Test Results Show Pentobarbital in Evangers Dog Food

Wow, this is scary! How horrible these dogs and owner had to go through this! I’ve been feeding Party Animal organic products (produced at Evanger)to my cats for several months. Nothing has happened but will be returning remaining cans to the store.

I’m just sick over this! I avoid this food and tell others to do the same, but my head is spinning wondering how many people use it. I found a picture of a code on the bottom of their can, but have no way to upload it here.

as long as dead dogs and cats are used in pet food; this type of thing will happen consider using a human grade product

I’m as suspicious of commercial pet food manufacturers as any of you, but hold on – let’s review what is known so far. Evangers followed up immediately with their own tests for common food contaminants, all of which were negative. The FDA was notified and has conducted their own tests. I spoke with Evanger’s personnel today who explained all the steps they have taken and their cooperation with FDA, which has tested other cans and not found any trace of pentobarbital. Also, this is a very popular food, and most of that batch was purchased and fed, and there have been no reports of other animals being affected in any way. Both the seller and Evangers made efforts to follow up on that, and no other problems have been reported. Also, pentobarbital is a highly restricted euthanasia drug. As a former animal shelter director, I had to sign for each purchase and log every amount of it we used. No one euthanizes cattle with this drug today, but if they did, it would be injected intravenously, resulting in death in seconds. The product that was contaminated, Hunk of Beef, is a slab of easily identifiable muscle meat. An injected euthanasia dose would not permeate the carcass and muscles of the animal because the heart would have stopped almost immediately. Other instances of discovering pentobarbital in pet food show traces that probably come from meals. Evangers makes their own food at their cannery and do not use meals in this product. The Michigan state university lab report you show encourages the pet owner to retain the can. I hope she has, and that it will occur to someone to test it extensively for signs of tampering, which is, in my opinion, the only possible way a significant quantity of pentobarbital could have gotten into this one can, which alone has shown to be affected. In my years as director of an animal shelter, I saw instances of deliberate poisonings of pets by people with animus against the owner in domestic violence and other situations. I am NOT suggesting this is the case, only that if you look at all the facts – and the FDA’S investigation is not complete – tampering with the individual container or direct insertion of the contaminant into the food – seems likeliest and definitely needs to be ruled out. Evangers is one of the most ethical companies, and I have carried their products for years. I make a point of watching all the food companies I carry for signs of merger, acquisition, cost-cutting or other cheating or lowering of standards, and I have not seen red flags with Evangers. I think the company deserves the benefit of the doubt in this case, until the investigation is complete and resolves the issue.

Just asking, because I’m truly curious: If pentobarbitol is still such a highly restricted drug how could someone have gotten hold of it to tamper with a can(s)?

This is not proven yet you go into completely accusing Evangers? This is clearly a bias view and not considering the evidence. Evangers has tried to completely stay open and honest while the lady accusing Evangers has dodged many questions in emails and phone calls from Evangers. There is no proof that the dogs didn’t get into something around the house before they ate dinner. Whir has makes sense, they were hungry and looking for for so they ate something they shouldn’t and then ate Evangers. It’s a possibility I don’t see covered in the article whir he shows it’s own bias.

Not to mention them being caught using ingredients not listed on the label- completely different proteins in fact.

http://www.poisonedpets.com/train-wreck-in-food-safety-land-exploding-watermelons-pig-ears-contaminated-with-salmonella-and-evangers-phony-pet-food/

This is very sad. I used Evanger’s canned food for my dog years ago until i started learning of all the problems with quality control and business practices.

Does anyone know if they are the packers for Party Animal organic canned cat food? Party Animal won’t tell me. The code stamps on Party Animal cans are curved as in the image above.

By now many folks are aware that Evanger’s are just plain old crooks, with a history of nefarious crimes. In 2010 the FDA found that two dog food varieties were “misbranded” with false or misleading labeling. The so-called Lamb and Rice Dog Food contained absolutely NO lamb, but only “bovine” – beef. Then the FDA found that the Grain-free Duck Pet Food had – guess – NO duck. No mention of what species they found, but not duck. As everyone knows, lamb and duck are far more expensive ingredients that plain ol’ beef or whatever.

Then in 2013 the Shea’s decided that their plant should be getting FREE gas, so they constructed an elaborate method to divert the gas so that the gas company would not detect the diversion. Not satisfied, they decided that they should also be getting FREE electricity as well, so they ordering the company employees to divert it, endangered their workers in the process. So they, or Joel Shea, had conned nearly $2 million worth of free gas and power lines to his store.

Was only a matter of time when they were caught, but when it came to trial, Joel Shea, offered $5,000 to bribe a witness in exchange for changing their testimony. So now, not only are Evanger’s outed for misbranding, Joel Shea has been proven to be a felony criminal.

