Evanger’s Dog & Cat Food is voluntarily recalling specific lots of its Hunk of Beef product due to potential Pentobarbital contamination, which was detected in one lot of Hunk of Beef Au Jus.
Pentobarbital can affect animals that ingest it, and possibly cause side effects such as drowsiness, dizziness, excitement, loss of balance, or nausea, or in extreme cases, possibly death.
The specifically-identified lot numbers (as detailed below) of cans of 12-oz Hunk of Beef being voluntarily recalled were distributed to retail locations and sold online in the following States and were manufactured the week of June 6 – June 13, 2016:
- Washington
- California
- Minnesota
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Michigan
- Wisconsin
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- New York
- Massachusetts
- Maryland
- South Carolina
- Georgia
- Florida
Although pentobarbital was detected in a single lot, Evangers is voluntarily recalling Hunk of Beef products that were manufactured the same week, with lot numbers that start with:
- 1816E03HB
- 1816E04HB
- 1816E06HB
- 1816E07HB
- 1816E13HB
Each of these have an expiration date of June 2020. The second half of the barcode reads 20109, which can be found on the back of the product label.
The subject recall affects 5 lots of food that were produced from its supplier’s lot of beef, which is specifically used for the Hunk of Beef product and no other products.
To date, it has been reported that five dogs became ill and 1 of the five dogs passed away after consuming the product with lot number 1816E06HB13.
Evanger’s is proactively issuing a recall voluntarily so as not to risk potential exposure to pentobarbital in the product.
All Evanger’s suppliers of meat products are USDA approved. This beef supplier provides us with beef chunks from cows that are slaughtered in a USDA facility. We continue to investigate how this substance entered our raw material supply.
Because the company sources from suppliers of meat products that are USDA approved, and no other products have had any reported problems, we are not extending the recall to other supplier lots.
This is the first recall for Evanger’s in its 82 years of manufacturing.
Although it has been verified that little or no product remains on store shelves, if consumers still have cans with the aforementioned lot numbers, he or she should return it to the place of purchase for a full refund.
Consumers with questions may contact the company at 1-847-537-0102 between 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM Central Time, Monday - Friday.
