On Fri, Jun 18, 2010 at 2:24 PM, Sherri Artz Gilbert
<sartzgilbert@wcet.info> wrote:
"June 18, 2010
Dear Natural Balance Family,
My name is Joey Herrick, and I'm the President of Natural Balance Pet Foods.
My wife and I started the company 22 years ago and began by delivering to
stores and rescues out of our family car. Over the years, we have been
fortunate enough
to have Natural Balance become a highly respected company, known for great
products and working with the best pet food distributors and stores in the
business.
That's why it pains me to have to talk about a recall.
Our 5 lb. and 28 lb. Sweet Potato & Chicken Dry Dog Food, manufactured on
December 17, 2009 with a "Best By" date of June 17, 2011 is being
voluntarily
recalled. A random sampling of this product tested positive for Salmonella
by the FDA.
In my mind, I asked, "How can this happen? I spent over $900,000 putting in
our
laboratory to test our products before we release them." We tested samples
from the
production run when it was manufactured six months ago, and the results came
back
negative. Upon hearing from the FDA, I immediately went to our Director of
Customer
Service, a licensed Registered Veterinary Technician, to check call logs for
any
complaints with this product. Our Customer Service department closely tracks
and
monitors complaints for any potential issues, and I heard no reports in our
weekly meetings, so
I was not surprised when I found we did not have a single complaint about
this
product. Next, I immediately pulled the retention samples for this product
to be sent
to an independent third party laboratory. The samples were sent to Zoologix,
a
laboratory that does real-time PCR testing, the most sensitive type of
testing for
Salmonella. Those test results also came back negative (click here
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103490582322&s=15160&e=001CmCU-1y5yeWaOA4T7WZXdJnWwMOh-ofaZI9-vU4EnQwE8YaSDyKoib82Og06OGGP8Cfjs0hRmVaSt4uk9qabFE5Lmq-9GF9jqpE2Omys1QUArcY9uXv8GN4EXVt6-kvhczlnwXfh6wiVphZ7u4SfTOjoYqGvXQZG]
to see results). I reported our test results and call logs to the FDA, but
due to the positive result they had found, they recommended a recall.
I am sure your dogs are like my dogs - they sleep on our beds, they watch TV
with us and if they are lucky enough, they come to work with us. This is why
we
are following the FDA's recommendation and issuing a voluntary recall. Since
we have not
had any complaints on this product and it was manufactured six months ago, I
expect
that most of it has already been consumed. If there are any bags in your
cupboards, please take them back to the store you shop at for a full refund.
Not all states are affected. The following is a list of those states that
are included in the voluntary recall: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California,
Colorado,
Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi,
Missouri,
Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota,
Texas,
Utah, Washington,Wisconsin and Wyoming.
I believe that we are the only pet food company that has built an in-house
lab as an added check and gives you the test results in real time on our
website.
We hold the finished product in our warehouses for two to three days, until
that
testing is completed. We only release product to be shipped when the testing
is
negative. No testing protocol is perfect, but the alternative is not testing
at all.
That wouldn't work for me. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing we
aren't
testing every product before it goes out, to help make sure our products are
the
best in the business. Any testing is much safer for you and your pets than
the
alternative, which is not testing at all.
Our goal is to have the best and safest pet food on the market. I don't
believe there is a better or safer product than Natural Balance Pet Food.
Yes, we
had an ?isolated incident, but we are continually testing our products and
making
the results available to you. I am proud of our laboratory and will be
adding more
layers of testing as a result of this recall. We have added over a half
dozen
significant improvements over the last three years, and remain committed to
the safety
of our products, and the pets that enjoy them. Our commitment is the same
today as
it was 22 years ago, to make the best pet food in the business.
Click here
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103490582322&s=15160&e=001CmCU-1y5yeWMdp8-YU8UjXJibCP0gahYcGOZhUJ8MKTRoFPEEzz28AOfaq2DFrYepUgfoDa_sJ-0TOES_yD0lT21JaVGdywvGwjbznWI83UFJ960pMStNg1oNPiKwfdWUyZRBULwmza0aBI62xZmMw==]
for details on product potentially affected. If you have any questions,
please do
not hesitate to contact us at (800) 829-4493, or info@naturalbalanceinc.com
[mailto:info@naturalbalanceinc.com].
Yours Truly,
Joey Herrick
President
Natural Balance Pet Foods, Inc."
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