Little Big Cat News Alert!

Is Darwin's pet food unsafe?

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday issued a warning to consumers not to feed three lots of Darwin’s raw cat and dog food, manufactured by Arrow Reliance Inc., of Tukwila, WA due to contamination with Salmonella.

Darwin’s stated “we have not received any complaints from customers who have received products from the same lot numbers of the pet food cited in the FDA notice.” They further state that there is “no risks to pet health.”

I beg to differ. Let me explain.

Darwin’s has a long history of squabbling with FDA over bacteria in their food. They have had several overt (publicly announced) recalls, and at least one “silent” recall in which Darwin’s notified its distributors to remove the products from shelves. In that case, FDA said it was “not confident that the firm’s customer notifications are effective for this ongoing recall." The company has been notified on several other occasions that testing found Salmonella, Listeria, and/or E. coli O128 in their products, but claimed no product had been distributed.

Darwin’s is right that dogs and cats are, in fact, typically quite resistant to Salmonella. The bacteria is common in the environment. Dogs and cats can be carriers without being ill (about 30% of dogs and 20% of cats).

But while it may be that Darwin’s has not received any complaints about these three lots of food, they have had complaints before. One dog, three kittens in one household, and one kitten death were previously reported. So the assertion that there is “no risk” is absolutely false.

In 2018, FDA issued an alert concerning a "history of four recalls of and multiple complaints associated with Darwin's Natural and ZooLogics." (The alert was later withdrawn as resolved.) At the time, Darwin’s stated “While we believe the risk to dogs consuming our products is low, we are sensitive to the FDA’s concern for humans who might become exposed to the pathogens through handling the raw meals.”

Now, however, Darwin’s has gone on offense. Their response was reported by Petfood Industry yesterday:

“At Darwin’s, the health and safety of your pets is our absolute top priority, and we take rigorous steps to support their well-being – including remaining committed to communicating with you, our community.  

With that said, we’re reaching out to share some information about a recent incident regarding the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  

Recently, the FDA issued a public notice regarding some of our products after finding traces of salmonella during routine testing.

It is important to know that salmonella is not typically harmful to pets. Nonetheless, the food samples were flagged under the FDA’s zero-tolerance policy, which is largely designed for human safety and for food that humans will consume, not pets.  

It is also very important to know that we have not received any complaints from customers who have received products from the same lot numbers of the pet food cited in the FDA notice. 

While there are no risks to pet health, we felt it important to notify you regardless. We believe the FDA’s action is wholly unnecessary, and ultimately, based on flawed regulatory decision-making. To prevent a recurrence of this situation, we have taken steps to make this position clear to the agency.  

Darwin’s is confident our meals are safe. We use only high-quality ingredients, sourcing all of our proteins from USDA-inspected facilities.  In addition to a rigid vendor approval program, all of our products are treated in advance of production with an antimicrobial solution to reduce pathogens such as salmonella. Our rigorous sourcing and manufacturing protocols help ensure the safety of our products while maintaining the good bacteria that are crucial to our pets’ gut health and immune systems.  

We’ll be continuing to update on this situation with FAQs and more information regarding the lots tested. If you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to send us an email to safety@darwinspet.com.”

If it were just Salmonella, Darwin’s might be somewhat justified in its attitude. But their issue is specifically S. Typhimurium, the serovar that causes most human illnesses. Moreover, Listeria and shiga toxin-producing E. coli O127 are quite dangerous. The treatment for Listeria is a combination of antibiotics, one of which can cause deafness. There is no effective antibiotic for E. coli O127.

Darwin’s has had other issues in the past, though confidentiality prevents me from discussing them. Let me just say that the company’s attitude has been less than helpful whenever their practices were questioned. Their unwillingness to accept responsibility for anything led me to stop recommending their food many years ago. I just don’t trust them.

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