!!!!PET FOOD RECALL!!!!

As a SmartPak customer I was SO happy and SO sad to read this email..... I applaud SmartPak for their outstanding customer service and for their social responsibilty.

Dear SmartPak Customer,

I am writing to inform you that on May 2nd, we initiated a voluntary recall of all orders of LiveSmart Adult Lamb and Brown Rice. This product tested positive for presence of melamine.

Previously, we had recalled another of our dog food brands, LiveSmart Weight Management Chicken and Brown Rice, which contained rice protein concentrate sourced from Wilbur Ellis. We were not able to determine if our product had been made with a contaminated batch without waiting many days for test results, so we voluntarily recalled the product the same day our contract manufacturer informed us of the potential for contamination to lessen the possibility of harm to dogs.

As part of our efforts to investigate this situation and prevent further issues, we immediately sent all the LiveSmart brand dog foods out for melamine testing.

Those tests came back on May 2nd, and the results surprised us. The LiveSmart Weight Management formula—the subject of our original recall—did not have any melamine detectable in the sample. Nor did LiveSmart Adult Chicken and Brown Rice, LiveSmart Puppy and Brown Rice, or LiveSmart Senior and Brown Rice, all of which tested negative for melamine. This is what we would have expected, since none of these products contain rice protein concentrate or wheat gluten.

But our Adult Lamb and Brown Rice formula did show presence of melamine. This was unexpected, since the product does not contain either of the suspect ingredients, nor any of the additional ingredients on the FDA watch list. All the meat and vegetable ingredients, with the exception of the lamb and lamb meal, originate from United States sources; none originate in China. The lamb and lamb meal we use in the formula is sourced from New Zealand, which has some of the strictest controls in the world, particularly surrounding use of antibiotics.

Once we received these test results, we immediately suspended production of SmartPaks containing LiveSmart Lamb. We pulled the product off the website. We notified UPS to redirect all packages destined for our customer’s homes. And we initiated this recall after discussing the situation with the FDA. Within hours, 99 percent of the roughly 220 pet owners feeding LiveSmart Lamb via SmartPaks were contacted by live phone contact or message, and/or email. We have had live contact with the majority of affected pet owners, and are continuing an aggressive outreach program to ensure that the notification has been received. To reduce likelihood of pet owners continuing to feed the food, replacement product is being shipped to affected customers free of charge.

It appears that our LiveSmart Lamb formula was produced shortly after another company’s food that used contaminated rice protein concentrate, and that resulted in cross-contamination of our food. In addition to working with our contract manufacturer to identify steps that will reduce the possibility for cross contamination, we are testing all batches of finished products for the presence of melamine. We are also reformulating our LiveSmart Weight Management formula to eliminate the use of rice protein concentrate. Although in its pure form, rice protein concentrate is considered a high quality vegetable protein source, given the present situation, we feel that there are other options to ensure high protein levels that carry less risk.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at 1-800-461-8898. Our Product Specialists are available from 8:30am to 8pm EST Monday – Thursday and 8:30am to 5:30pm EST Friday. Our Customer Service line is open 24/7.

We are all very upset to have exposed our customers and their dogs to this situation. We and other responsible members of the pet community will be working aggressively to implement additional testing and production safeguards to ensure that this does not happen again. I will continue to update our website as more information becomes available.

Sincerely,