“The J.M. Smucker Company is initiating a voluntary withdrawal of a limited quantity of Gravy Train®, Kibbles ‘N Bits®, and Skippy® Wet Dog Food products after learning specific SKUs did not meet our specifications because a minor ingredient may contain low levels of pentobarbital.”
Sent to retailers 2/14/2018…
The J.M. Smucker Company is initiating a voluntary withdrawal of a limited quantity of Gravy Train®, Kibbles ‘N Bits®, and Skippy® Wet Dog Food products after learning specific SKUs did not meet our specifications because a minor ingredient may contain low levels of pentobarbital. This is not a threat to pet safety. Although the extremely low levels do not present a health or safety risk, their presence in our products is not acceptable to us.
Tracy
February 14, 2018 at 10:31 pm
“Minor ingredient”? So meat is the minor product of their meat based food.
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Rob Capel
February 15, 2018 at 6:29 am
One by one pet food companies are proving that their products kill our “fur families” with their recalls for dangerous ingredients. There is only one thing to feed your cat or dog – RAW!!
Debbie Donlan
February 15, 2018 at 8:27 pm
raw meats have parasites so no you should cook it. I have been watching what dog foods make my pet have a chemical body odder and bad breath. and it isn’t just this company. My dogs would not even touch this dog food at all. Many companies use the dead animals as a way to cheaply up the meat content. Just when I think I have found a food that doesn’t my dog starts to loose weight despite eating well, starts shedding horribly and gets that wonderful chemical breath. I won’t feed my dog most of the major name brands, but whatever you feed them if you smell their breath after they eat you will know because it smells like chemicals not meat .
Deborah Brenizer
February 15, 2018 at 8:14 am
No way nothing should be in dog food but nutrition. Does this company hate dogs.
Jen
February 16, 2018 at 9:53 am
Evil people making $$$
d
February 15, 2018 at 10:01 am
Not on the FDA Recalls & Withdrawals page?
Deborah Brenizer
February 15, 2018 at 3:32 pm
Yes it is
d
February 15, 2018 at 7:24 pm
please link? I can’t find one.
Debbie Donlan
February 15, 2018 at 8:29 pm
that is because they say it is a voluntary recall
Erin Simpson
February 15, 2018 at 10:55 pm
This is not a recall and the FDA is not forcing the company to do so. Its a voluntary withdraw ( smuckers isn’t even wanting it to be called a ‘recall’ but a ‘withdraw’) despite it being against federal law for this drug to be in the food. This is a perfect, disgusting example of how little the fda regulates the quality of our pets food. Very very few Texas are by the FDA but often ‘voluntary’ ones by the companies themselves.
Jen
February 16, 2018 at 9:55 am
Don’t they make food for humans…. not buying smucker products anymore.
Who knows what the ingredients are.
Ms. B Dawson
February 15, 2018 at 11:02 am
According to the waffly recall notice, the presence of “extremely low levels” of pentobarbital that “may be” in their food doesn’t represent a risk. At all.
Dismissing this as a mere containment that snuck into a “minor ingredient” shows the complete disregard companies like these have for the quality of their ingredients.
Apparently their “specifications” are perfectly fine with waste quality ingredients.
Joan
February 15, 2018 at 11:46 am
We need to keep a watch on companies and not let things slip by and be forgotton. No safety and quality standards and checks are not acceptible.
Deborah Brenizer
February 15, 2018 at 3:32 pm
No regard for a dogs health. They r only saying this because fda is looking into the dog food and treats such as milks jerky etc. They r looking at a big lawsuit that has been filed
They r trying to say it was nothing. Ask them if want to eat dinner every night with penabarbktal in the food.
Jen
February 16, 2018 at 9:56 am
Feed it to the Smuckers people if it so good.
Linda Rodriguez
February 15, 2018 at 1:04 pm
Wow! What companies won’t do to make money. Disgusting!
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Sharon
February 15, 2018 at 6:12 pm
There is no excuse for this! Shut the company down…NOW!
Amy martin
February 15, 2018 at 7:03 pm
It shows picture of ol Roy but don’t see it on the list little confused
Deborah Brenizer
February 15, 2018 at 8:04 pm
Full list of recalls will be out. Fda is i volved. So us the humane society.
Ted Hade
February 15, 2018 at 7:20 pm
How does it get in there? What happens to those dogs that are put down? The vets and shelters dont dig graves out back…they end up in cheap dog food labeled as “byproducts” and “meal”. I’m guessing pentobarbital is in all that food, at “safe” levels. So when someone goes snooping or a little to much gets in, recall time.
Debbie Donlan
February 15, 2018 at 8:44 pm
years ago I ran across a you-tube video where do to a pet they had loosing weight and getting sick he tested the food, it was contaminated. Then he decided to test a whole bunch of brands mostly the big name ones a yes they all had the same. He checked things out further and found these companies were picking up the euthanized animals and processing the meat for the dog food. They do not have to claim it on the bag because they have a third party process it and then pick it up as processed meat and since they did not process it themselves they can just claim it as meat content. They knew what they were doing they just didn’t care. Now that was years ago, and I noticed when I quit feeding my dogs the food he said not to, they gained weight, quit shedding constantly, and lost the putrid smell that seemed to follow them everywhere. You can smell the poisons coming out, even in their breath. Got to keep up though the brands that do this keep changing, If you notice the signs change food immediatly.
