Darwin’s Pet Food Contamination…again – LexBlog

Oh Darwin’s….here we go again.

Yet again, the FDA has issued a “Do not feed certain lots of Darwin’s Natural Pet Products” warning. It’s a pretty regular occurrence.

And, once again, Darwin’s is dragging their feet.

In July, Darwin’s ignored an FDA request to recalls diets contaminated with E. coli O157 and Salmonella, two serious foodborne pathogens that can cause disease in pets and people.

This advisory is due to contamination with Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes. These two bacteria were found in different food samples, after investigation that was launched because of a consumer complaint. Presumably, that complaint was based on someone (pet or person) getting sick, but details aren’t stated.

The implicated diet is frozen 2 pound packages of certain lots of Darwin’s BioLogicals All-Natural & Grain Free Beef Recipe for Dogs. (I’d wonder if there’s broader risk though, based on the frequency of contamination of their products and the fact that Listeria, in particular, could be cross-contaminating through processing equipment.)

FDA recommended that the products be recalled. In response, the company did not recall the diets but (apparently? maybe?) sent a letter to consumers notifying them about the Listeria issue, but not Salmonella.

So, they didn’t recall and provided only partial information. Also, I’d wonder who they actually contacted and how? Maybe they contacted everyone that ordered the product online. That would be possible if all their sales are direct to consumer. It’s unclear, though, as is what they may have actually said. I can’t see anything on their website about this issue. The FDA notice says “The firm reportedly sent a letter…”, suggesting FDA hasn’t actually seen what the company did, or if they actually did anything.

FDA also says “Although Arrow Reliance may have notified its customers that it is withdrawing the two lots for L. mono, the firm has not yet provided sufficient documentation to the FDA to show that this action has removed affected product from the marketplace and customers’ freezers.  Consumers may want to check Darwin’s BioLogics All-Natural & Grain-Free Beef for Dogs products for the affected lot numbers prior to feeding to pets.”

If you have any of the implicated diets, don’t feed them and dispose of them safety. Personally, I’d say the same for non-implicated diets from this company because of their repeated contamination issues and lack of adequate response.

Any regular reader will know I have concerns about raw diets. There’s no evidence they provide a benefit over an appropriate commercial or cooked diet, and they create risk to the pet and people around it. I’m pragmatic enough to know that people will continue to use them, so I focus on risk reduction in situations where raw diets are fed. That’s why we have a raw diet info sheet. In addition to the standard recommendation of using good basic hygiene practices and choosing a high pressure pasteurized diet, I’d add “don’t use products from companies that have recurrent FDA safety advisories”.