Dog Food Recall as Serious Warning Issued to Pet Owners

Dog and cat owners are being warned after a food company recalled some of its products sold for kittens and puppies.

Pet food company Blue Ridge Beef has issued a recall alerted by food inspectors to incidents of salmonella and listeria.

The company, which distributes the food in 33 states across the US, said the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services found the two illnesses during inspections of its Kitten Grind, Kitten Mix and Puppy Fever products.

Inspectors tested “a lot of each of the products” to find harmful bacteria, which can cause both people and pets to get sick. Blue Ridge said “out of an abundance of caution the company is recalling all lots with use-by dates between N24 1124 to N24 1224.”

The numbers are found on silver tabs at the end of the tubes, according to the company, and were distributed between November 14 and December 20.

Blue Ridge Beef asked consumers to remove the products “and destroy the food in a way that is inaccessible to children, pets, and wildlife.” Consumers can contact the company located in the Tar Heel State for a full refund if they purchased one of the problematic products.

Newsweek Blue Ridge Beef has been approached by email for comment. On its website, Blue Ridge Beef says it uses flash-frozen meat with “no additives or preservatives” because “science is not better than nature.”

The family-owned business added: “When people change things from their natural state to increase profits, food is no longer ‘real’. It becomes a man-made imitation.”

The affected items are “sold primarily in retail stores” in Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and Virginia.

Warning to pet owners, Blue Ridge said: “Pets with Salmonella and Listeria infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only loss of appetite, fever, and abdominal pain. Infected but healthy pets can become carriers and infect other animals or people.”

No illness has been reported, according to a company statement, also posted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

This month’s recall comes amid several recalls possibly linked to Salmonella this year.

Six children and one adult became ill after coming into contact with salmonella earlier this year, according to a joint statement by the FDA and the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in November.

Mid America Pet Food is voluntarily recalling all products with a best before date of October 31 of the following year.

Victor Super Premium Dog Foods, Eagle Mountain Pet Food, Wayne Feeds Dog Food and “two varieties” of Member’s Mark pet foods were also recalled.

The contamination of Blue Ridge Beef is not the same as the one that caused the recall on October 27 of this year, which was related to a salmonella outbreak. The FDA notified Blue Ridge Beef that the Breeders Choice 2lb it distributed between August 9 and August 25 tested positive.