FDA Has Issued An Alert About Pentobarbital Contamination In Pet Food

The Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning regarding potential pentobarbital contamination is pet foods. This is a part of the organization’s current investigative work into the likely contamination with this chemical in dog foods by J. M. Smucker Co., which has been the center of food recalls as of late.

Pentobarbital is a euthanasia drug that slows down the nervous system. In small doses of 2 to 10 grams, it can be fatal to humans – so for pets, it is even more disastrous. The drug’s residues do not become destroyed during the process of canning pet food, even under high heat and pressure, so accidental contamination is dangerous.

After Evanger’s Dog and Cat Food Co. produced canned food that resulted in the fatality of one dog towards the end of 2016, WJLA-TV began testing wet dog food samples from nearly 30 different brands of pet food. J. M. Smucker’s Gravy Train products came back positive in 9 out of 15 samples. This resulted in a huge recall by the company.

The FDA’s testing found that these samples had a very low concentration of the drug that would likely not result in any harm to pets, but J. M. Smucker has identified the source of the drug as from beef fat used in their food contents, and hopefully, this large of an error won’t happen again anytime soon.

Feature Image Source: Expert Briefings