Smuckers December 2019 recall was for excess vitamin premix – Truth about Pet Food

March 8, 2020 Kar-Bay-Inc 0 Comments

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The Smuckers recall notice never told consumers the cause of the recall, but FDA Enforcement reports have finally given pet owners an answer.

On December 5, 2019, the J.M. Smucker company announced a recall of Special Kitty canned pet foods. The recall notice gave pet owners no cause for the recall, the company only stated “due to health concerns potentially associated with ingredients believed to not meet the Company’s quality and safety standards.”

Not providing pet owners a cause for the recall left many pet owners in a bad situation. How can pets be treated without veterinarians knowing what caused the ‘health concerns’? And the health concerns were very serious. From the recall notice: “Ingesting impacted product may cause nausea with excessive salivation, diarrhea or vomiting to more severe symptoms including difficulty walking, seizures and, in extreme situations, death.”

Thanks to FDA Enforcement Reports records, we now finally know the cause of this recall:

“due to excessive level of choline chloride in product“

What is choline chloride?

Choline is a required nutrient in both cat and dog foods. Food sources of choline include liver and eggs. Choline chloride is the supplement form of choline used mainly in animal feeds. Used in pet food – the supplement choline chloride is bundled in with vitamin premixes.

In other words, this pet food was recalled because there was an error with a supplement premix. A similar error killed and sickened thousands of pets eating Hill’s Pet Food in early 2019.

The puzzle…

Why didn’t Smucker’s recall announcement initially tell pet owners the recall was due to an excess supplement? Why didn’t the FDA require Smucker’s to inform pet owners to the excessive level of the supplement choline chloride? Recall press releases are required by law to disclose the cause; why wasn’t law enforced?

Adding to the puzzle – the FDA is refusing to provide any Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requested documents on this recall. TruthaboutPetFood.com filed a FOIA request with FDA in mid-December 2019 asking for inspection information regarding this recall and all documents related to this recall. Without disclosing exactly why, FDA has continued to delay providing the requested documents about this recall responding to us “The recall dated 12/5/2019 is ongoing.” Why isn’t FDA providing the documents related to this recall?

Is the supplement supplier in this Smucker’s Special Kitty recall the same supplier that Hill’s Pet Food used that led to recalled dog foods in 2019? If so, what other pet foods does this supplier provide vitamin premix to? Are those foods being tested for vitamin excess? Or, is this a different supplement supplier, indicating there is a quality control problem across the vitamin/mineral premix industry?

Pet owners deserve some answers.

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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