10/26/2026
According to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigation, a four-year-old child developed a serious Escherichia coli O157 infection following a household exposure associated with contaminated raw dog food.
The family dog, which was fed exclusively with Darwin’s Natural Pet Products, began vomiting one day before the child became ill. Although the child had direct contact with the dog, there was no known direct contact with the contaminated food. Investigators suggested that transmission may have occurred through contact with the dog or household surfaces contaminated by its f***s.
The FDA reported that whole-genome sequencing performed by a private third-party laboratory identified a genetic match between the E. coli O157 detected in the child’s stool and the bacterium found in an unopened sample of Darwin’s beef dog food recovered from the household freezer. The child developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious complication of STEC infection that can cause acute kidney injury, and required hospitalization and extensive follow-up care.
Although the case was reported in 2025, it returned to the headlines following a lawsuit announced by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in August 2026.
The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction against Arrow Reliance Inc., which operates as Darwin’s Natural Pet Products. The government seeks to require the company to make sanitation improvements and comply with federal food safety requirements before manufacturing or distributing additional pet food.
According to the DOJ, the complaint alleges that FDA testing detected pathogenic bacteria—including Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC)—in the company’s finished pet food samples collected between 2017 and 2025. The complaint also alleges that FDA investigators detected Salmonella at the company’s facility in 2024.
The allegations are part of an ongoing legal case and have not been established by a final court judgment.
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The DOJ press release is linked below for the full details of the lawsuit.
