Shared by a pet owner, the following is laboratory analysis of Answers Straight Beef and Detailed Beef Dog Food.
Gentamicin is an antibiotic, illegal for use in cattle (due to residues remaining in the animal). Federal regulations allow for minimal residues of gentamicin in other livestock animals…
…but again gentamicin is not allowed to be administered to cattle and should never be present in a beef based pet food.
Another issue of concern is the significantly high levels found. The Straight Beef product tested at 320 ppm, the Detailed Beef product tested at 72 ppm – significantly above the 0.1 ppm allowed level in muscle tissues from poultry and swine.
To our knowledge, Answers Pet Food has not responded to these lab results.
It is unknown if a recall will be issued on these products. Multiple pets became very ill (but thankfully survived). Should we be provided with more information, it will be shared.
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.
Whatâs in Your Petâs Food?
Is your dog or cat eating risk ingredients? Chinese imports? Petsumer Report tells the ârest of the storyâ on over 5,000 cat foods, dog foods, and pet treats. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Click Here to preview Petsumer Report. www.PetsumerReport.com
Find Healthy Pet Foods in Your Area Click Here
The 2025 List
Susanâs List of trusted pet foods. Click Here to learn more.
The 2024/25 Treat List
Susanâs List of trusted pet treat manufacturers. Click Here to learn more.
Linda M Kelly
April 22, 2025 at 2:51 pm
I said that is an old drug used in the beef/dairy industry. So someone had it handy and used it on a probably very sick animal and I bet it was in dairy! Not a good thing!
The pet food industry is such a lucrative money maker for corporations yet very poorly organized and “not transparent”!
Hope Williams
April 22, 2025 at 3:49 pm
What were the symptoms of the ill dogs that resulted from eating these Answers formulas? Happy they survived but sorry they and their humans needed to suffer. Iâm sure others would want to know the symptoms too. Hope
Angela
April 22, 2025 at 3:53 pm
I never heard of this dog food but when I looked them up, it appears Answers Pet Food had issues with salmonella and listeria and withdrew the offending food last year. I didn’t find anything about the abxs.
Carol Conway
April 22, 2025 at 3:56 pm
Jeez, I thought this company was one of the better/best pet food companies. Did they “cheap” out using a cheaper/different beef supplier? I never thought about rendering until my dog was poisoned by an AWFUL lying company! I have learned so much thanks to Susan!! I give my dog Answers goats milk daily, I hope there’s nothing to be concerned with there.
T Allen
April 22, 2025 at 5:56 pm
Unfortunately there could be issues. Same as here, if it’s not for human consumption there is something wrong with it. Human grade is more expensive for a reason. It’s been inspected and tested at least periodically. Rejects are sent to the animal feed business. Dairy animals are more more to infection than meat animals, so more prone to contan trace amounts of antibiotics in the milk if the milk wasn’t dumped for the correct amount of time after treatment. Did you catch the word “dumped”? Yes, dumped somewhere, ie not sold. That’s the reason you find abx residue in milk, and meat. đ
Carol Conway
April 27, 2025 at 9:48 pm
Makes sense, “reject” and “dump” are words we don’t want associated with the food we give our pets. Really sad the pet food industry is so corrupt, even the few regulations are not really enforced as I sadly found out when my dog was poisoned with pentobarbital in a can of “dog food” So, I guess that’s the end of giving my dog Answers or primal goats milk, they both say not for human consumption.
Mischa Recko
April 22, 2025 at 9:26 pm
We feed Answers Straight Beef. In the posted CoA, there is no uniquely identifying details of the batch. The UPC is the same for all Straight cartons and the purchase date does not help narrow it down. Is there any way to get the expiration date of the sample from the lab?
Concerned Pet Parents
susan
April 23, 2025 at 3:29 am
Another reason to make ones’ own dog food from human grade ingredients. Theoretically, there are many ways a dog food company can claim that they use only human grade ingredients and then sneak in substandard ones anyway. There are also a number of expensive, human grade ingredient dog food companies that use little to zero skeletal muscle meat and instead use only organ meat resulting in “balanced” meals that contain very high levels of copper (way higher than in a whole prey model diet). Make your own dog food!
CK
April 25, 2025 at 9:01 am
ARE THERE ANY ‘EUROPEAN’ BRANDS OF CAT FOOD READILY AVAILABLE HERE IN
THE USA?
Very Different: US Pet Food and EU Pet Food https://truthaboutpetfood.com/very-different-us-pet-food-and-eu-pet-food/
The European Union (EU) pet food/animal feed regulations are about the same as in the US; the BIG difference is that the EU has learned from past disease outbreaks. The EU enforces law. The US (FDA and each State Department of Agriculture) does not.
