Tainted Pet Food: Natural Balance Solution

It is no secret that the pet food recall tragedies blindsided many companies that prided themselves on producing superior pet foods - foods without all those ingredients conscientious cat and dog lovers avoided. Many of these companies have switched suppliers, reformulated their foods, or taken other steps to regain consumer confidence.

But my hat's off to Joey Herrick, President of Natural Balance Inc. for "putting his money where his mouth is." Herrick has not only given "lip service" to improving his line of pet foods, he has taken it one giant leap forward, with Natural Balance's new Buy with Confidence program. The concept is a simple one: consumers select a dog or cat formula from a drop-down menu, enter the "best by" date, and the results shows exactly what results came up from a series of tests made in Natural Balance's new chemical testing laboratory. The laboratory, built at the personal direction and cost of Joey Herrick, is headed by Dr. Hadiki, a noted biochemist. At the present time, Natural Balance pet foods are tested for four potential contaminants:

• Melamine
• Cyanuric Acid
• Aflatoxin
• DON (Vomitoxin)

An additional four more are in the pipeline. When I interviewed Joey Herrick last week, he said,

Do I think it will happen again? (Another huge contaminant scare)
No.
Is there a chance of it happening again?
Yes
Am I willing to risk the lives of cats and dogs?
No.

With children, dogs and cats of his own, Herrick is painfully sensitive to the loss of lives of thousands of pets, and the painful impact on their human companions. Throughout the entire recall ordeal, whenever Natural Balance foods were recalled, the company responded swiftly and responsibly. NB has a "Club NB," which is a newsletter routinely offering discount coupons and news about the latest developments. In the third week of July, Herrick learned about the latest recall affecting Natural Balance Eatables (no tainted pet food, but made in the same human food plant that produced the hot dog sauces found with botulism.) He received a call from Castleberry around 2:30 in the afternoon, and by 4 p.m. a newsletter had gone out to Club NB subscribers, informing them of the recall.

I call that responsible, proactive action, and I think that other consumers who buy Natural Balance cat foods will share my enthusiasm and respect for this product, and for its new Buy with Confidence program.