RECALL ALERT: Evanger's Dog Food Found to Have Euthanasia Drug, 5 Lots Recalled

Evanger’s, one the oldest family-owned pet food canneries in the U.S., is recalling five lots of its biggest seller, its 12-ounce cans of “Hunk of Beef” out of “an abundance of caution.” The move comes after five pugs from the same household in Washington state were sickened on New Year’s Day from the product, which was purchased at a pet store in Washougal, Wash. One of the dogs, Talula, eventually died from ingesting pentobarbital, a drug most often used to euthanize pets, which was found in the dog food. This was the only reported incident and is the first recall in Evanger’s 82 years, according to the company.

“Although nearly all product involved in this recall have already been consumed by pets without incident, we have decided to initiate the recall as a proactive measure against the remote possibility of any illness,” the company said in a statement on Friday.

The company says it has no idea how the drug ended up in the food, especially since it sources its raw materials from USDA-inspected facilities. Most other cases where the drug has turned up in pet products involved dry pet food from companies that source ingredients from rendering plants. Evanger’s said it doesn’t use rendered product in its canned food. In light of what happened, Evanger’s has terminated its relationship with the unnamed supplier of the beef used in its “Hunk of Beef” product.

“Despite having a relationship for forty years with the supplier of this specific beef, who also services many other pet food companies, we have terminated our relationship with them and will no longer purchase their beef for use in our Hunk of Beef product,” the company said in a statement. “As Hunk of Beef is a very unique product, requiring very specific cuts of meat, this supplier’s meat was used in no other products.”

Back in 2002, the FDA released a report that stated “low levels of exposure to sodium pentobarbital (pentobarbital) that dogs might receive through food is unlikely to cause them any adverse health effects.” Since the drug is most often used on shelter animals there were fears that euthanized dogs and cats had gotten into the pet food supply chain, but according to the 2002 FDA report limited testing done on pet food turned up no dog or cat DNA in the products tested. A 2014 study at Southern California’s Chapman University that analyzed 52 different pet foods found that 16 of them contained meat from a species not listed and one contained DNA from a species that could not be identified.

While pentobarbital was only found in a single lot of the dog food, Evanger’s is recalling all lot numbers that start with 1816E03HB, 1816E04HB, 1816E06HB, 1816E07HB, 1816E13HB and have an expiration date of June 2020. The cans were all made the week of June 6 to 13, 2016. The products were sold online and in retail locations in 15 states: Washington, California, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, according to the FDA. Consumers with questions may contact the company at 1-847-537-0102 between 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central Time, Monday through Friday.

Evanger’s, in addition to paying for all the veterinary bills for the dogs that were sickened and plans to make a donation to a local shelter in honor of Talula the Pug, according to the company’s statement.

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