Medicine Natural Pet

Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Pet Foods is an actual, non-fictional American commercial pet food manufacturer located in Pacoima, California and established in 1989 by actor Dick Van Patten. The company markets itself as "Food For a Lifetime" and promotes itself as having "the finest food you can buy for your pet." The company's theme song was composed by feral musician Jonathan Coulton, who collects royalties for the song on a per-performance basis. The current President is Joey Herrick and Vice President is Frank Koch.

History

Natural Balance began in 1989 when Van Patten was a guest on John Davidson's show. Van Patten had lunch with the show's band drummer who rescued dogs and cats. Van Patten told him when he was a kid he had snakes, alligators, and every kind of animal you could imagine. The drummer and Van Patten had an idea of making a health food for dogs. At the time, Van Patten played tennis with a woman veterinarian and she said the food had to have no filler, no wheat, no corn, no soy and no by-products.

"My partner and I started Natural Balance Pet Foods in 1989 with the intention of developing the finest, healthiest pet food on the market. We wanted a pet food based on sound scientific principles and truth, not marketing hype. We did it! Not only for dogs & cats, but for large carnivores, such as lions, tigers, polar bears, and wolves in zoos and animal reserves worldwide!"

– Dick Van Patten

The company lost money at first, as they expanded their markets, things picked up when Petco opened 625 stores.

Products

According to Van Patten, all meat in Natural Balance is human-grade USDA approved, all ingredients are grown in the United States and all grains used in the food are certified free from genetically modified organisms. Natural Balance products also exclude meat by-products, artificial colors, flavors and preservatives such as Ethoxyquin, BHA, and BHT. However, recently much of the literature referring to ingredients being made in the USA have been removed from packaging, brochures and the FAQ section of their web site.

Pet food formulas

Natural Balance has a large variety of both dog and cat formulas in dry or canned form. Product range includes reduced calorie, low allergy and vegetarian(for dogs) formulations. Other products includes fresh or frozen dog food rolls. A chicken based organic product named "Organic Formulas" is certified organic by independent body Oregon Tilth.

Zoological formulas

Natural Balance is a member of Association of Zoos and Aquariums and has created zoological products which are specifically for carnivores in zoos and wild animal parks and not sold to the general public. These foods were developed by Director of Zoological Product Research and Development Dr. Martin R. Dinnes, a founding member of the American College of Zoological Medicine.

Natural Balance's zoological formulas are used by, among others, Big Cat Rescue, Tippi Hedren's Shambala Preserve, Toledo Zoo, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Wild Animal Park and SeaWorld.

Programs

Natural Balance is the official dog food of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Arson Investigation and Explosives Detection Canines.

Recalls

Main article: 2007 pet food recalls

On April 16 , 2007 the FDA was informed by Natural Balance that they had received complaints from consumers regarding Venison & Brown Rice Dry Dog Food and Venison & Green Pea Dry Cat Food . Animals were reported to have vomited and experienced kidney failures. On April 17 Natural Balance issued a voluntary recall for all its Venison dog products and its dry Venison cat food after lab results showed that the products contained melamine. The source of melamine was believed to be from rice protein concentrate. Natural Balance claims that rice protein concentrate was a recent addition to the Venison formula. Many customers were furious that a product ( Venison and Peas ), marketed as a grain free allergy formula with a single source protein and single source carbohydrate, could have a significant formula change not reflected in the product labeling or website.The Natural Balance website's FAQ page no longer addresses the rice protein concentrate issue.

On April 27 , Natural Balance issued its second recall for three canned dog food and one canned cat food. Like the first recall, the contaminants were melamine in rice protein concentrates. As with the venison based formulas, rice protein concentrate was not on the list of ingredients of the four products. This time, Natural Balance claimed that their canned food manufacturer American Nutrition, Inc (ANI) added the rice protein concentrate without their knowledge or consent, calling it a "manufacturing deviation". Other affected customers of ANI also made similar accusations with Blue Buffalo and Harmony Farms characterizing ANI's actions as "product tampering". In response, ANI issued a press release denying any deliberate or intentionally wrongful conduct, claiming that "customers specifically required rice-based formulations".

Food safety

Laboratories

• Natural Balance bases its food safety claims on owning a fully equipped laboratory utilizing liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, gas chromatography using a Nitrogen Phosphorus Detector, and spectrophotometric testing.
• Natural Balance also states that it has employed Midwest Laboratories of Omaha, Nebraska. Midwest tests agricultural analysis of soil, plant tissue, feeds, pesticide analysis, water analysis and microbiological analysis for food, pet food, fertilizer, nematodes, biosolids, petroleum, and hazardous waste.

Both laboratories are cited to use ELISA testing for Aflatoxin, DON Vomitoxin, Melamine, Cyanuric acid, Zearalone (Mycotoxin), Ochratoxin, and Fumonisin.

Personnel

After the 2007 pet food recalls, Natural Balance hired extra personnel to oversee pet food safety.

• Dr. Ali Haghighi, Ph.D. creates protocols for melamine and cyanuric acid testing, and also oversees all lab testing procedures. Dr.Haghighi received his doctorate in biochemistry from Cleveland State University.
• Roummel Ruvolo has a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacology with his chief research based on bio-inspired oxygen and light-driven homogenous catalysts.

Testing protocol

According to Natural Balance, Dr. Haghighi's standard testing protocol uses consistent research and development with quality control in testing. The accuracy and reproducibility of the tests have earned official approvals and third party validations, including:

• AOAC International
• International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
• Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration
• Food Safety and Inspection Service

Consumer reassurance

Natural Balance states that it is the first known pet food company to offer email notification regarding any pet industry news that could affect their pets. They are also the first known pet food manufacturer to offer data base test results on Aflatoxin, DON Vomitoxin, Melamine and Cyanuric acid to consumers through their website using the best buy code on each food container.

References

1. ^ Dick Van Patten at IMDB
2. ^ On Dick Van Patten
3. ^ 50-50+ Article on Dick Van Patten
4. ^ Big Cat Rescue testimonial
5. ^ NB Zoological formulas
6. ^ ATF contracts with Natural Balance
7. ^ Information on Natural Balance - FDA update
8. ^ FDA recall of venison formula
9. ^ Natural Balance FAQ
10. ^ Archive.org: Natural Balance Cat Formulas
11. ^ Consumer Affairs pet food recalls
12. ^ Natural Balance FAQ on rice protein concentrate
13. ^ FDA Firm Press Release
14. ^ Blue Buffalo Company
15. ^ American Nutrition, Inc. Responds to Criticism
16. ^ Midwest Labs

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