Dangerously sharp metal tags are not what a pet parent expects to find in their tin of dog food.

However, that’s just what one pet parent found in her can of dog food.

Along with the peas, carrots, rice, and chicken, she found sharp metal tags floating in amongst the meat and veg.

Horrified, Ms. Ennis called Evanger’s she was told they were surprised that she found them because they use metal detectors now at their factory.

When Ms. Ennis asked what the tags were and what in the BLEEP they were they doing in her dog food, they assured her, that a similar incident happened a couple of years ago and were surprised to hear that there were still cans of it “floating around.”

When Ms. Ennis inquired about the extra ingredient, Evanger’s told her that the tags are used in the poultry industry as a means of identification and “should have been removed from the chicken’s wings” before they got used in pet food.

But, Evanger’s told her not to worry, because now they use metal detectors in their plant to avoid such hazards.

Except it did happen – again.

The alternative explanation is that the food she purchased last week was in fact made in 2009 when they had that problem originally.

Unfortunately, we’ll never know.

Why?

Because, Evanger’s decided to pull a pet-food-industry-fast-one and do what is known as a “silent recall” or a “product pull.”

Just what are those, you ask?

Simply put, it’s a dirty little secret to avoid warning the public of the danger associated with a faulty pet food. It’s commonly used to avoid lawsuits, avoid paying claims, damaged reputations, loss of brand confidence and of course the accompanying loss of sales.

Evanger’s decided instead to conceal from the public critical information:

• Where were the products distributed?
• Which retailers carried the product?
• Which formulas were affected?
• What were the production codes, the best-by dates, or the lot numbers?

In a nutshell: They didn’t tell the public diddly.

Consumers who may have that dangerous dog food sitting on their shelves at home will never know of the possible danger. Consumers whose dogs become ill or die will have no recourse.

Instead, Evanger’s secretly notified their distributors to remove whatever product was left still on the market.

And – poof!

Like magic, Evanger’s reputation remains intact.

Although the same would not be said of a dog’s digestive system should it be the unfortunate recipient of the deadly dog dinner.

SOURCE: Courtenay woman finds sharp metal tags in canned dog food (UPDATE: link no longer active)