Orijen Letter regarding Fish Bones

[DoodleMan]

Here is a link to Orijen's quality assurance letter regarding fish bones in their food:
http://championpetfoods.com/charlie_letter.pdf

I am very pleased with Orijen as a food and it is exactly what I was looking for in a kibble. They are a very professional company and this letter should put people at rest regarding their product .

I am pasting the text here as it took me a few tries to open it...


WHY ARE THERE SALMON BONES IN SOME ORIJEN PET FOODS?
The "Q&A" below explains the recent appearance of larger than normal bone fragments in some of our ORIJEN products.
We hope this posting will answer questions you have about this incident, and I invite you to write me - our Product
Assurance Coordinator, Charlie Kaufmann - with any additional comments, questions, or concerns.
On behalf of our entire organization, we apologize for this inconvenience and assure you it will not be repeated. Thank you
for your understanding and, from all of us here at Champion, warm regards to you and your beloved pets.
Charlie Kaufmann,
Product Assurance,
CHAMPION PETFOODS LTD.
t. 780.939.6888 ext 233
e. charliek@championpetfoods.com

Q: WHY ARE THERE LARGER BONE FRAGMENTS IN SOME ORIJEN
PRODUCTS?
A: On March 6, 2008 Champion received a shipment of fresh salmon from
our North Vancouver Island supplier of fresh salmon, herring and flounder.
On this shipment our supplier experienced problems with the screens
that separate bone fragments from the salmon meat. Unfortunately they
did not notify Champion about the problem and, as the bone fragments
are small, they were not identified when the salmon was QC'd on arrival.
The fresh salmon was subsequently used in the production of several
runs of ORIJEN.
Q: ARE ALL ORIJEN PRODUCTS AFFECTED?
A: NO, the affected lots are listed below and are associated with the above mentioned salmon shipment.
The affected lot numbers made with salmon containing larger bone fragments are:
ORIJEN 6 FISH DOG 82659
ORIJEN ADULT DOG 82660, 82664, 82665
ORIJEN PUPPY LARGE BREED 82662
ORIJEN PUPPY 82558
ORIJEN SENIOR 82661
Q: CAN THE BONE PIECES HARM MY DOG?
A: No. Although the bone fragments are unsightly they will not affect dogs. Dogs are actually evolved to easily consume much larger
and sharper bones, and the small bone fragments will dissolve in their highly acidic stomachs (pH 1)!
Q: WHAT SHOULD I DO IF MY ORIJEN HAS BONES IN IT?
A: We understand that our customers are not pleased to see larger bone fragments in their pet's kibble. As ORIJEN is made from
meats that have undergone minimum processing before arriving at our factory fresh, small fragments of bone are always present in
ORIJEN kibble. At less than 2mm in size, these bone fragments are usually smooth, very small and pose absolutely no threat to either
pet or person.
If your ORIJEN is among the lots listed above, you may find bone fragments that are larger than usual. If you are concerned about the
larger bone fragments, the easy and fast solution of simply removing any kibble containing larger bone fragments from your pet's
bowl. If you do not wish to use the food, please contact our customer service for advise on how to exchange your ORIJEN product.
1 780 939 6888 ext. 238
diana@championpetfoods.com
Q: WHAT MEASURES HAS CHAMPION TAKEN?
A: Since this incident our fresh salmon supplier has implemented additional procedures to their fish processing systems, including
double grinding all our salmon, herring and flounder before running the minced fish through 2mm screens twice. Smear tests are
then performed on the final ingredient where samples of the minced fish are spread onto glass plates to determine whether or not
any bone is present.
When the ingredient arrives at Champion, Charlie personally inspects each and every shipment of salmon that arrives which includes
the physical handling of the salmon throughout the load to check for bones. Charlie also personally samples kibble throughout the
production stream to monitor the bone size, and makes sure that all QC inspectors inspect our kibble through each and every run.

Reinhard Muhlenfeld
President & Founder, CHAMPION PETFOODS LTD.

[runwiththewind]

I want to thank you for posting this info. My two dogs have had diarreah since last week. They were finally ok until I started feeding Orijen mixed with EVO yesterday. I had been feeding them chicken & rice to get control. I had a fecal test taken and it was normal. My one dog messed up my carpet this morning with "D". To cut to the chase, I noticed this morning a white plastic looking object sticking up from one of the kibbles. When I touched it, it was very sharp and could have pierced my finger had I pressed harder. I called my Vet to say I think I found the cause of the diarreah. They suggested I contact the manufacturer & the FDA. I did hear from Orijen and they told me exactly what you stated in your post except they didn't think their food was the cause of the diarreah. Had I not looked at other forums, one lady thought her dog had colitis, which my Vet had mentioned previously, I wouldn't really know the cause.

I had checked their website and couldn't find any recall or warning. I mentioned that to Orijen and they told me I needed to go to their website and click on the salmon icon on the left hand side of the page - Salmon bones in Orijen pet foods? Click here to learn more.

What a joke! I would never think to click on that icon. IF there was a WARNING sign or RECALL I would have clicked to find more info after finding the fragments, but there was no noticeable info for anyone viewing their main page. If he didn't tell me to click on it, I still wouldn't know. I feel they were only protecting themselves by listing this info on the website. I told him he needed to put a warning on their main page for people to see. He said Marketing should have done that.

I asked if the pet shops knew about this problem and I was told the distributor's notified them. When I went to return the two bags, they didn't have a clue. The same lot #'s were still sitting on the shelf. She called the distributor and they claim they sent an email. Orijen told me to return it and to get two new bags that those lots were OK. Don't think so, I won't be using their food any longer. I'm sticking with EVO.

[clm]

I've always admired how well the manufacturers of Orijen have responded to any of my inquiries and I love the quality of their food. I've never had a problem with it and I will continue to use it.

Cindy