We love our cats, dogs and other pets and strive to feed them the best food available. Pet food manufacturers work hard to provide food that meets pets’ nutritional requirements and promote healthy, high quality lives. Packaged food is sold in bags, cans, pouches, and single serve containers all of which come in a variety of sizes, shapes and measures. Some pet food is fresh and requires refrigeration.
Despite the most stringent controls, occasionally a pet food container seal becomes breached. For dry food, this may not be a problem and the dry pet food is consumable. But with canned, pouches or fresh food, compromised seals can allow bacteria or other pathogens to taint the food inside. Pets can become ill from eating the food. What can you do to complain?
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established guidelines on how to effectively report a pet food complaint. There are two ways: electronically through the Safe Reporting Portal: (https://www.safetyreporting.hhs.gov/fpsr/WorkflowLoginIO.aspx?metinstance=CA7C8997999495BC8769BCEC34BA15C873C05963 or by calling your state’s FDA Consumer Complaints Coordinator. For New York, the number is (toll-free) 866-446-9055.
When reporting, have as much information available as possible. If you usually transfer dry pet food into other containers for easier handling, save the original packaging until the pet food has been consumed. The packaging contains IMPORTANT information often needed to identify the variety of pet food, the manufacturing plant, and the production date.
You will need the exact name of the product and product description (as stated on the product label), the type of container (e.g. box, bag, can, pouch, etc.), if the product is intended to be refrigerated, frozen, or stored at room temperature.
The lot number is often hard to find and difficult to read. It is stamped onto the product packaging and typically includes a combination of letters and numbers, and is always in close proximity to the best by/before or expiration date (if the product has a best by/before or expiration date). The lot number is very important as it helps the FDA determine the manufacturing plant as well as the production date.
Also needed are the best by, best before or expiration date, the UPC code (also known as the bar code), the package’s net weight, purchase date and exact location where purchased. Include the results of any laboratory testing performed on the pet food product, and how the food was stored, prepared, and handled.
Describe the problem with the product. Examples include foul odor, off color,swollen can or pouch, leaking container, orforeign object found in the product.
If you think your pet has become sick or injured as a result of consuming a pet food product also provide information about your pet. You will want to include the species (dog, cat, rabbit, fish, bird, other), age, weight, breed, pregnant, spayed/neutered, and the previous health status of your pet, including any pre-existing conditions.
Other important information is whether you give your pet any other foods, treats, dietary supplements or drugs, how much of the suspected product your pet normally consumes,how much of the “suspect” product was consumed from the package, how much of the product you still have, clinical signs exhibited by your pet (such as vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy), and how soon after consuming the product the clinical signs appeared.
Includeyour veterinarian’s contact information, diagnosis and medical records for your pet, results of any diagnostic laboratory testing performed on your pet, how many pets consuming the product exhibited clinical symptoms,whether any pets that consumed the product are not affected, whether your pet spends time outdoors unsupervised, andwhy you suspect the pet food caused the illness.
This might seem like a lot of information, but all of it will help the FDA track down the cause of any problems and trace the source so additional pets are not affected. For more information, visit the FDA website (http://www.fda.gov/default.htm and click on the Animal and Veterinary tab.
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