09/26/2025
⛑️🚨recall 🚨🚫⛔️
FDA Advisory: Do Not Feed Certain Lots of Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Pet Food Due to E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella
July 29, 2025
⛔️Fast Facts
The FDA is cautioning pet owners that a sample of Darwin’s Natural Pet Products beef dog food made by Arrow Reliance, Inc. tested positive for Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7 that is associated with a human illness. In addition, one sample of Darwin’s chicken dog food and one sample of Darwin’s duck dog food tested positive for Salmonella Infantis and Hadar, respectively.
Closed product from the three affected lots, which were obtained from the household freezer of the ill human, was tested by a private third-party laboratory in May and June 2025.
In August 2024, a four-year-old child became infected with E. coli O157:H7 and subsequently developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), requiring hospitalization and extensive follow-up care. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) provided by the third-party laboratory shows that the E. coli O157:H7 present in the closed product sample of the Darwin’s beef dog food from the household freezer is a genetic match to the E. coli O157:H7 detected in a stool sample from the ill child.
According to complaint information provided to the FDA, a dog in the household that exclusively ate Darwin’s pet food began vomiting one day before the child fell ill. The dog’s symptoms resolved without veterinary care.
The child had direct contact with the family dog but no known direct contact with the contaminated dog food, suggesting that the E. coli O157:H7 exposure may have been via contact with the family dog or through objects or surfaces in contact with the waste of the dog that ate the food.
Because this incident occurred in 2024, there were no retail samples available for collection and testing when the complaint information and private laboratory results were submitted to the FDA in June 2025.
Additionally, Darwin’s Natural Pet Products does not have samples from the same product lot available for additional testing. Therefore, the FDA reviewed the results of the third-party testing conducted by the lab, which is accredited by the FDA Laboratory Accreditation for Analyses of Foods (LAAF) program.
Darwin’s Natural Pet Products are sold online through a subscription service.
The FDA recommended that Arrow Reliance, Inc. recall the product lots that tested positive for E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella. To date, the firm has not recalled the affected products. These products, which were manufactured in May or June 2024, were sold frozen, have no expiration date on the label, and could still be in consumers’ freezers.
Therefore, the FDA advises consumers to check their freezers for the affected lots of Darwin’s Natural Pet Products prior to feeding to pets.
If consumers have any pet food on the list below, they are advised to throw it away in a secure container. Do not feed it to pets. Do not donate the food.
Clean and disinfect all pet supplies and surfaces that the food or pet had contact with.
E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella can affect both people and animals. People with symptoms of E. coli O157:H7 or Salmonella infection should consult their health care providers. Consult a veterinarian if your pet has symptoms of E. coli O157:H7 or Salmonella infection. See information about human and animal symptoms below.
Product Information
The affected lots of pet food were sold in frozen 2-pound white and clear plastic packages with four separate units. The beef and chicken BioLogics dog food have orange labeling, and the duck Natural Selections dog food has blue labeling. Product lot codes are printed on the front of the lower left unit of the package. The affected varieties and lot codes are:
⛑️Darwin’s Natural Pet Products, BioLogics All-Natural and Grain Free, Beef Recipe for Dogs
Lot 10662, MFG Date: May 30, 2024
⛑️Darwin’s Natural Pet Products, BioLogics All-Natural and Grain Free, Chicken Recipe for Dogs
Lot 10683, MFG date: June 05, 2024
⛑️Darwin’s Natural Pet Products, Natural Selections Duck Recipe for Dogs
Lot 10638, MFG date: May 22, 2024
⛑️❤️🩹 What do I need to do?
If you have any of the lots of Darwin’s BioLogics or Natural Selections pet food products listed above, stop feeding the product to your pets and throw it away in a secure container where other animals, including wildlife, cannot access it. Do not donate the food.
The product lot codes are printed on the front of the lower left unit of the package of food. If you no longer have the package or can’t read the lot code, throw the food away.
Consumers who have had the products listed above in their homes should clean and disinfect all pet supplies, including all storage containers, bowls, utensils, food prep surfaces, pet bedding, toys, floors, and any other surfaces that the food or pet may have had contact with, including your refrigerator or freezer. Clean up the pet’s f***s in yards, parks, or other places where people or other animals may become exposed. Consumers should thoroughly wash their hands after handling the product or cleaning up potentially contaminated items and surfaces.
❤️🩹⛔️What is E. coli O157:H7 and what are the symptoms of this type of E. coli infection?⛑️
E. coli O157:H7 is a harmful type of E. coli bacteria called shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC). STEC are of particular concern because the bacteria produce shiga toxins, which can cause damage to the intestinal lining, kidneys, or nervous system. People can become infected with STEC by consuming contaminated food or being in close contact with infected animals, people, or environments. Symptoms may begin anywhere from a few days up to nine days after exposure.
❤️🩹Symptoms of STEC infection in people generally include severe stomach cramps, diarrhea, fever, nausea, and/or vomiting. People with possible STEC exposure who develop symptoms of an infection should consult their health care provider.
Some STEC infections can cause severe, bloody diarrhea and lead to life-threatening conditions, such as a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), or the development of high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease, and neurologic problems.
❤️🩹Symptoms of HUS can include fever, abdominal pain, pale skin, fatigue and irritability, small and unexplained bruises or bleeding from the nose and mouth, and decreased urination. The condition can lead to serious kidney damage and death. Although people of any age can become infected, children under age 5, older adults, pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems are more likely than others to develop severe illness and HUS. People who experience symptoms of HUS should seek emergency medical care immediately.
❤️🩹Dogs and cats can become infected with STEC, although the symptoms are generally milder than symptoms in people. Dogs and cats infected with STEC can develop watery diarrhea, bloody diarrhea, urinary tract infections, and vomiting. Symptoms may be more severe in pets with weakened immune systems. The infection is rarely lethal in pets, but deaths have been reported in infected dogs. If your pet has symptoms of a STEC infection, consult a veterinarian promptly.
Pets do not need to display symptoms to be able to pass STEC on to their human companions. Whether or not a pet is symptomatic, once STEC gets established in the pet’s gastrointestinal tract, the animal can shed the bacteria when having bowel movements, contaminating their environment.
