Black Hawk dog food recalled but warning missed in PETstock privacy snafu
A dog owner whose pooch ate mouldy food and later died missed out on an important recall warning due to a bizarre reason most owners wouldn’t know about.
VIC News
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A dog owner whose pooch ate mouldy food missed out on important recall warning because they opted out of promotional messages from their pet store.
Masterpet last month recalled five of its Black Hawk dog food varieties after mould was found in some bags of kibble.
The mould has been blamed on a “breakdown” that saw a higher than normal moisture level during the cooking process.
But it can be revealed that one owner, whose elderly dog ate the food and was put down amid a string of health issues this week, was not alerted to the recall because they had previously opted out of messages from stockist, PETstock.
The Herald Sun understands that Masterpet is investigating the case and has requested permission from the dog’s owners to carry out tests.
In a statement, the company said there had been “no confirmed link” between the recall and any dog deaths or illness.
But it refused to detail how many complaints it had received or the number of cases of sick pets it was investigating.
“In instances where Masterpet is made aware of specific customer concerns, it is committing all necessary resources to work with customers to investigate and offer whatever support is needed,” the statement said.
The brand’s website boasts that its “holistic” dog food ensures “your pet gets everything they need, and nothing they don’t.”
PETstock sells 20kg bags of the recalled range for as much as $142.
The store said it had put up signs and sent three rounds of information to its customer database, defending not contacting the now deceased dog’s owners due to “privacy rights”.
“We have attempted to reach as many Black Hawk customers as possible and will continue to do so,” PETstock spokesman Dion Collard said.
“Because this particular customer had previously opted out of all forms of Electronic Direct Mail from PETstock; covering promotional and non-promotional business updates, this customer was not able to be communicated (with) electronically on this occasion.”
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The recall comes after Advance Dermocare dry dog food was pulled from shelves in 2018 amid an outbreak of megaesophagus.
More than 100 cases of the incurable disease were confirmed in dogs that ate the top-shelf food.
Three Victoria Police dogs were euthanised and a further six fell ill, including one that was so sick it was retired from duty.