Evanger’s Dog and Cat Food of Wheeling, Illinois, USA is voluntarily recalling specific lots of its Hunk of Beef product because of potential contamination with pentobarbital, which was detected in one lot of Hunk of Beef Au Jus, according to FDA. Pentobarbital, a barbiturate, can cause drowsiness, dizziness, excitement, loss of balance, nausea and, in extreme cases, death in animals that consume it.
To date, it has been reported that five dogs became ill and one of the five dogs passed away after consuming the Hunk of Beef Au Jus product with lot number 1816E06HB13.
Lots affected by pet food recall
Although pentobarbital was detected in a single lot, Evangers is voluntarily recalling Hunk of Beef products that were manufactured the same week, with lot numbers that start with 1816E03HB, 1816E04HB, 1816E06HB, 1816E07HB, and 1816E13HB, and have an expiration date of June 2020. The second half of the barcode reads 20109, which can be found on the back of the product label.
The specifically-identified lot numbers of cans of 12-ounce Hunk of Beef being voluntarily recalled were distributed to retail locations and sold online in the following States: Washington, California, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, and were manufactured the week of June 6 to June 13, 2016.
Contamination resulted from pet food supplier’s beef
The recall affects five lots of food that were produced from its supplier’s lot of beef, which is specifically used for the Hunk of Beef product and no other products. Evanger’s is proactively issuing a recall voluntarily for pet food safety reasons, so as not to risk potential exposure to pentobarbital in the product.
All Evanger’s suppliers of meat products are USDA approved. This beef supplier provides Evanger’s with beef chunks from cows that are slaughtered in a USDA facility. The company continues to investigate how this substance entered our raw material supply.
No other products have had any reported problems, Evanger’s is not extending the recall to other supplier lots. This is the first recall for Evanger’s in its 82 years of manufacturing, according to the company.
Although it has been verified that little or no product remains on store shelves, if consumers still have cans with the aforementioned lot numbers, he or she should return it to the place of purchase for a full refund. Consumers with questions may contact the company at 1-847-537-0102 between 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM Central Time, Monday to Friday.
