Smuckers announced a voluntary withdrawal of specific shipments of its dog food brands due to contamination with the euthanasia drug pentobarbital, following independent testing that showed high levels of the substance in Gravy Train products. The company attributed the contamination to a single unnamed supplier and assured that trace amounts of the drug are considered safe for pets, although the presence of pentobarbital violated their quality standards. This incident is part of a larger ongoing concern regarding the use of euthanasia drugs in pet food, prompting scrutiny from consumer advocacy groups and the FDA.

1. The long, bizarre history of euthanasia drugs
in pet food
Smuckers is the latest but not the first brand to admit that its dog food is
contaminated with pentobarbital
Facing a Food and Drug Administration(FDA) investigation into whether itsdog food iscontaminated witha drug that isused to euthan ize
animals, including dogs, SmuckersannouncedWednesday thatit isplanning to voluntarily stop selling “specific shipments” of itsdog food
brands.
“Out of an abundance of caution we initiated a voluntary withdrawal (not a recall) on specific shipmentsof Gravy Train® Kibb les‘N Bits®, Ol’
Roy®, and Skippy® canned/wet dog foodbecause they do not meet our quality specifications,” Smuckersspokesman Ray Hancart sa ys in
an emailed statement to ConsumerAffairs.
The announcement comesafter a local ABC station inWashington D.C. hired a lab to conduct independent testinginto dogfood. According
to the station’sfindings, published last week, Gravy Train brand dogfood repeatedly tested positive for trace amountsof th e euthanasia drug
pentobarbital.
Sixty percent of Gravy Train samplescame backpositive, according to the station, which reportedthat theFDA wasresponding with itsown
investigation.
Smuckers blames supplier for contamination
Gravy Train isowned by Big Heart Pet Foods, a Smuckers subsidiary that producesa number of popular pet food products, inclu ding Natural
Balance, Pup-Peroni, Meow Mix, and MilkBone, to name a few.
In its statement to ConsumerAffairs, Smuckersblamesthe snafu on a single, unnamed supplier. “We take thisvery seriously and are
extremely disappointed thatpentobarbital wasintroduced to our supply chain,” Hancart says. However, he claimsin the same statement that
trace amountsof pentobarbital are safe for petsto consume.
“Veterinariansand animal nutritionspecialists, aswell as the FDA, have confirmedthat extremely low levelsof pentobarbita l, like the levels
reported to be in select shipments, do not pose a threat to pet safety,” Hancart addsvia email.
“However, the presence of thissubstance at any level isnot acceptableto usand not up to our quality standards. We sincere ly apologizefor
the concern thishascaused.”

2. Initial scrutiny placed on Evanger’s
The ABC affiliatehad launched itsinvestigationinto Smuckersin response to concernsover a different petfood. Nikki Mael t oldthe station
that she spent her New Year’s Eve two years ago racing her five dogsto the vet. They hadall suddenly becomesick after she fed them
Evanger’sdog food; one dog died at thevet hourslater.
The company confirmedlast year that itsEvanger’sand Against the Grain brand“chunkbeef” productswere contaminatedwith p entobarbital
and issued a recall. Thecompany appearsto have resolved the issue; ABC 7 reported that all of the Evanger’ssamplesthey tested
repeatedly came up negativefor presence of the drug.
Evanger’stellsConsumerAffairsthat they have since hireda third-party to test all of their productsfor pentobarbital. "Itwasan issue where
we received contaminatedmeat from one of our suppliers,” said an Evanger’semployee, who declinedto identify the supplier o r provide his
own name.
“Once we found out [about the pentobarbital contamination], therewaspretty much no more communication withthe supplier after that,” he
added.
Pet food’s long history with euthanasia drugs
Evanger’sand Smuckers aren’t the first companiesto admit that their productshave been contaminatedwith trace amountsof e uthanasia
drugs. In fact, the FDA began studying theissue in 1990 after hearingreportsfrom itsown veterinariansthat pentobarbital “see med to be
losing itseffectivenessin dogs.”
The agency subsequently tested dozensof dog food brandsfor the presence of pentobarbital in 2002 andfound that many came back
positive, according to resultsposted on the FDA’s website. Besidessafety, the findingsalso raised concernsthat dog and cat food ismade
from the euthanizedremainsof other dog andcats.
FDA regulationsban the use of adulterated meat, or meat madefrom an animal “which hasdiedotherwise than by slaughter,” to be used in
either pet or in humanfood.Much like pet foodcompanies, the agency assured consumersnot to panic. It said at the timethat thetrace
amountsof pentobarbital they found inpet foodare “unlikely” to harm pets.
“The low levelsof exposure to sodium pentobarbital (pentobarbital) thatdogsmight receivethrough food isunlikely to cause them any
adverse health effects,” the FDA said in a 2002 announcement.
The agency also claimed itfoundno evidence thatthe foodwasmade from rendereddogsor cats. Instead, it identifiedthe re ndered remains
of cattle and horsesas a likely source.
A report that an FDA scientist subsequently conductedand sent to Congress two years later found thatrenderedanimal remainsare used in
a number of consumer products, such as soaps, crayons, and plastics -- as well as pet food.

3. Meat and bone meal accountedfor approximately 6.6billion poundsof rendered productssold, accordin g to thescientist’s2004 report to
Congress, and poultry and pet foodcompanies, in turn, “accounted for 66% of the domestic MBM [meat andbonemeal]market.” Hog and
cattle operationsaccountedfor the remainder of the meat and bone meal market, accordingto the report.
Inadequate guidelines and countless unknowns
Jackie Bowen, the executivedirector of the CleanLabel Project, a consumer advocacy group that testshum an and petfood for
contaminants, doesn’t agree that trace amountsof a barbituratewouldpose no safety risk to pets.
“We're talking about exposure 2-3 timesa day every day of an animalslife of a barbiturate thatisused for anti -anxiety and euthanasia,” she
tellsConsumerAffairs.
“While it may not be lethal, thereare countlessunknowns,” she says, such as whether dogswho need pentobarbital for anesthesia in surgery
will becomeimmune to itseffects.
The Clean Label Projectconductedtheir own lab testsinto dog and cat food last year, testing 80brandsfor 130 toxinssuch as heavy metals,
lead, and pesticides. The group hadbeencritical of long-standingguidelinesissued by the Association of American FeedControl Officialsfor
feeding pets, describing them asinadequate.
“The pet food industry isthe wild west when it comesto pet food quality andingredient quality,” BowentellsConsumerAffairs. Marketing
materialsin recent years, she adds, have “humanized” pet food, presenting some kibblebrands as“natural” or “holistic” in the same way that
human food is.
The Clean Label Project’sextensive pet food report card gave many of those same brandsmediocre or failing gradeson their pet food
quality -- and Gravy Train receivedonly onestar. Smuckershas not returned follow-up questionsaboutthose results.
“The results that we saw were staggering,” Bowen says. “To put it in perspective...some of these pet food productssaw [lead] levels15 times
higher than what we saw during the Flint, Michigan tragedy.”
Her group did not test the pet food brandsfor the presence of pentobarbital, but Bowen described ABC 7’sfindingsasdisturb ing. “In addition
to being potentially unethical and objectively gross, it's also illegal,” she says.
Meanwhile, Bowen advisespet ownersto avoid pet food contaminated with heavy metalsby calling thecompany they purchase fro m and
asking what type of independent testing they conduct. She also suggeststurkey-based pet food asa cleaner source of protein.
"The cleanest proteinsource isturkey-based. The dirtiest isfish,” because fish bioaccumulatetoxinsin their fat, she says.