[font="times new roman, times, serif"]For those of you who have problems getting NB website to load, I am posting their latest update of FAQ. Still don't know if I am comfortable opening my new bag of Ultra and feeding it. Uggg!
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[font="times new roman, times, serif"]Natural Balance Pet Foods,® Inc. Voluntary Nationwide Recall on Specific Venison Dog & Cat Food Products
[/font][font="times new roman, times, serif"]FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
I#%92ve heard the brown rice is the problem, is this true?[/font]
[font="times new roman, times, serif"]NO. The rice and brown rice are not a problem. The problem is rice protein concentrate that is only used in the four products involved in the recall.[/font]
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[font="times new roman, times, serif"] I#%92ve heard the venison is a problem, is this true?[/font]
[font="times new roman, times, serif"]NO. The rice protein concentrate is the problem, and is only used in the the Venison & Brown Rice Dry Dog Food, Venison & Brown Rice Canned Dog Food, the Venison & Brown Rice Formula Dog Treats and the Venison & Green Pea Cat Food. These are the only products involved in the recall.[/font]
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[font="times new roman, times, serif"]What products are affected?[/font]
[font="times new roman, times, serif"]Venison and Brown Rice Dry Dog Formula
Venison and Brown Rice Canned Dog Food
Venison & Brown Rice Formula Dog Treats
Venison and Green Pea Dry Cat Formula[/font]
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[font="times new roman, times, serif"]What products are [color="#0000cc"]NOT AFFECTED?[/font][/color]
[font="times new roman, times, serif"][color="#0000cc"]None of our other products are affected:[/font][/color]
Ultra Premium Formula Dry Dog Food
Reduced Calorie Formula Dry Dog Food
Ultra Premium Formula Dry Cat Food
Reduced Calorie Formula Dry Cat Food
Sweet Potato & Fish Dry Dog Food
Potato & Duck Formula Dry Dog Food
Organic Formula Dry Dog Food
Vegetarian Formula Dry Dog Food
Turkey Formula Dog Food Rolls
Beef Formula Dog Food Rolls
Lamb Formula Dog Food Rolls
Beef Formula canned dog food
Chicken Formula canned dog food
Lamb Formula canned dog food
Liver Formula canned dog food
Duck and Potato Formula canned dog food
Sweet Potato & Fish canned dog food
Eatables Irish Stew canned dog food
Eatables Hobo Chili canned dog food
Eatables Southern Style Dumplin#%92s with Gravy
Chinese Take-Out W/Sauce
Ultra Formula canned cat food
Turkey & Giblets Formula canned cat food
Ocean Fish Formula canned cat food
Venison & Green Pea canned cat food
Chicken &Liver Pate Formula canned cat food
Tuna w/ Shrimp Formula canned cat food
Salmon Formula canned cat food
Indoor Cat Formula canned cat food
Roll-A-Rounds Dog Treats
Sweet Potato & Fish Formula Treats
Potato & Duck Formula Treats
Crunch-E-Bones Treats
Lamb Formula Frozen Loaf
Beef Formula Frozen Loaf
Chicken Formula Frozen Loaf
Raw Chicken Formula
Raw Beef Formula
What products have rice protein concentrate?
Venison and Brown Rice Dry Dog Formula
Venison and Brown Rice Canned Dog Food
Venison & Brown Rice Formula Dog Treats
Venison and Green Pea Dry Cat Formula
How did this happen?
From time to time we evaluate our formulas and look for ways to improve them. We recently looked at the Venison dry formulas and thought that adding another protein source would improve the formula. Unfortunately, the rice protein concentrate was contaminated with melamine.
How can we trust your other foods?
We do NOT use rice protein concentrate in any other products in our product line.
We do NOT use wheat gluten in any of our dog or cat foods, except for Crunch-E-Bones, which is being discontinued.
Why don#%92t you make your own food? There is virtually no company, large or small in the U.S. that makes 100% of its own food because
There are many expert companies that specialize in contract manufacturing, and we work with two of the best.
These co-packers make the food under contract to the company#%92s specifications of proprietary formulas.
We have been working with the same manufacturers for over 10 years.
Why aren#%92t you using lot codes for the recall? Ignoring lot numbers and date codes is the fastest way for us to get potentially affected product off the shelves.
Waiting for lot numbers and date codes would have been more precise but would have delayed the process.
The Venison & Brown Rice Dry Dog Food, Venison & Brown Rice Canned Dog Food, the Venison & Brown Rice Formula Dog Treats and the Venison & Green Pea Cat Food contain the rice protein concentrate that is linked to the problem.
How were you able to act so quickly? We acted so quickly because our Registered Veterinary Technician/ Customer Service Representative received six calls on April 12th (Thursday) and April 13th (Friday) all from dog families who had started using a “new” bag of our Venison & Brown Rice Formula Dry Dog Food. Because we never see a cluster of six phone calls about one of our products we decided Friday afternoon that there must be a problem with the newest batch of the dog formula even though we did not know what the problem was. We decided at that time to initiate testing to try to determine the problem, but at the same time, we decided to stop the further distribution of the Venison Dog and Venison Cat dry formulas, as we received one call from a cat family on Friday. Calls were made to Pet Co and our distributors to stop distribution of the food and to start contacting our retailers to pull the affected foods off the shelves, while we monitored calls over the weekend.
What is melamine? Melamine is a strong organic base with the chemical formula C3H6N6.
Melamine is used in the production of plastic ware and as a long acting nitrogen source for fertilizer.
Melamine is not used in the production of human or pet food.
Melamine is considered a contaminant in any food production
How did melamine get into your food? We don#%92t know. It appears that the rice protein concentrate used was contaminated by an unknown source. This is an ongoing FDA investigation.
When will you have new Venison products available? Venison & Brown Rice Canned Dog Food:
We expect to be able to have test results clearing our Venison Canned Dog food within a few days. The product will be available after these results are confirmed. Venison & Brown Rice Formula Dog Treats:
We expect to be able to have test results clearing our Venison & Brown Rice Formula Dog Treats within a few days. The product will be available after these results are confirmed. Venison & Brown Rice Formula Dry Dog Food:
Two to three weeks. Venison & Green Pea Dry Cat Food:
Four to six weeks.
Are Rice, Rice Flour, Rice Bran and Brown Rice affected by the contaminated rice protein concentrate? NO.
Rice, rice flour, rice bran and brown rice have no relationship to the rice protein concentrate.
The concentrate is a specially prepared product and is not associated with the rice, rice flour, rice bran and brown rice. BACK TO [linkhttp://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/faq.html#TOP]TOP[/link]