Natural Selections – eFoodAlert

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising the public not to feed certain lots of Darwin’s Natural Pet Products raw food to their pets after a four-year-old child became ill with E. coli O157:H7.

The contamination came to light after food-safety attorney, William Marler, initiated third-party testing of an previously unopened package of BioLogics All-Natural and Grain Free, Beef Recipe for Dogs found E. coli O157:H7 in the raw, frozen product. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) confirmed that the strain found in the pet food was a match for the strain recovered from the child.

In addition to the E. coli O157:H7-positive sample, the third-party lab recovered Salmonella Infantis and Salmonella Hadar from previously sealed packages of Darwin’s chicken dog food and duck dog food, respectively.

The FDA recommended that Arrow Reliance, Inc. (the manufacturer of Darwin’s Natural Pet Products) recall the product lots that tested positive for E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella; however, the company has not recalled the affected products.

The products in question were manufactured in May or June 2024, were sold frozen, have no expiration date on the label, and could still be in consumers’ freezers. The FDA urges consumers who purchase Darwin’s products to check their freezers for the following three items:

Darwin’s Natural Pet Products, BioLogics All-Natural and Grain Free, Beef Recipe for Dogs:- Lot 10662, MFG Date of May 30, 2024
Darwin’s Natural Pet Products, BioLogics All-Natural and Grain Free, Chicken Recipe for Dogs:- Lot 10683, MFG date of June 05, 2024
Darwin’s Natural Pet Products, Natural Selections Duck Recipe for Dogs:- Lot 10638, MFG date of May 22, 2024

The affected lots of pet food were sold in frozen 2-pound white and clear plastic packages with four separate units. The beef and chicken BioLogics dog food have orange labeling, and the duck Natural Selections dog food has blue labeling. If you have any of these products, please throw them away in a secure container. DO NOT FEED THEM TO YOUR PETS.

Anatomy of an illness investigation

In August 2024, a four-year-old boy living in Utah became ill and was diagnosed with E. coli O157:H7.

The child was hospitalized, and developed a severe case of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), requiring dialysis. He spent a total of six weeks in hospital and is at risk of permanent injury to his kidneys.

As a matter of routine, the strain of E. coli O157:H7 that was recovered from the boy was genetically typed using WGS and, in September 2024, the genetic profile was uploaded to the CDC’s National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database.

Investigations carried out by the health authorities in Utah were unable to find any other related cases or to determine a possible source for the infection. It appeared to be an isolated incident.

In October 2024, the family contacted food-safety attorney, William Marler.

According to information provided to eFoodAlert by Marler, initial reviews of the files did not reveal any clues about the source of the infection. However, when Marler reviewed the files once more, he noted that the family had a dog, and asked about the dog’s health and diet. He learned that the dog exclusively ate Darwin’s pet food, and had begun vomiting one day before the child fell ill. The dog subsequently died in a car accident, so could not be tested, but the family had not discarded the remaining frozen, raw dog food.

Marler arranged for an accredited third-party laboratory to test the sealed packages of food that were still in the family’s freezer. On June 19, 2025, the lab reported that they had found E. coli O157:H7 in a sample of the Darwin’s beef dog food and that the strain was a perfect match to the strain recovered from the Utah boy.

Marler notified the FDA, the Utah health department, the Washington Department of Agriculture (Darwin’s manufacturer is located in Tukwila, WA) and Arrow Reliance, Inc. (the manufacturer) of the lab’s findings.

The FDA sent an investigator to Utah to interview the family, and also tried to locate additional samples of the affected products for testing. Unfortunately, by the time the FDA became involved, there were no retail samples available for testing, nor did the company have any samples from the specified production lots available to test.

And, as has occurred of several prior occasions, Arrow Reliance has not complied with the FDA’s request for a voluntary recall.

What consumers need to know

If you have any of the lots of Darwin’s BioLogics or Natural Selections pet food products listed above, stop feeding the product to your pets and throw it away in a secure container where other animals, including wildlife, cannot access it. Do not donate the food.

The product lot codes are printed on the front of the lower left unit of the package of food. If you no longer have the package or can’t read the lot code, throw the food away.

Consumers who have had the products listed above in their homes should clean and disinfect all pet supplies, including all storage containers, bowls, utensils, food prep surfaces, pet bedding, toys, floors, and any other surfaces that the food or pet may have had contact with, including your refrigerator or freezer. Clean up the pet’s feces in yards, parks, or other places where people or other animals may become exposed. Consumers should thoroughly wash their hands after handling the product or cleaning up potentially contaminated items and surfaces.

Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7 and your pet

Dogs and cats can become infected with STEC, although the symptoms are generally milder than symptoms in people. Dogs and cats infected with STEC can develop watery diarrhea, bloody diarrhea, urinary tract infections, and vomiting. Symptoms may be more severe in pets with weakened immune systems. The infection is rarely lethal in pets, but deaths have been reported in infected dogs. If your pet has symptoms of a STEC infection, consult a veterinarian promptly.

Pets do not need to display symptoms to be able to pass STEC on to their human companions. Whether or not a pet is symptomatic, once STEC gets established in the pet’s gastrointestinal tract, the animal can shed the bacteria when having bowel movements, contaminating their environment.

