Quote:
Originally Posted by Ellie May  I had no idea that NB was made there.
Do you have a link? |
Apparently, NB dry food is "co-packed" at Diamond's site while their canned foods are packed at American Nutrition.
This correspondence was in early 2008.
"With regards to the Recall that happened back in April 2007, it was our Venison and Brown Rice Formula (Dry, Canned and Treats) that were recalled NOT our Sweet Potato and Venison. We no longer carry the Venison and Brown Rice Formula, as it has been reformulated to the Sweet Potato and Venison..." [Kathy Sun, B.S., Customer Service Representative, Natural Balance Pet Foods, Inc.].
The USAToday article carlyn6884 read was probably this one dated back in 2007 during the rice concentrate/gluten recall when NB mentioned where their foods were packed:
"Wilbur-Ellis CEO John Thacher said his company sold the concentrate to five pet-food makers, but that most of it went to two firms. One of the primary companies was Diamond Pet Foods, which packs some of the Natural Balance product but doesn't use the concentrate in any Diamond-made foods, says Diamond spokesman Jim Fallon. The other major customer, which Thacher would not name, tested the rice protein and found no melamine, Thacher says. Natural Balance's rice protein concentrate is mixed with venison meal, Thacher says." (Diamond doesn't use it in their products?? Except for
Chicken Soup Puppy canned and their Lamb and RICE canned, I guess, as well as their Nutra line of dry lamb meal & rice kibble).
The venison meal might explain why the NB Venison and Green Pea Dry Cat Food was affected in spite of it supposedly being a "
grain free allergy formula with a single source protein and single source carbohydrate" and this "significant formula change not reflect in the product labeling or website."
"
The recall initially included only two formulas — Natural Balance Venison & Brown Rice Dry Dog Food and Venison & Green Pea Dry Cat Food (all date codes) — but was expanded on April 20, 2007..."
The general consensus here on
this blog seems to be that essentially NB "rents the space" over at Diamond and over at American Nutrition except if you read up until the end of the posted comments. "Natural Balance is saying American Nutrition put rice protein concentrate in their foods without their knowledge and American Nutrition is saying their make the food according to Natural Balance’s recipe…" However, NB representatives state that "Canned food is manufactured at American Nutrition in Utah, with Natural
Balance machinery, by Natural Balance employees.
Natural Balance personnel are the only ones to work with the machines and products. American Nutrition in Utah packages the products." (cited from near the top of same site).
In either event, since that incident, NB has stated they've hired more personnel to test their products. The link phfgkl provided shows that during the recall for their canned food, it wasn't just limited to the venison formula.