Evanger’s Dog & Cat Food is recalling five lots of their Hunk of Beef canned dog food product because of sodium pentobarbital contamination. Pentobarbital can affect any animal, including humans, that ingest it, causing severe side effects and even death.

Sodium pentobarbital a lethal drug typically used to euthanize animals, particularly pets. Pets ingesting pentobarbital will have serious side effects as drowsiness, dizziness, loss of balance, nausea, and if they consume as few as a few milliliters it will cause death in pets.

According to the FDA recall notice:

The specifically-identified lot numbers of cans of 12-oz Hunk of Beef being voluntarily recalled were distributed to retail locations and sold online in the following States: Washington, California, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, and were manufactured the week of June 6 – June 13, 2016.

According to Evanger’s, sodium pentobarbital was only detected in a single lot, but out of an “abundance of caution” Evanger’s is recalling its Hunk of Beef canned dog food from a total of five lots that were manufactured the same week, with lot numbers that start with 1816E03HB, 1816E04HB, 1816E06HB, 1816E07HB, and 1816E13HB, and 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.

Typically, Evanger’s is blaming its supplier suggesting that Evanger’s was victimized by an unscrupulous supplier and were the unfortunate recipient of pentobarbital laced meat, saying:

“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.”

Despite Evanger’s claim of innocence, Evanger’s defends their reason for not recalling other products because, they only

“source 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.”

To date, it has been reported that five dogs were poisoned and one died after only consuming a few ounces of Evanger’s Hunk of Beef canned dog food (lot number 1816E06HB13).

Although Evanger’s claims they have verified that little or no product remains on store shelves, if consumers still have cans with the aforementioned lot numbers, they 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.

The FDA is asking for consumers to report any problems with Evanger’s pet food immediately to an FDA consumer complaint coordinator.

Special note: Thanks to Susan Thixton of Truth About Pet Food for sending me the preview of the FDA recall notice and Evanger’s press release prior to publication.