Don’t Feed your Dog Evanger’s Dog Food!
Evanger’s products are often sold in pet food stores in the section that includes better brands. The labels of this brand are certainly assuring, as the company markets their products as being made from high quality meats and as being very nutritious. But not so many years ago, the company experienced investigations and recalls that proved the products to be anything but healthful for dogs.
Are Recalls to be Expected?
Many brands have recalls at some point or another, often these recalls are for reasons such as E. coli or Salmonella being present on the food. Such contaminants aren’t good since the owners’ handling the food can become sick from these organisms, but many feel that dogs with healthy immune systems may eat them without any issues (these are animals that can bury something and dig it up and eat it three days later often without any issues).
Preferably, a company would never have any recalls because their foods would never have any problems, but even companies with good safety standards can have mess ups. Even a company as dedicated to producing quality pet food as the Honest Kitchen had a recall in 2013 over concerns of Salmonella contamination (https://wayback.archive-it.org/7993/20170406075620/https://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ArchiveRecalls/2013/ucm340669.htm).
Some recalls should have never happened in the first place and, in my own opinion, are unforgivable. This is the case with Evanger’s dog food, which has had to recall lots of food more than once because of pentobarbital contamination. Pentobarbital is a barbiturate that is used in large doses to euthanize animals. The FDA requires that any pet food contaminated with this substance be pulled from the market.
Recalls of Evanger’s Due to Pentobarbital Contamination:
Company integrity is important to assure products are safe and healthful for our pets.
As a barbiturate, pentobarbital can produce adverse effects in animals that consume it. This was the case when 5 dogs from the same house all became sick after eating an affected Evanger’s product. The dogs developed neurological problems after being fed the food, and one of the dogs needed to be euthanized because of complications from the tainted food. This led to the contents of the can that was fed to the dogs to be tested for pentobarbital, which lead to further investigation. (https://wayback.archive-it.org/7993/20180907191822/https://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/NewsEvents/CVMUpdates/ucm542265.htm) Here is the list of pentobarbital contaminations that were caught in 2017 (from the FDA’s website https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/questions-answers-contaminants-pet-food)
- 3/3/17: Evanger’s Pet Food and Against the Grain Voluntarily Recalls Additional Products Out of Abundance of Caution due to Potential Adulteration with Pentobarbital
- 2/14/17: Against The Grain Pet Food Voluntarily Recalls One Lot of Pulled Beef Due to Potential Adulteration with Pentobarbital
- I include this recall here because at this time Against the Grain pet food was manufactured from the same supply Evanger’s used in the same facility.
- 2/3/17: Evanger’s Voluntarily Recalls Hunk of Beef Because Of Pentobarbital Exposure in one Batch of Food
Evanger’s False Claims about USDA Approved Ingredients:
Evanger’s proudly stated that their meats came from USDA approved sources. Yet the FDA found this to be completely false. Here is a portion of the FDA article from February 17, 2017:
In its recent press release announcing a limited product recall, Evanger’s Dog and Cat Food Company, Inc. stated that the beef for its Hunk of Beef product came from a “USDA approved” supplier. However, the FDA reviewed a bill of lading from Evanger’s supplier of “Inedible Hand Deboned Beef – For Pet Food Use Only. Not Fit For Human Consumption” and determined that the supplier’s facility does not have a grant of inspection from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. The meat products from this supplier do not bear the USDA inspection mark and would not be considered human grade.
In this same archived record, the report goes on to say that even though the contaminated dog food was advertised as “beef,” the product was found to also contain pork and equine. These amounts were under 2%, but none-the-less, the product was not all beef as advertised.
Evanger’s was dishonest on the account of advertising their product as being higher quality than it actually was, as well as not being honest about what meats were in their product.
Conclusion:
Sadly, Evanger’s products are still surprisingly found in pet supply stores that tend to only sell higher quality pet foods. Evanger’s has been blatantly dishonest in the advertising of their products and has produced products that are unsafe for dogs. As stated above, certain recalls are to be expected at some point or another for even reputable brands, but false advertisement and the production of products that contain pentobarbital is intolerable. Evanger’s might promote themselves as a company that produces good quality pet foods, but informed consumers should not be fooled by the marketing tactics of a company that has proven from their actions that they are not concerned for the well being of pets.
A Dog's Care 