UPDATE: Correction to Date Code in Natural Balance Pet Foods’ Voluntary Recall

Someone asleep at the pet recall switch, realizing their mistake, would like consumers to know they made a little boo boo.

It seems like a tiny mistake, but I guess a one day difference in the pet food industry, apparently, means the difference between food contaminated with Salmonella and the next it’s not. I’ve never understood how that works, that is, unless Homer Simpson was working that day.

I can’t quite grasp how Diamond, despite giving consumers no earthly explanation for the contamination, expects to prevent the problem from happening again? The FDA said they never found the reason for it. OK, fine? Nevertheless, they were given the thumbs-up to resume production at the troubled plant in Gaston, South Carolina. A clean bill of health, so to speak.

But think about this, if they didn’t know why it occurred, what makes them so sure they can prevent “it” from occurring again? You see what I’m saying? It just doesn’t fly.

To put more plainly, if you don’t know how it got broke, how can ya fix it? Using that screwy logic, whose to say it won’t just break again? Since they have no clue how it got broke in the first place. Get it? I don’t. But, that is just what they are telling us.

Which, to anyone whose ever had a car that was possessed by the Devil, you know the ones, the ones that despite spending heaps of money on and giving your mechanic a reason to laugh all the way to the bank, the car (better known as that rotten piece of sh*t) keeps giving you grief. Despite cursing at it and beating the daylights out of its dashboard it still won’t behave.

Then you feel a bit remorseful and give the crap-car a good scrubbing, maybe you even wax it, put some lip-gloss on its tires. But, despite the peace-offering, you just know, deep down, that car is just waiting to get you. Waiting for that moment, when you are late for an important meeting, your mascara is on crooked, you have a run in your stockings and Goddamnit, you just broke a nail…and Whamo! The car from Hell craps out again.

I admit it, I had a car just like that. It was beautiful to look at, but it was the biggest piece of shit I ever had. And had it not been for my dogged determination to teach that car a lesson it would never forget, I would have happily shoved it off a cliff. So, the moral to the story is: everything is not as it seems, everything that is beautiful is not gold, cut your losses, get a clue, and if all else fails push it off a cliff.

On that note, I give you the correction.

Correction to Date Code in Natural Balance Pet Foods’ Voluntary Recall Dated May 4, 2012 Due to the Potential for Salmonella Contamination

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 11, 2012 – On May 4, 2012, Natural Balance Pet Foods announced a voluntary recall of certain dry pet food formulas manufactured by Diamond Pet Foods at their Gaston, South Carolina facility. Link to original press release: http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm303042.htm

The original press release contained a typographical error in the Best By Date of one of the products listed. It stated a Best By Date of March 12, 2013 when it should have been March 13, 2013.

The incorrect Best By Date listed was:

5 LB Natural Balance Sweet Potato & Venison Dog UPC# 7-23633-88650-5
Lot Code NBH0103 Best By Date: March 12, 2013

The correct Best By Date is:

5 LB Natural Balance Sweet Potato & Venison Dog UPC# 7-23633-88650-5
Lot Code NBH0103 Best By Date: March 13, 2013

Natural Balance Pet Foods apologizes for any potential confusion this may have caused.

Pet owners who are unsure if the product they purchased is included in the recall, or who would like replacement product or a refund, may contact Natural Balance Pet Foods Customer Service at (800) 829-4493 (8am – 5pm, PST). Consumers may also go to www.naturalbalanceinc.com for more information.