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Darwin’s Dog Food Recall

Darwin’s recalls two lots of dog food, Natural Selections Turkey Meals for Dogs and Natural Selections Duck Meals for Dogs due to potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.

Darwin’s recalls two lots of dog food, Natural Selections Turkey Meals for Dogs and Natural Selections Duck Meals for Dogs due to potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.

From a Darwin’s email notification sent to customers:

I am writing to alert you to a potential food safety problem with the following product(s) that we sent to you between September and early October of this year:

Natural Selections Turkey Meals for Dogs, Net wt 2 lbs, Lot #39937, manufacture date 08/24/17

Natural Selections Duck Meals for Dogs, Net wt 2 lbs, Lot #40487, manufacture date 09/29/17

Through testing, we have determined that the above product has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.

Salmonella is a bacterial organism that can cause serious and sometimes life-threatening infections in people, particularly young children, frail or elderly people, and those with weakened immune systems.

There is risk to humans from handling contaminated products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the product or any surfaces exposed to these products.  Some healthy individuals who are infected may experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infections can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe or chronic illness.

According to the FDA, it is uncommon for healthy dogs to become sick from Salmonella. However, dogs with weakened immune systems (such as puppies or older dogs) have a higher risk of becoming sick. Pets with infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain.

https://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/AnimalHealthLiteracy/ucm509766.htm

We have not received any reports from customers regarding these meals, and are taking these steps out of an abundance of caution. However, if your pet has consumed the recalled product and has any of the above symptoms, please contact your veterinarian if they persist.

We are recommending that you inspect your inventory of Darwin’s meals to determine if you have any left from the lot listed above. If any of the above product is still in your inventory, please take the following steps:

  1. Write down the lot number, date/time of manufacture and quantity of any product from the above lot remaining in your inventory
  2. Dispose of the product by placing it in a plastic bag, then placing the bag in the trash in a secure manner
  3. Contact us at productsafety@darwinspet.com to confirm that you have taken the above steps and to arrange for replacement of any unused product. Please note the following:
    • Your name and address (or customer number)
    • The date and time of manufacture and quantity of food from this lot that you have remaining in your inventory
    • Confirmation that you have disposed of it

We anticipate that some of our customers will have questions or concerns regarding this matter. We welcome the opportunity to talk with you about it. Toward that end, we have set up a special toll-free number for you to call: 866-832-8319 (Monday-Friday from 6am to 6pm, and Saturday 7am-3pm Pacific Time).  Please note that we may not be able to talk with each of you at once, so we do ask that you be patient, particularly if your issue is not of an urgent nature.

We regret any concern and/or inconvenience that this causes you.  We are taking steps to reduce the opportunity for this to occur again.

Sincerely,

Gary Tashjian
Founder and President
Darwin’s Natural Pet Products

 

20 Comments

20 Comments

  1. Chris

    December 8, 2017 at 9:39 am

    Don’t they do the tests prior to shipping instead of catching this when customers have the product?

    • Jeri

      December 8, 2017 at 10:46 am

      Darwin’s uses Bacteriophages. Not sure how this potential contamination was caught, but kudos to them for being proactive. Potential doesn’t mean it is contaminated, but they are being cautious.

      • Chris

        December 8, 2017 at 7:18 pm

        Thanks Jeri. I’m not familiar with that but how long do those take to show positive so it could be used before customers have already fed their dogs the product in question?

          • Chris

            December 8, 2017 at 11:55 pm

            I browsed that article, interesting comparisons between this method and HPP, also checking the comments. I guess where I’m a bit lost is the company does the method but then catches a potential for salmonella after it’s in customers’ hands. Why can’t each production batch be held until testing for salmonella or potential of it is completed and then if all is good ship the product but not before?

      • Jane Democracy

        December 9, 2017 at 3:48 am

        Hmmm very interesting… I’m curious to know how they are using Bacteriophages? Are they using them as a way of controlling the bacterial load in their raw food?

        • Jeri

          December 9, 2017 at 2:02 pm

          See above posted link.

