Dog Blog

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The ASPCA is advising pet parents to immediately discontinue the use of Natural Balance Sweet Potato & Chicken Dry Dog Food with the “best by” date of June 17, 2011, in 5- and 28-lb. bags. The manufacturer has announced a voluntary recall due to potential Salmonella contamination. No illnesses have been reported, and the Sweet Potato & Chicken Dry Dog Food with the aforementioned “best by” date is the only product affected. Pet parents should avoid direct contact and wash their hands thoroughly after handling any potentially contaminated food.

On Friday, June 18, Natural Balance Pet Food announced a voluntary recall of certain bags of their Sweet Potato & Chicken Dry Dog food formula. As explained in a letter from president Joey Herrick, random testing by the FDA revealed Salmonella in the Sweet Potato & Chicken Dry Dog food in 5 lb. and 28 lb. bags with the “Best By” date of June 17, 2011.

What makes this recall different from past pet food recalls is the fact that Natural Balance performs in-house testing on all its products prior to distribution, and these lots of dog food tested negative after they were manufactured on December 17, 2009. After notification of the FDA’s findings, Natural Balance sent samples of the same food to an independent lab. These results also came back negative for Salmonella. However, Natural Balance opted to issue the voluntary recall as recommended by the FDA.

Should you be worried about this diet in the future? Probably not. Natural Balance has a pretty good reputation and seems dedicated to quality. I feel confident that the company will continue to closely monitor its products and advance its methods of testing. At this point, no customer complaints have been filed, and it does not appear that any dogs have become sick from the food. All of this being said, it is important to keep up-to-date on the news about any brand of pet food you purchase.

If you have any bags of the recalled dog food, you can return them to the store where they were purchased for a full refund. You may contact Natural Balance with any questions at (800) 829-4493 or info@naturalbalanceinc.com.

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