The Facts Behind The Natural Balance Pet Food Recall
Recently, a recall was conducted to remove Natural Balance pet food from the retail market. An industrial chemical was found in some samples of the pet food and the recall was issued to prevent pets from becoming poisoned or injured from contaminated pet food. The suspected contaminate responsible for the Natural Balance pet food recall is a rice protein concentrate imported from China and used as an ingredient in certain types of pet food. The recall affected pet food for both dogs and cats.
What Caused The Recall?
The Natural Balance pet food recall is one of a number of recent pet food recalls linked to the industrial chemical, melamine. Melamine is a chemical used in the production of plastics and is sometimes used as a fertilizer in Asian countries. Although the chemical is not considered highly toxic, its presence is not allowed in either human or pet food. The US Food and Drug Administration suspects that melamine is responsible for sickening hundreds of household pets in the United States, including those who ate the contaminated Natural Balance pet food. The industrial chemical is said to cause liver failure in the pets it has sickened.
Including the recall of Natural Balance pet food, the number of recalled pet food products number over 100 million units. Only a small number of the recalled foods have been found to be contaminated and not every pet that ate food from the recalled brands have become sick. The contaminate has been found in both the rice protein concentrate and a wheat gluten concentrate manufactured in China and imported into the United States. Both items are used as ingredients in certain pet food items and were sold to a number of pet food manufacturers.
The company that manufactures Natural Balance pet food informed the US Food and Drug Administration that it had detected the presence of melamine in the rice protein concentrate imported from China that had been used as an ingredient in a variety of cat and dog foods that had been released to market. The Natural Balance pet food products that had been affected were hastily recalled and an alert was issued by the US Food and Drug Administration warning the public of the problem. The company no longer imports the rice protein concentrate from the manufacturer in China. To date, hundreds of pets have been sickened by the consumption of food contaminated with melamine and the investigation into the cause is ongoing.