          • Jane Democracy

            December 9, 2017 at 4:35 pm

            Sorry, I realized that later. My bad…
            Chris – I’m thinking they release the product based on the historical data they have for effectiveness of a certain quantity of the Bacteriophage spray (over a certain amount of time) in reducing bacterial population of each type of raw product they produce. This would not always be foolproof but allows them to ship instead of holding on to product which would limit production capabilities. They still test but the result may not be available until the product has shipped.
            I wonder how long the bacteriophage takes to reduce the population to undetectable levelsl since the bacterial load of incoming raw meat would be variable.

  2. Mary Vedder

    December 8, 2017 at 12:36 pm

    Where are these products sold and distributed? Trying to determine if I need to alert folks in Nebraska …

    • Chris

      December 8, 2017 at 7:14 pm

      Ships to customer address under subscription plan

  3. Fran

    December 8, 2017 at 2:38 pm

    My dog died almost 2 years ago from their food. He had cancer, doing well until I feed him their food for liver cancer. Took him right out!!! They fought and deny it all! It finally caught up with them! Bad company, shouldn’t be in the raw food business and selling raw food for sick dogs. Heartbreaking! They were warn and didn’t care, greed! A lot of bad write ups with Darwin, they try to have it blocked on certain websites, people were trying to tell other people what happen to their dogs. So very sad and heartbreaking a lot of dogs suffered or died.

    • Chris

      December 8, 2017 at 7:16 pm

      I’m sorry to hear about your dog. Did you do a report to FDA at the time and keep some of the food in your freezer for testing?

    • Jeri

      December 8, 2017 at 8:53 pm

      I am so sorry to hear about your dog. However, I’m a bit surprised that your vet put your dog on a liver diet rather than a ketogenic diet. I know that Dr. Barbara Royal has done the Rx diets and that she can be trusted. I was unaware that the liver diet would really be a benefit for cancer dogs since the liver diet, which my own dog was on up until he passed of unrelated issues, is primarily for liver issues. (other than cancer, as I understand it). Cancer is an entirely different and more difficult disease than one specific organ. It’s VERY important to eliminate carbs from the diet and the second ingredient on the liver diet is white potato….so again, very surprised that a vet would put a dog on the liver diet for liver cancer. I know of no bad write ups but I do understand how hard it is to lose a pet, having just lost one myself. It’s quite a jump, though, to determine that the diet or the company was to blame. I have had nothing but compassion from them, so I certainly would not agree with your assessment. Sometimes we look for someone to blame when really circumstances just lined up in such a way to take our pets from us and no one is truly to blame. Again, I sympathize with your loss.

      • Barb Reynolds

        December 8, 2017 at 9:14 pm

        Jeri, Fran has no mention of Liver diet in her post. Maybe read the post again. she mentions Liver cancer.

        • Jeri

          December 8, 2017 at 10:48 pm

          There is a Rx diet for liver disease. I read her post. I would presume this is what she gave since she said it was “for liver cancer”. That would be the most obvious link….which is why I said what I did. Quote:”…until I fed him their food for liver cancer.” What other diet would she be feeding that would have anything to do with the liver? Why would Darwin’s be necessary to feed unless the vet assigned it for the liver Rx diet?? She can correct me if I’m wrong.

        • Fran

          February 13, 2018 at 11:05 am

          Because It’s obvious she works for them! All you get from this bad company is smoke & mirrors, and way too much BS. Money is their bottom line, not dogs! Stay far away from them, very far away!!!

          • Fran

            February 13, 2018 at 11:10 am

            Wanted to reply to Barb Reynolds, not Jeri

  4. Terri

    December 9, 2017 at 9:13 pm

    My Dogs have been on Darwin’s for almost a year and I have never had an issue., Where can I find complaints? I only purchase the beef and chicken. I honestly need to start making it myself considering the price I pay for their beef.

  5. Marie

    October 20, 2018 at 2:40 am

    My friend’s dog got sick on this. They did not take the tests info given or take it seriously..then this came out. Poor dog suffered because of the salmonella poisoning. It was pretty bad. They way they did not take her seriously was terrible.

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