Pets do not always display symptoms when infected with Salmonella, but signs can include vomiting, diarrhea (which may be bloody), fever, loss of appetite and/or decreased activity level. If your pet has these symptoms, consult a veterinarian promptly. You should also be aware that infected pets can shed the bacteria in their feces without showing signs of being sick.

How to report a pet illness?

People who think their pets have become ill after consuming contaminated pet food should first contact their veterinarians.

The FDA encourages consumers and veterinarians to report complaints about pet food products electronically through the Safety Reporting Portal. Additionally, consumers can visit the SmartHub – Safety Intake Portal – Report a Product Problem (fda.gov) to obtain electronic assistance with submitting a report to FDA.

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The Food and Drug Administration and the Washington State Department of Agriculture are investigating what FDA describes as a “pattern of Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes contamination in raw pet foods manufactured by Arrow Reliance Inc.”

FDA has received a total of six complaints of illness in animals who were fed the raw pet foods, including the death of one kitten. Salmonella recovered from the kitten was indistinguishable from the Salmonella found in a closed package of Darwin’s food from the same lot that was fed to the animal, according to the agency.

People who handle contaminated pet food and anything it touches, including counter tops, utensils and pet bowls, are at risk of contracting infections from pathogens such as Salmonella. Infected pets, which don’t always show symptoms, can transfer Salmonella infection to people.

In addition to the reports of sick pets, FDA reports it is aware of at least three animals that were reported to have been injured by bone shards in Darwin’s pet food.

Arrow Reliance Inc., doing business as Darwin’s Natural Pet Food, issued the latest in a series of recall notices on Saturday.

The company notified its customers of the recall by emails sent only to those customers who purchased the recalled products. No public recall notice was issued, company officials told the FDA, because they only sell products online through direct-to-customer sales.

Included in the Saturday recall were:

ZooLogics Chicken Meals for Dogs, 2-pound, with the lot number 41567, and manufacture date of Nov. 2, 2017; and
ZooLogics Duck Meals for Dogs, 2-pound, lot number 41957, and manufacture date of Nov 16, 2017.

Since October 2016, the company has recalled a total of nine batches of its Natural Selections and Zoologics brands of Meals for Dogs and Meals for Cats, including four batches of its Natural Selections brand of Meals for Dogs recalled on Dec. 4, 2017.

Shortly after the December 2017 recall, one of Darwin’s customers learned that her German Shepherd, Blitz, had become infected with Salmonella. Judy, who asked that her last name not be published, registered a formal complaint with FDA.

Follow-up testing of Blitz by FDA’s Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network confirmed that the dog was infected with Salmonella. In addition, lab analysis of closed packages of Darwin’s pet food obtained by FDA from Judy on Jan. 24 found Salmonella in the product.

“Darwin’s told me it was safe to feed Blitz the (ZooLogics) food because it wasn’t on the recall list they were dealing with back in November/December. Now, three to four months later, they tell me that the same food they assured is safe to eat now has Salmonella,” Judy told Food Safety News.

FDA has conducted two inspections of Darwin’s manufacturing facility since mid-2016. The first was completed on June 30, 2016, and the second on May 31, 2017, according to information received in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Both inspections were classified “No Action Indicated.”

Darwin’s first series of product recalls encompassed three lots of Meals for Dogs manufactured on July 20, July 21 and July 25 in 2016, less than one month following the June 2016 inspection. The company next recalled one batch of Meals for Cats, manufactured on June 1, 2017, one day after the completion of the 2017 FDA inspection.

Based on information received in response to the FOIA request, it does not appear that FDA conducted an inspection following the Meals for Cats recall.

FDA advice to consumers
Consumers should not feed their pets recalled lots of raw pet food manufactured by Arrow Reliance Inc. Consumers who purchased this raw pet food should throw it away. People who think they or their pets have become ill from exposure to contaminated raw pet food should talk to their health care providers or veterinarians.

Consumers who had the recalled Darwin’s products in their homes should clean their refrigerator and clean and disinfect all bowls, utensils, food prep surfaces, pet bedding, toys, floors, and any other surfaces that the food or pet may have had contact with.

Animals can shed the bacteria when they have bowel movements, so it’s particularly important to clean up animal feces in yards or parks where people or other animals may become exposed.

Pet owners who opt to feed their pets a raw diet should consult FDA’s “Tips to Prevent Foodborne Illness from Raw Pet Food.”

Salmonella infection symptoms in people can include diarrhea that lasts for more than three days, or is accompanied by high fever, blood in the stool, or so much vomiting that you cannot keep liquids down and you pass very little urine.

People who think their pets have become ill after consuming contaminated raw pet food should contact their veterinarians. Veterinarians who wish to have dogs tested for Salmonella may do so through the Vet-LIRN Network if the pet is from a household with a person infected with Salmonella.

The FDA encourages consumers to report complaints about this and other pet food products electronically through the Safety Reporting Portal or by calling their state’s FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinators.

This article first appeared on Food Safety News and is reposted here with permission.