The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an alert to caution pet owners not to feed their animals three lots of Darwin’s Natural Pet Products raw dog food. Samples from these lots tested positive for Salmonella.
Arrow Reliance Inc., doing business as Darwin’s Natural Pet Products, manufactures the raw dog foods. That product is sold online directly to consumers. The FDA collected and analyzed unopened samples of raw dog food from these three lots in response to a consumer complaint.
The FDA considers the actions taken by Arrow Reliance to remove these three lots of raw dog food from the marketplace to meet the regulatory definition of a recall. However, the firm has not issued public notification, and the FDA is not confident that the firm’s customer notifications are effective for this ongoing recall. The FDA continues to work with Arrow Reliance, doing business as Darwin’s Natural Pet Products, on recalling the remaining products from these lots.
Raw dog foods tested positive for Salmonella by FDA officials
On the dog food packaging, the codes for each product are listed in the second group of numbers below the barcode.
The FDA cautioned pet owners about these products:
- Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Chicken Recipe with Organic Vegetables for Dogs: 5309(11)181019, manufactured on October 19, 2018
- Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Chicken Recipe with Organic Vegetables for Dogs: 5375(11)181106, manufactured on November 11, 2018
- Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Turkey Recipe with Organic Vegetables for Dogs: 5339(11)181026, manufactured on October 26, 2018
The FDA is issuing this alert because these three lots of Darwin’s Natural Pet Products raw dog food represent a serious threat to human and animal health and are adulterated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act because they contain Salmonella. Because these products are sold and stored frozen, and the FDA is concerned that people may still have them in their possession.
FDA investigated Arrow Reliance raw pet food
In early 2018, Washington Department of Agriculture and FDA agents began an investigation of raw pet foods manufactured by Tukwila, Washington, USA-based Arrow Reliance.
The federal and state agencies looked into a pattern of Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes contamination in raw pet foods manufactured by Arrow Reliance, specifically Darwin’s Natural and ZooLogics pet foods.
Since October 2016, Arrow Reliance/Darwin’s Natural has initiated at least four pet food recalls and had six reported complaints (some referring to more than one animal) associated with their raw pet food products, including the death of one kitten from a severe systemic Salmonella infection.
On February 13, 2018, FDA alerted pet owners to Arrow Reliance’s pet food safety history. The company has had four recalls and multiple complaints associated with Darwin’s Natural and ZooLogics pet foods. Those products were made by Arrow Reliance, doing business as Darwin’s Natural Pet Products, from October 17, 2016 to February 10, 2018.
In each instance, the company recalled these products after being alerted to positive findings of Salmonella and/or Listeria monocytogenes in samples of their raw pet food products. Arrow Reliance conducted these recalls through personal emails, as opposed to public announcements. The company sells their pet foods directly to consumers through the mail.
History of Arrow Reliance raw pet food recalls
On February 10, 2018, Arrow Reliance/Darwin’s Natural recalled ZooLogics Duck with Vegetable Meals for Dogs (Lot #41957) and ZooLogics Chicken with Vegetable Meals for Dogs (Lot #41567) because the products may be contaminated with Salmonella.
That recall was triggered by a complaint of an adult dog that had recurring diarrhea over a nine-month period. The dog tested positive for Salmonella from initial testing by the veterinarian and by follow-up testing by the FDA’s Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network (Vet-LIRN). The Darwin’s Natural raw pet food that the dog had been fed was also positive for Salmonella.
Arrow Reliance/Darwin’s Natural became aware of the dog's illness and the positive results and initiated a recall on February 10, 2018 by directly notifying its customers via email.
In the case of the kitten’s death, the Salmonella isolated from the animal was analyzed using whole genome sequencing and found to be indistinguishable from the Salmonella isolated from a closed package from the same lot of Darwin’s Natural cat food that the kitten ate.
In addition to reports of illnesses associated with Salmonella contamination in the products, the FDA is aware of complaints of at least three animals who were reportedly injured by bone shards in the Darwin’s Natural raw pet food products.
