dogs breakfast – eFoodAlert

Calling All Pets
(and Pet Parents, Too)

Five years after the idea for a book on the pet food industry first took hold of me during a walk on Carmel Beach, I am proud to announce the official launch of TOXIC. From Factory to Food Bowl, Pet Food Is a Risky Business.

If you share your life with a companion animal—especially a dog or cat—you owe it to your pet to educate yourself about the practices that take place behind the scenes in the factories and kitchens where raw, canned, and kibbled pet foods are manufactured.

The reality behind the appetizing package labels and enticing website advertising may shock you. It will certainly disillusion you, as it did me.

The stories and investigations described in TOXIC are drawn from interviews with pet owners, public records, published articles, and FDA inspection reports.

FULL DISCLOSURE: My husband and I are very fortunate to share our home with our 7½ year old Australian Cobberdog, Rutlands Shalom. She thrives on a home-cooked diet that I prepare for her myself.

Word On the Street

As part of the run-up to the publication of TOXIC, I supplied Advance Review copies to a number of colleagues in the writing community. Several of these individuals have already posted their reviews, and I am proud to share a few of their comments here. If you wish to read a complete review, please click on the reviewer’s name or handle.

“As the former global pathogen product manager at a major testing manufacturer, I found this book a fantastic companion to Tainted by Phyllis Entis.” – George Nagle (Amazon USA reviewer)

“TOXIC provides an eye-opening look at the pet food industry’s failures.” – Amy M. Reade (Amazon USA reviewer)

“Well, wow! As with Entis’s first book, TAINTED, this new installment is frighteningly eye opening.” – PeaceLoveHope (an Amazon USA Vine Voice reviewer)

“My thanks to the author for this meticulous insight – would that it weren’t necessary to hold those responsible constantly to account, but it is … and this book does that with aplomb.” – MeandtheMutts (Amazon UK reviewer)

A Peek Inside the Book

If you have read this far, please let me entice you further with a short excerpt from Chapter 9: Pentobarbital’s Pervasive Presence. I interviewed Mark Johnson via email for this story.

Mark was a California cattleman and his dogs were his workforce. He maintained a string of Border Collies and Australian Shepherd mixes to help with herding. Mark first purchased Gravy Train canned dog foods in 2015, using the products as supplemental feedings and as rewards for his dogs. In January 2018, when disaster struck, Mark owned thirteen dogs, ranging from ten months to approximately seven years old. One of his six female dogs was pregnant.

Typically, Mark purchased five cases of dog food weekly, patronizing the local Walmart and Big Lots stores for his supplies. In early January 2018, he replenished his supply of canned food with a purchase of two Gravy Train varieties: Chunks in Gravy with Beef Chunks, and Chunks in Gravy with T-Bone Flavor Chunks. On or about January 12^th, all thirteen dogs fell sick within hours after eating the Gravy Train dog food. He took all of the dogs to his local veterinarian. Within two days of having consumed the dog food, all thirteen dogs were showing signs of kidney failure and were euthanized at the veterinarian’s recommendation.

Although the veterinarian performed a necropsy on one of the dogs, neither he nor Mark reported the dog deaths to the FDA. According to Mark, the veterinarian died shortly after the incident, and Mark was unable to retrieve his files. As of November 2018, Mark was still searching for replacement herding dogs that were in need of a good home.

How To Order TOXIC

TOXIC. From Factory to Food Bowl, Pet Food Is a Risky Business is available in digital format from all major ebook retailers, and can be purchased in paperback on Amazon.

Alternatively, you can have your favorite bookstore order a copy of TOXIC for you.

If you prefer to borrow your reading material from a local library, please consider asking your librarian to add TOXIC to the library’s collection.

Two varieties of Party Animal canned dog food may be contaminated with pentobarbital, according to a test report from Texas A&M University released this week.

The report was provided to blogger Susan Thixton of Truth About Pet Food by a consumer who arranged for the testing after a family pet became ill. The consumer has not been identified. The test report was supplied by Thixton to the Food and Drug Administration April 17.

“The FDA has received test results of this food and is aware of the public statement from Party Animal, and is following up as appropriate,” according to a spokesperson with FDA.

A statement posted on the Party Animal Pet Food website confirms that it was informed by a retailer of the problem on April 13. The company has contacted the two Texas retailers who may have sold the food to the customer, and has requested that all remaining cans of the implicated production lots be isolated and returned for independent third-party testing. Party Animal also will be retrieving all remaining nationwide stock of the two production lots.

Party Animal Inc. is incorporated in California and is headquartered in West Hollywood, CA. Its principals are Chief Executive Officer and Secretary Daryl Alan Abrams and Chief Financial Officer Shawna Denae Abrams.

The implicated products, which the company reports were manufactured in 2015, are:

Cocolicious Beef & Turkey, Lot #0136E15204 04
Cocolicious Chicken & Beef, Lot #0134E15 237 13

In 2015, Party Animal canned pet foods were manufactured by Evanger’s Dog & Cat Food Co. according to an interview published in Pet Product News. Earlier this year, Evangers recalled several months worth of three beef-based canned dog foods after samples from two different products were determined to contain pentobarbital. The recalled products were manufactured in 2015.

According to the statement on its website, Party Animal has “… submitted many recent lots of [its] beef flavors for testing and all have tested negative for any pentobarbital.”

“We have also had extensive discussions with our manufacturer regarding the potential cause of the reported contamination of the 2015 lots,” the company states, “and we will continue with such discussions even as we await testing results for the 2015 lots. In order to ensure adherence to our commitment to the safety of pets, we are also actively re-examining our manufacturing processes.”

This story first appeared in Food Safety News and is reposted here with permission.