pet foods type subsidiary industry pet food founded pacoima los angeles california united states 1989 headquarters pacoima los angeles california united states area served worldwide key people dick van patten products dog food cat food zoological food owner the j.m. smucker company website natural balance inc. dick van patten s natural balance pet foods a subsidiary of big heart pet brands is an american commercial natural pet food manufacturer with its headquarters located in burbank los angeles california . 1 established in 1989 by actor dick van patten the company markets itself as food for a lifetime and promotes itself as having the finest food you can buy for your pet . the current president is joey herrick and executive vice president is frank koch . contents 1 history 2 products 2.1 pet food formulas 2.2 zoological formulas 3 programs 3.1 honoring service dogs 4 recalls 5 food safety 5.1 laboratories 5.2 testing protocol 5.3 consumer reassurance 6 references 7 external links history edit natural balance began in 1989 when van patten was a guest on john davidson s show . 2 van patten had lunch with the show s band drummer who rescued dogs and cats . van patten told him when he was a kid he had snakes alligators and every kind of animal you could imagine . the drummer and van patten had an idea of making a health food for dogs . at the time van patten played tennis with a veterinarian and she said the best quality food should have no filler no wheat no corn no soy and no by products . many of natural balance s dry formulas maintain this initial ingredient list ; others such as the dog food rolls include wheat flour and sugar . as of 2014 the food rolls have been reformulated to not contain wheat flour and instead utilize brown rice . my partner and i started natural balance pet foods in 1989 with the intention of developing the finest healthiest pet food on the market . we wanted a pet food based on sound scientific principles and truth not marketing hype . we did it not only for dogs & cats but for large carnivores such as lions tigers polar bears and wolves in zoos and animal reserves worldwide dick van patten initially natural balance lost money until the brand was picked up by petco and features in 625 plus stores . 3 on may 22 2013 natural balance merged with del monte maker of pet foods such as kibbles n bits meow mix and milo s kitchen . in march 2015 the j.m. smucker company purchased natural balance and the big heart pet brands from del monte . 4 products edit according to van patten natural balance products are made from high quality ingredients and carefully selected . the product line includes l.i.d. limited ingredient diets original ultra vegetarian wild pusuit high protein diet and specializes in zoological formulas as referenced below . pet food formulas edit natural balance has a large variety of both dog and cat formulas in dry treats freeze dried or canned form . limited ingredient diets dry dog potato and duck potato and duck puppy formula sweet potato and fish sweet potato and chicken lamb meal and brown rice lamb meal and brown rice puppy formula sweet potato and venison sweet potato and bison potato and kangaroo potato and rabbit legume and duck legume and wagyu beef limited ingredient diets wet dog potato and duck sweet potato fish lamb meal and brown rice wild boar and brown rice potato and rabbit sweet potato and bison sweet potato and venison original ultra dry dog original ultra wet dog wild pusuit and specialty blends dry dog treats dog discontinued products eatables line of wet food to include ethnically themed hobo chili irish stew and oriental take out . the webpage referring to chef woofgang and product line histort is currently missing from the website . organic chicken lid food rolls bear biscuits wild pursuit lamb chicken meal guinea fowl zoological formulas edit natural balance was a member of association of zoos and aquariums and has created zoological products that are formulated specifically for carnivores in zoos and wild animal parks and not sold to the general public . these foods were developed by director of zoological product research and development dr. martin r. dinnes a founding member of the american college of zoological medicine . natural balance s zoological formulas were used by among others big cat rescue 5 tippi hedren s shambala preserve toledo zoo san diego zoo san diego zoo safari park and seaworld . 6 programs edit natural balance is the official dog food of the united states bureau of alcohol tobacco firearms and explosives arson investigation and explosives detection canines . 7 honoring service dogs edit natural balance partnered with the petco foundation to raise money to honor service dogs across america . the organizations aspire to raise 1 million to honor guide dogs and military service dogs across america . natural balance and petco are working to build a national monument for military working dogs which will be dedicated at lackland air force base in san antonio texas in 2013 . 8 recalls edit main article 2007 pet food recalls on april 16 2007 natural balance informed the fda that they had received complaints from consumers regarding a select amount of venison & brown rice dry dog food and venison & green pea dry cat food . some animals were reported to have vomited and a few experienced kidney failures . 9 natural balance immediately issued a voluntary recall for all its venison dog products and its dry venison cat food after lab results showed that some of the products contained trace amounts of melamine . the source of melamine was believed to be from rice protein concentrate . on april 27 2007 natural balance issued a second recall for three canned dog food and one canned cat food . like the first recall the contaminants were melamine in rice protein concentrates . as with the venison based formulas rice protein concentrate was not on the list of ingredients of the four products . this time natural balance claimed that their canned food manufacturer american nutrition inc ani added the rice protein concentrate without their knowledge or consent calling it a manufacturing deviation . 10 in response ani issued a press release denying any deliberate or intentionally wrongful conduct claiming that customers specifically required rice based formulations . 11 along with natural balance other pet food organizations such as blue buffalo and menu foods were affected by the contaminated products and issued recalls . additionally in july 2007 a small lot of certain natural balance canned pet foods were recalled after it was determined that they may have been involved in a large scale botulism outbreak associated with its producer castleberry s food company . no illnesses were reported with the pet food . 12 as a result of this recall the company invested 800 000 to build a laboratory to test for melamine acid and other toxins . all of natural balance products are now tested for 9 known contaminants through the company s buy with confidence program 13 and sold if the production run has passed testing . food safety edit laboratories edit natural balance bases its food safety claims on owning a fully equipped laboratory utilizing liquid chromatography mass spectrometry using a nitrogen phosphorus detector and spectrophotometric testing . natural balance also states that it has employed a third party testing laboratory called midwest laboratories of omaha nebraska . midwest tests agricultural analysis of soil plant tissue feeds pesticide analysis water analysis and microbiological analysis for food pet food fertilizer nematodes biosolids petroleum and hazardous waste . 14 natural balance s buy with confidence laboratory uses elisa to test for 5 mycotoxins aflatoxin don zearalone ochratoxin and fumonisin . polymerase chain reaction is used to test for salmonella and ecoli . melamine and cyanuric acid are tested for on a lcms liquid chromatography mass spectrometry . the chemists and microbiologists that are employed at the laboratory all hold their bachelor s degree in a scientific discipline . testing protocol edit according to natural balance the accuracy and reproducibility of the tests have earned official approvals and third party validations including aoac international international union of pure and applied chemistry grain inspection packers and stockyards administration food safety and inspection service consumer reassurance edit natural balance states that it is the first known pet food company to offer email notification regarding any pet industry news that could affect their pets . they are also the first known pet food manufacturer to offer data base test results on aflatoxin don vomitoxin zearalone mycotoxin ochratoxin fumonisin salmonella ecoli melamine and cyanuric acid to consumers through their website using the best by code on each food container . references edit contact us . natural balance pet foods . retrieved on february 3 2010 . dick van patten at imdb on dick van patten the j. m. smucker company completes acquisition of big heart pet brands . the j.m. smucker company . march 23 2015 . big cat rescue testimonial nb zoological formulas atf contracts with natural balance natural balance website information on natural balance fda update fda firm press release american nutrition inc. responds to criticism fda news release july 21 2007 buy with confidence midwest labs external links edit los angeles portal companies portal official natural balance website natural balance facebook page natural balance pinterest page natural balance twitter page retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title natural balance pet foods & oldid 743819508 categories pet food brandscat food brandsdog food brandscompanies based in los angelescompanies established in 19891989 establishments in californiapacoima los angeleshidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not 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