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Natural Balance pulls product and offers explanation
By Gina Spadafori
June 18, 2010
Turns out some companies really have learned a few lessons from the pet-food recall. And while no one wants recalls — and especially sick pets or people — you just have to applaud the recent trend away from the late Friday night dump-and-run media releases.
Natural Balance is the latest to level with its customers:
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.
If you have this product, return for a refund.
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THAT is a model recall letter, and the “test and hold” process they employ is state of the art. Kudos to Natural Balance.
Comment by Christie Keith — June 18, 2010 @ 1:46 pm
Awesome!
Comment by Liz Palika — June 18, 2010 @ 2:49 pm
That’s the first recall letter that has made me want to switch TO the brand with the recall!
Comment by C.L.H. — June 18, 2010 @ 9:06 pm
I recently switched to NB Sweet Potato & Bison but hesitated since I know who makes their food. Since they have the “Buy With Confidence Program”, I felt it was comforting and NB was on top of things. So, how did their $900,000 lab fail??? The FDA brought it to their attention.
I was happy to see they posted a visible warning on their front page on their website. I wrote to the President requesting they have a sign-up list for all their customers to receive an email when they have a problem - “Alert & Recall”.
I was told their Club NB members received a letter about the recall before the wire services put it up and the club was started to be able to inform their customers immediately. KUDO’s to the President. All pet food companies should also inform their customers ASAP.
But here’s my problem:
Their website only mentions to sign up for New Products and New Website features. They make no mention about recalls.
“Club NB members are the first to hear about New Products, New Website features. Join Club NB! Enter your email.”
While it’s nice for some people to receive info about their new products, I think it’s more important to receive an email about a serious problem concerning every one of their customers. I limit the amount of emails I receive and would not join the club to receive new product info or new website features. I would definitely sign up for Alerts & Recalls.
I hope NB will have a list just for “Alerts & Recalls”. IMO, ALL pet food companies should also have this system in place.
This can be accomplished with a simple auto-responder email program such as Get-Response or Constant Contact. For pet parents that are not on-line, they can develop a voice mail program to notify their customers that have registered for this alert service through their Customer Service Dept. I would welcome a voice mail and email. Computers sometimes don’t function.
Comment by Sandi — June 20, 2010 @ 8:47 am
I just got an email from FDA on Sunday, 6/20:
Natural Balance Pet Foods, Inc. announces a voluntary recall of Natural Balance Sweet Potato & Chicken Dry Dog Food Due to a Possible Health Risk
Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:26:00 -0500
A little slow wouldn’t you say??
Comment by Sandi — June 20, 2010 @ 10:35 am