Even before these and other shenanigans in the past, they were involved in a dispute with the Village of Wheeling as to the putrid odors emanating from the plant, (with complaints since 2006). They were fined for being a public nuisance, but they tried to squirm out of paying the $1050. fine. So health officials visited the plant and found rotting carcasses, maggots, open containers with yuk inside, etc etc, so the fine ended up being $316,500. So, Evanger’s lawyer-ed up…

This is their M.O. – to deny everything. So, regarding this new development, do you honestly think that they are going to bend down and admit to wrongdoing? They will be lawyer-ed up for this crisis with the Pentobarbital. They will blame others. Does this sound like a company who you would trust to make quality pet food for your beloved pets?

I do not trust anyone I’m afraid. I feed my dogs natural balance vegan dry food, because I know from living near a dog food plant for years what goes into their meat meals. I served the evangers vegetarian wet with the dry, and my dogs hated it. Almost starved themselves. I have been a vegetarian my whole adult life and am repulsed opening cans of stinky meat wet food, but decided to try the Evangers Organic Chicken, with nothing but chicken in the ingredients. Still stinks, but my dogs love it mixed in with their vegan dry food. Did not hear about anything bad about Evangers until now. Concerned….. the can says made in USA, and pure organic boiled chicken. It is ground chicken, so I assume the softened bones are in it too, but that is fine with me. Don’t like the idea of feathers, feet, and beaks in it, but I struggle everyday with chickens dying to feed my dogs, anyway. I have lived very well without meat for many years (I’m 65). Wish my dogs could be satisfied without meat, too. Slaughter houses are brutal places where the employees enjoy torturing the animals before killing them without sedation. Horrible…… and the worst meat is always used for dog food. I will keep my eyes and ears open about Evangers, but will finish out the two cases of organic chicken I purchased for them in the meantime. Hope it will be okay, but all dog food is nonhuman grade anyway……sad…..

Does anyone, human or animal, in that house have a prescription for pentobarbital? “Pentobarbital is a short-acting barbiturate. It acts on the central nervous system to slow down activity in the brain. The medication is prescribed to treat insomnia, for sedation prior to surgery, and as an emergency treatment for seizures. Was pentobarbital used by the e-vet?

OMG! I usually make my dogs food but tried this very can last JUNE of 2016 for a newly adopted 11 year old that was very thin. Luckily being a very picky eater he would not touch it and I threw it out. Thank goodness!!!

I would like to know what exactly the term hand packed means. I can’t really see an assembly line with people carefully cutting a piece of meat to fit the can and stuffing it into the can. When I put out my recycling it has been hand sorted and hand packed into a bin so that it doesn’t fall out. It doesn’t say anything about the quality of what is put in the bin.

Man, how I wish I had seen this and all of your excellent, informative comments months ago, when the Evangers recall happened!!! But, since I don’t feed Evangers to my pets, I didn’t research into that recall. Here we are, months later, though, and Cocolicious is being recalled, also for phenobarbital in the food–SAME MANUFACTURER, as some of you astute folks pointed out months ago. I am soooooooooooooo careful in what I feed my pets, always reading the fine print, and the thing is, Cocolicious is USDA Certified Organic, human-grade, wheat-free, corn-free, filler-free, junk-free, nutrient dense: yet actually, consumers were being defrauded and animals’ lives endangered by the manufacturer, which clearly was substituting horse meat, just as in the Evangers recall that you all are (were, months ago) discussing here, as now phenobarbital has been found in Cocolicious! My question is: how the HELL does this happen with a USDA Certified Organic food like Cocolicious? That label is supposed to mean something! There should be inspections! Not only was it NOT up to organic standards, it wasn’t even beef, it was horsemeat, infused with phenobarbital. The is TOTALLY unacceptable. Evangers, that manufacturer, and all the other brands manufactured there need to be put out of business, PERIOD. “Party Animal” is acting like this is news to them and such a shock, and they are in “extensive discussions” with the manufacturer: what a load of …well, HORSE MEAT, that is: they should have been in “extensive discussions” MONTHS AGO, after this Evangers recall! They should have actually cut ties with that manufacturer after that, period.

I am totally horrified and infuriated by this entire thing. Evangers needs to be out of business. Party Animal needs to be out of business. And the USDA need to really tighten up the standards for certified organic…which won’t happen under this current administration, that’s for sure. Our President is probably trying to do away with the USDA entirely as we speak, but I digress into the political, sorry. Meanwhile: OMG. I can’t believe that Cocolicious, which is a brand I really trusted and was the main canned food I fed my pets, is riddled with phenobarbital.