To my knowledge, this has never happened before. A pet food discovered a bacterial contamination in a human grade ingredient. The human food industries using the exact same ingredient never caught the problem. Score one for pet food.
On January 15, 2018 the pet food company Just Food for Dogs announced a recall. The pet food company (using 100% human edible ingredients) acted on a consumer complaint; testing of the pet food discovered Listeria monocytogenes. Further testing done by Just Food for Dogs traced the bacterial contamination to green beans used in the dog food. Just Food for Dogs notified its customers, the public, regulatory authorities and it’s supplier.
Which has now led to a human food recall. From Food Safety News…
National Frozen Foods Corp. issued a Class I recall of individual quick frozen green beans because of potential Listeria monocytogenes contamination, according to notices posted by US Foods Inc. and the U.S. Department of Defense Commissary Agency.
The frozen food manufacturer issued its recall following the detection of Listeria monocytogenes in a third-party test by a downstream customer, a pet food company.
A notice from the U.S. Department of Defense Commissary Agency reported the following products sold in its commissary stores were included in the recall:
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SYS IMP Bean Green Whole IQF NWP, 12/2 pounds: Lot number 17102703A03, MPC V5404
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NW TRES Bean Green Cut, 1/30 pounds: Lot number 17102603A02, MPC 62406-9007
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SYS CLS Bean Green Cut GR A P, 12/2 pounds: Lot number 17102703A03, MPC 1435197
Hats off to Just Food for Dogs. Your swift action, your safety protocols surpassed that of human food. Thank you.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
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Sandra Murphey
January 23, 2018 at 10:32 am
I’m very impressed with this company, and did try their cat food, but my cat wouldn’t eat it. She’s hooked on raw venison by Rad Cat.
Gloria
January 23, 2018 at 1:38 pm
I feed my cat Rad Cat, too. He prefers the turkey. I wish he’d try the venison, too, but no luck. Sometimes I let him have a little of the good quality food that I feed the homeless kitties, just for variety.
T Allen
January 23, 2018 at 4:24 pm
Chop both up very finely and mix together adding a little more vensison ever couple of days. You have to be very sneaky changing foods with cats, birds and toddlers. 🙂
T Allen
January 23, 2018 at 4:15 pm
Cats are very sensitive to change. Always mix old and new foods together, first to get them to try it and get used to the “different” flavor and second to decrease the chance of minor digestive upset as the cats GI system changes it’s microbiome to adjust to the new ingredients. 🙂
Merry
January 23, 2018 at 10:55 am
Amazed along with you…. something in the right direction, too!
landsharkinnc
January 23, 2018 at 11:45 am
WOW!!! this is just another example of why we should feed ‘FOOD” and not ‘Feed’ !
anonymous
January 23, 2018 at 1:43 pm
I really do commend JFFD but there is room for improvement. The truth is that if they tested the ingredients when they arrived at their kitchens they would have discovered the listeria before the ingredient made it into their food. Or if they tested batches of their food they would have discovered this before the food made it onto their shelf.
Most pet food companies test their food before the lots are released. I know of none that tests the raw ingredients because its just too expensive and risky to have to send back thousands of pounds of ingredients and have to alert FDA (just because you get one positive listeria test doesn’t mean that everything will test positive).
BUT, all leafy greens or green veggies that make it into pet food should be batch tested (i.e. the food should be held while 2 packages are tested). And this is where JFFD can learn and do better.
T Allen
January 23, 2018 at 4:21 pm
All this testing IS very expensive and although it would be great, how much can you afford to pay for pet food? Do you test all your food before you eat it? Do you assume that when you buy frozen green beans in the store they are safe? Obviously they aren’t and if they aren’t testing before selling to humans can they afford to test before selling to pet owners? We need better, quicker, cheaper testing and safer product handling. The more companies are hit in the bottom line the better off we all will be food safety wise.
Paula
January 23, 2018 at 8:45 pm
I agree. I do get T Allen’s point. But I am one of those crazy dog moms who would pay any amount for safe healthy fund. I feed half kibble/half freeze dried or dehydrated. I do not think human meat is safe to feed “raw” unfortunately. I get my own vegetables and greens from a local organic farm and do not eat any greens off season and very little in the way of vegetables of season. But the dogs need balance year round.
They handled it well after the fact. They need to test pre-release. Much better than Primal. I contacted them after their limited recall with pics of large bone pieces in non-recalled batches. They did not reply and when I first called I got a young clerk and requested a manager/owner — no call back! Guessing JFFD learned their lesson. Primal is history.
Human foods are frightening – we need a Susan Thixton to improve their safety.
Debra
January 23, 2018 at 3:48 pm
I make food for my dogs and had a recall on apples. Since I make ahead and freeze it I had to back track a bit. Thankfully the apples recalled were from a week that I didn’t buy any. I have looked over JFFD’s website and was quite impressed with their commitment to quality. If I had one or two small dogs I may have ordered from them but with a small (28#) a medium (52#) and a large (95# hog-dog!) I have to make my own. They go through about 35# of fresh food a week. If anyone out there has a good recipe that turns out a good quantity of food I would love to read it.
SweetKimy
January 24, 2018 at 11:23 pm
Debra, if you feel that the meals offered by JFFD are a good option for your fur babies, you might be interested in knowing that they sell DoItYourself kits that include the nutrient blend and cooking guide so that you can make their recipes at home.
I did this for about a year. If I remember correctly, the recipes make about 14 – 15 lbs. of food. I’m not an experienced cook, so for me it was very time consuming. But I’m a person who takes about 2 hours to prepare a 20 minute recipe! : )
Making food at home takes dedication and is a lot of work, but I liked that I could choose grass fed, organic, and free range options. Kudos to you for making it a priority!!
Debra
January 25, 2018 at 8:58 am
Some of my recipes are based on their recipes. I also based some recipes from a doggie cookbook. The DYI kits were pretty pricey also seeing how I would need so much. I buy meat (b/s chix thighs and centercut pork loin) from a food service store every couple of months. 40# of the chix and 50# of pork. Since I started this almost 2 years ago I now have an electric meat grinder, food processer and a new big big upright deep freezer in the garage. Also a new extra refrigerator in the garage. I keep telling the big hog-dog he needs to get a job! He eats 3# of food a day and the vet says he’s a couple pounds underweight. Since he is big dog, under is better than over. I do work full time but I don’t mind so much. I start prepping a day or two before I make it all.
samiswan
January 25, 2018 at 2:02 pm
I admire all of you who cook for your pets. I have neurological dystrophy; because of extensive nerve damage in my hands, I no longer try to cook, as I get hurt or burned and can’t tell until much later. I’ve also been banned from opening the knife drawer! We have a houseful of rescued kitties and an enormous female Rottweiler (who believes all kitties belong to her), so feeding them is a handful. Managing the expense is an ongoing challenge, but I just can’t feed them lousy food. Those of us with big hearts have to find a way, eh?
Faye
January 27, 2018 at 1:07 pm
This is not the first. 2008 melamine in canned pet food led the investigation to a protein supplier in China who upped the nitrogen content using melamine also sold to manufacturers of infant and adult piwdered formula.