Maggie
May 6, 2025 at 2:30 pm
CK, Farmina is an Italian brand of kibble and canned food that is widely sold in the U.S. Buuuuuut…..Farmina uses Euro-sourced boar in some formulas and if you research the still-present effects of Chernobyl in Central Europe, you’ll see that hunted boar meat is not supposed to be consumed by humans because it is still concentrating radiation, all these years later…so why would farmed be any better? And there have been some serious quality issues reported with Farmina over the years, particularly with food made in its Serbian plant. I looked at their food years ago and couldn’t get comfortable with it.
M. Recko
April 25, 2025 at 3:08 pm
Please ask your source to come forward with the Expiration Date for the Straight Beef analysis. Listing the purchased date does no good for issuing a recall or for pet parents to check what they have on stock. I tried contacting the lab and only the person that submitted for the test can release that information. Kind of odd they listed an expiration date for one which is trackable, but a purchased date on the other helps no one. If the âpurchased dateâ was meant to be âexpiration dateâ then the product tested was over a year old. Would make a difference in the test results, I donât know? But also, who keeps track of purchased dates from over a year ago but doesnât have the actual expiration date of the product?
M. Recko
April 25, 2025 at 5:49 pm
Has the lab report been fact checked? I reached out to the lab to get the expiration date of the Straight Beef carton, since it was very odd that the Detailed carton has an expiration date which could lead to the tracking of the batch, but the Straight carton does not. The Straight only has a purchase date from a year ago. Who tracks purchase dates and not expiration dates? There is no way to track a purchase date to have the company issue a recall. The lab will only give information to the client who submitted. As a pet owner that feeds this food and has an IBD dog that has only done well on this food, I am extremely concerned to see information like this, but also question the source and truth of whatâs been posted.
answers
May 14, 2025 at 8:10 pm
Answers statment sent to retailers & distributors:
In response to a recent customer service complaint, Answers Pet Food believes it is important to set the record straight and educate the public on issues that have been raised by an individual about our products. Answers Pet Food takes every communication and contact with our customers seriously and attempts to respond in the most honest, forthright manner as quickly as possible. Since we began 16 years ago, we have always cared first and foremost about the health of your pets. We developed a unique process to promote and maintain good health world-wide for the pets that eat our products. Answers Pet Food uses no antibiotics in our food and only uses USDA, no added antibiotic or hormone, proteins. Throughout our history, science has always been a guiding principle and will continue to be so. We have received thousands of testimonials to our products and continue to receive them daily indicating the help that our products have provided to pets everywhere.
A single person has made a claim that our product has in some way caused harm to this individualâs pets. Without any basis in science, medicine or fact, this individual has made this claim. We have requested from that individual the medical and toxicological information so we can determine how best to proceed to determine what, if any, causal connection exists with our products. At this time, the information received is not only wholly unreliable but it is a claim without any basis. To date, we have not received any credible independent veterinary, toxicological, scientific or causal connection between our products and injury to any animals.
We have sought independent information from medical and scientific professionals to properly evaluate the claim that has been made. At Answers, we use licensed, highly-trained, skilled and experienced veterinarians and scientists to ensure and assure that our products are of the highest quality. Although we continue to request information from this individual, we have received no information with any medical or scientific information that indicates that our products have caused harm to any pets. In the meantime, we will continue to independently investigate any customer concern, including this one.
For almost 16 years, we have been considered the leader in our industry, and we continue to promote the idea that healthy feeding leads to healthy pets. At Answers, we are always saddened when any pet becomes ill, and we believe that the science behind our products aids in great health for your pets.
The complaint that we have received from the individual mentioned above references, without any connection to, a voluntary withdrawal of a limited number of our products in 2024. The reason for the withdrawal was made public with the assistance of Answers. The basis for the voluntary withdrawal was due to a disagreement that Answers has with the Food and Drug Administration regarding the argument of the quantification of pathogens and has nothing to do with the claim being made now. Neither the FDA nor any other agency ever found that our product caused injury or harm to any animal. Answers Pet Food is a raw, fermented product which includes a type of probiotic formula devised by our scientists over years of scientific research and testing. We believe that the feeding of raw, fermented products is a much healthier alternative to kibble or what is, actually, cooked foods for your pets.
At Answers, we stand behind our products and believe they are the healthiest option available for your pets. Our 16 years of existence and thousands of happy pet owners are a testament to our high standard and healthy products. Our products have always been, and will continue to be the same high-quality products that you expect from us, and we look forward to many years of providing the best products on the market for your pets.