Deborah Brenizer
February 18, 2018 at 1:54 pm
Thanks
U r right. Now go to care2petions and sign the period against these people let’s prefect our loving pets. We r there voice.
Pingback: RECALL ALERT: Gravy Train, Kibbles ‘N Bits, & Skippy Dog Foods Recalled Due to Presence of Euthanasia Drug – Dog Couture Country
Deborah Brenizer
February 15, 2018 at 8:01 pm
I agree
John
February 15, 2018 at 9:35 pm
I’m shocked to be finding this out! I was in between orders from chewys.com and had to quickly pick up gravy train for a day until my order got delivered. My poor dog puked up the dog food, and was acting funny the next day. Drowsy, moody, and loss of appetite. This could have killed my dog! I will be part of the law suit when it is filed.
Deborah Brenizer
February 15, 2018 at 10:21 pm
I am glad you got rid of the food and jerky treats. Humane society u can notify. Fad is involved. I have a dog and will never trust these companies. Please follow the recalls
Vita Buchanan
February 16, 2018 at 9:19 am
Does anyone know an actual dog food that is safe and nutrional for our dogs that is also affordable?
Ms. B Dawson
February 16, 2018 at 11:07 am
I faced this question often in my store and I apologize in advance for the length of this post.
If you get caught up in listening to “oh, buy XXX because it’s the BEST!!!!” you’ll go mad. The mission at my store was always to get customer to think – you know the “give a man a fish, he eats for a day; teach him to fish and he feeds himself for a lifetime” philosophy.
So, you need to explore:
1) what is “safe”?
2) what is “nutritious”?
3) what is “affordable”?
These three things, while not mutually exclusive, do not easily co-exist. If food is manufactured with integrity by a company with reasonable quality control measures, the cost is going to be more than what you find in the grocery aisle.
That said, price alone isn’t enough to judge the quality of a product. As readers of this site know, $3 cans of organic dog food from Evanger’s did not contain what was promised.
After my years in the industry it is my opinion that any manufactured pet food is a compromise. With the possible exception of boutique companies, any food/feed at any time can come up contaminated or not as advertised. Fraud exists and even conscientious companies can get duped. “Safe” is not easily guaranteed today. It’s frustrating, I know!
I would suggest you purchase Susan’s 2018 Pet Food List for her very capable take on food. You’ll learn a lot, but the food isn’t for every budget. But let’s look as some hard number comparisons to get you thinking. I really encourage people to look at *per pound cost* because bag size varies with brand and even flavor.
*All prices have been rounded and may not be accurate for your area. The foods are not listed in any particular order*.
Group One:
This group ranges from marginal to awful in my opinion. They love to use marketing buzz words like “holistic”, “natural”, “farm raised chicken” (aren’t ALL chickens?) but isn’t very forthcoming with ingredient sources and are generally owned by huge companies or investment groups.
Nutro Wholesome Essentials 30# for $48 ($1.60/lb)
Purina Pro Plan 35# for $40 ($1.15/lb)
Natural Balance Ultra 30# for $52 ($1.70/lb)
Wellness Complete 30# for $50 ($1.70/lb)
Contrast those prices with Group Two:
Manufactured by small-ish companies who are fairly open about the source of their ingredients and where & who makes their stuff; most manufacture their kibble in their own facilities:
Precise Chicken Adult 44# for $58 ($1.31/lb)
Honest Kitchen Chicken 40# (when rehydrated, the box is actually 10# dry) for $59 ($1.50/lb)
Fromm Adult Gold 33# for $55 ($1.70/lb)
Nature’s Logic Turkey Feast 26# for $81 ($3.10/lb)
Now compare either of those groups with Gravy Train – 41# for $17 ($0.41/lb). No wonder the company says the contamination was in a “minor ingredient”! There’s only micrograms of meat in the bag. If consumers would do these comparisons, commonsense would compel them to be suspicious.
I am not advocating for any particular food here, just wanting to illustrate that the cost PER POUND is not always that different between junk brands and more nutritious brands. I will say however that Precise was my bridge food for those suffering sticker shock when moving up from grocery store brands. They’ve never had a recall, kibble their own formulas and have never tried to make their food out to be anything other than what it is – a basic meal-based kibble.
Hope this helps. I do understand how frustrating and confusing all this gets. Continued reading is the best path – an educated pet owner is a good pet owner.
JOANNE KENNEDY
February 17, 2018 at 1:41 pm
I buy people ground turkey or roll, cook it, add vegetables, she loves it, she always use to leave a lot of her dried food and not eat it all, now she eats everything in her dish. No seasoning when buying the ground turkey or roll. Found turkey roll with rosemary, if you look up about rosemary is good for dogs they will say its good for them.