Smallbatch Pet Food Recall - Duck Sliders

We have just been informed that Smallbatch Pets Inc. will be issuing a limited recall on a specific batch of Duck 3lb Raw Food Sliders. This specific batch of product that is being voluntarily recalled is due to the potential of Salmonella and Lysteria Monocytogenes contamination.  

The recalled lot is: 

No human or pet illnesses have been reported to date in connection with this issue.  Also, no other Smallbatch Pets products are affected by this issues.  

To read the official FDA notice, please see below: 

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm492628.htm?source=govdelivery&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

We have spoken directly with the owners of Smallbatch Pets, to do our own research into the recall.  We will continue to be proactive to gather any additional information through this process.  We ensure you that we will continue to update you with any new information.   

Through our conversation, we were made aware that there were 20 cases sold within the greater southern CA market by our local distributor.  As a result, there is a chance that we carried some of this affected lot of product.  Currently, we are examining all our product for this lot code and will remove any products that may be affected. 

If you are, or know any consumer, in possession of food from this lot, please dispose or return the food to our stores. If this was purchased at any of our locations, we will replace, exchange or refund the product for you.  We stand behind our products and want you to have full confidence of any and all food purchased at our stores.  

We take food safety and our quality standards seriously.  We recognize there is an acceptable tolerance of bacteria in "human" poultry consumption because the assumption is that the poultry will be cooked, thus killing harmful bacteria. Humans are the only species that cook their food since they are more intolerable to bacteria.  As raw advocates, we believe a healthy animal is capable of eating these raw pet foods, as it is the biologically appropriate diet. They are naturally designed to tolerate the bacteria and it is a better nutritional match for their physiological make up. 

Smallbatch Pets Inc. does not currently use a kill step in their raw food pet products to preserve the good bacterial content for the pets health.  Instead, they use apple cider vinegar as an ingredient in their foods to address bacterial content.  In addition, they test and hold all of their products before release to the public. The lot in question was negative for Salmonella and listeria during this initial test and hold process. A retest was also done after the FDA notice producing a negative result for both listeria and salmonella as well.

With the recent recall and to address the regulatory concerns around potential bacterial contamination of raw pet foods, Smallbatch is considering moving to a High Pressure Pasteurization (HPP) process to further insure their foods are bacteria and pathogen free.  The process is USDA approved and is commonly used on many raw, organic, and natural products.

HPP is quickly becoming the standard process in human foods to manage food safety and we believe going forward this process will become the standard in raw pet foods as well. 

At Healthy Spot, we are here to first partner with you as pet parents to inspire a healthy pet lifestyle.  Recalls are never a good thing and our goal is to be open and transparent with our findings through this process as we work with our manufacturers. 

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.