In another feeble attempt to win back consumer trust, Evanger’s has taken it upon themselves to test more of their dog food for the presence of the deadly drug pentobarbital. The results of those tests have been slowly parsed out over the last few weeks, showing results for various dog foods which tested negative for the presence of the same drug found that was found in Evanger’s dog food which set off one of the nation’s largest pet food recalls in recent history.
The testing was prompted after a dog died and several others were sickened from complications caused by the presence of pentobarbital in their canned dog food, a drug typically used by veterinarians to euthanize animals.
Evanger’s explains:
“Evanger’s had all available lot numbers of its hand packed beef products tested, as well as our other products that were not affected by the recall, including loaf-style and dry food varieties with beef. All testing was performed by a third-party ISO 17025 accredited lab.”
The test results Evanger’s published are as follows:
Evangers Pentobarbital test results – Hunk of Beef and Braised Beef
Evangers Pentobarbital test results – Signature Series Beef Stew, Beef and Bacon, Classic Beef, and Hunk of Beef
Evangers Pentobarbital test results – Meat Lovers Medley
Evangers Pentobarbital test results – All Beef canned foods
Evangers Pentobarbital test results – Hunk of Beef
WHAT DO THE TEST RESULTS PROVE?
But how can we be sure the test results Evanger’s publishes present an accurate or even a reliable picture of Evanger’s product’s quality? The reality is, these random tests only represents a snapshot in time and provide little assurance that Evanger’s is a company that consumers can place their confidence in again. Truthfully, as the documents are so heavily redacted it is impossible to verify any of the information or determine what lab conducted the testing.
Evanger’s explains their reasoning for blocking out the name of the third-party lab they used:
“Due to the current social media attention, the lab that has requested to stay anonymous at this time.”
HOW RELIABLE ARE THIRD-PART TESTS?
What consumers probably are wondering is how reliable are things like third-party test results like the ones published on Evanger’s website?
The answer is, sadly, that they mean very little. Considering the state the FDA found Evanger’s canning facilities in, one should presume that all pet foods (including the many other pet food brands that have their food canned at Evanger’s plants) made at either facility are suspect. It is important to keep in mind that each dog food tested is only as good as the last batch from which it was made and where it was made.
And unfortunately, due to variations in raw materials, processing conditions and ingredient sources, their finished dog foods can vary notably from batch to batch. For testing to be meaningful, Evanger’s would have needed to test samples collected from multiple batches. But they didn’t do that.
So, relying on Evanger’s third-party testing that used a single batch test result using a statistically insignificant sample size is extremely misleading to consumers.
As Evanger’s explains, their only motivation for publishing the test results was to try to win back the multitude of customers they lost over the last two months during their humiliating public disgrace:
“To regain your trust, Evangers is committed to having additional testing done to ensure that our products are safe for your pets.”
THE MISSING TEST RESULTS
What is glaringly absent from Evanger’s updates is the vital piece of information that everyone who has been following Evanger’s downfall has been waiting for: The DNA test result they performed that showed their dog food contained horse meat. Even though Evanger’s admitted the horrific finding in a video, admitted it in two online publications, and in an article in Pet Food Industry magazine blaming their meat supplier for using meat from horses euthanized with pentobarbital, they still have not made public the results of their tests showing horse meat contamination.
What consumers want to know is which of their dog foods tested positive for equine DNA, and what the quantity of horse meat was found in their dog food. As Evanger’s appears to be unwilling to divulge that information, consumers at least deserve an explanation as to why they have chosen to keep information from the public.
If Evanger’s is truly repentant, as they continually insist that they are and that their intention is to be fully transparent with the public in hopes regaining some measure trust again then they must elaborate on the issue of horsemeat found in their pet food.
Until Evanger’s publishes the DNA test results of the dog food that tested positive for horse meat, tests all dog foods that contained meat from the supplier who sold them the meat with euthanized horses in it, and issues a public recall for all of the tainted pet food, it would seem Evanger’s is still unwilling to acknowledge their mistakes and accept full responsibility for failing to assure their pet food is safe. And therefore, is undeserving of any gains that might be won by publishing more useless information.
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