4
- 28lb. bags
- best-by-date June 17, 2011
- UPC code 7-23633-99002-8
The product was distributed to Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Natural Balance’s president has written a letter to customers. If you have product included in the recall, you can return it to the store from which you bought it for a refund. Some good news is Natural Balance had samples tested by a 3rd party and the results were all negative. Natural Balance stands out from a lot of pet food companies in that they have in-house testing, show results on their site, & don’t distribute product until tests are completed. Also, they aren’t burying the recall on their website, though they did do the Friday press release. (Friday night press releases happened all the time during the huge melamine contamination recalls. Friday nights were late nights for me during that time because recalls would be issued in the middle of the night on Fridays so the stories would get minimal coverage. It’s a tradition in business and government.)
What you need to know about Salmonella
Salmonella can cause serious illness in cats and dogs and there can be cross-contamination to humans causing serious illness in humans.
- Here is good information on the symptoms & treatment of salmonellosis in dogs & cats.
- The FDA has information on safe pet food handling to prevent food born illnesses like salmonella.
- The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has a very informative page on salmonellosis in humans.