FDA issues Warning Letter to Bravo Packing (not Bravo Pet Food)

Following a recall and a FDA consumer warning, FDA issues a Warning Letter to Bravo Packing on March 16, 2020.

Bravo Packing – not the same company as Bravo Pet Food – recalled their Performance Dog products, a frozen raw pet food, in September 2018. A year later, September 2019, the FDA issued a consumer warning regarding Performance Dog Food; “cautioning pet owners not to feed their pets any Performance Dog frozen raw pet food after a sample tested positive for Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes (L. mono).“

The FDA has recently – March 16, 2020 – issued Bravo Packing a Warning Letter. Excerpts from the FDA Warning Letter:

On July 22, July 24, and August 6, 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA or “we”) conducted an inspection of your facility located at 59 N. Golfwood Avenue, Carneys Point, New Jersey, 08069. This inspection was a compliance follow-up inspection to assess any corrections made since your Class I recall of your Performance Dog Food after an FDA sample taken during a 2018 inspection revealed the presence of Salmonella. This letter notifies you of the violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the FD&C Act) that we found during our inspection of your operation.

Our inspection of your plant, including your manufacturing process, revealed several violations of the 21 CFR part 507 CGMP regulation. Specifically:

You did not keep animal food-contact and non-contact surfaces of utensils and equipment cleaned and maintained as necessary to protect against contamination of animal food and animal food-contact surfaces.

Investigators observing your sanitation operations documented that dried food residue was left on equipment used to manufacture raw, frozen, ready-to-eat dog food, despite the equipment being identified as “clean” by an employee.

On July 22, 2019, the exiting end of the auger that feeds the raw ingredient beef into the mixer was observed to have heavy buildup of dried, dark, crusty meat-like material. A film residue was also observed on the sides of the exit chute. According to you, the equipment had been cleaned prior to the start of the inspection. On 7/24/2019, after cleaning had been completed, the elbow portion of the feeder pipe from the mixer to the stuffer hopper had a buildup of dried, dark, crusty meat-like material. The meat-like material had not been removed during the cleaning process, making the cleaning ineffective.

You did not hold animal food for distribution under conditions that protect against contamination and minimize deterioration.

You did not take effective measures to exclude pests from the packing area and to protect against the contamination of animal food by pests.

The FDA Warning Letter also notified Bravo Packing the company did not provide the Agency with “requested distribution information” from the 2018 recall and during follow up inspections in 2019.

To read the full FDA Warning Letter, Click Here.

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food

Become a member of our pet food consumer Association. Association for Truth in Pet Food is a a stakeholder organization representing the voice of pet food consumers at AAFCO and with FDA. Your membership helps representatives attend meetings and voice consumer concerns with regulatory authorities. Click Here to learn more.

What’s in Your Pet’s Food?
Is your dog or cat eating risk ingredients?  Chinese imports? Petsumer Report tells the ‘rest of the story’ on over 5,000 cat foods, dog foods, and pet treats. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. www.PetsumerReport.com

Find Healthy Pet Foods in Your Area Click Here

The 2020 List
Susan’s List of trusted pet foods. Click Here to learn more.