Evanger’s Dog & Cat Food Co. of Illinois has recalled five lots of its Hunk of Beef canned dog food after five dogs who ate the food got sick on New Year’s Eve, and one died.
After extensive investigation and testing, pentobarbital, a drug used to euthanize animals, was found in one of the lots of dog food, according to Evanger’s website. The drug was thought to have entered the food supply after an animal that was euthanized was then butchered for the dog food.
According to Evanger’s report, there is no requirement to label or identify an animal that has been given pentobarbital to prevent it from getting into the food.
“We feel that we have been let down by our supplier, and … we have let down our customers,” the company said on its website, noting that it has terminated its relationship with the supplier in question.
Pentbarbitol was only found in one of the five lots of food that were recalled, but the others were recalled as a precaution. All of Evanger’s suppliers are FDA approved. Evanger’s is continuing to investigate how the drug got into the dog food. It is Evanger’s first ever recall in 82 years of advertising.
Evanger’s notes that over a month has passed since the dogs became sick and that no other dogs were affected although it is likely that 100,000 cans of food were sold in that time. Company officials said they would pay for all veterinary bills of the sickened dogs and would make a donation to a local animal shelter in honor of the dog that died, according to People magazine.
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