The FDA has issued a public warning about Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Chicken Recipe for Cats because is has tested positive for Salmonella.
A consumer filed a complaint with the Food and Drug Administration after two cats became ill, with one requiring hospitalization, after eating the implicated food. The cats recovered after they stopped eating the Darwin’s food.
The FDA recommended that Arrow Reliance Inc., doing business as Darwin’s Natural Pet Products, recall the two product lots that tested positive for Salmonella. To date, the firm has refused to initiate a recall of the affected products.
The affected food can be identified by the following label information. The food does not have an expiration date on the labels.
Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Chicken Recipe for Cats Lot 12731, MFG Date: Jul 08, 2026Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Chicken Recipe for Cats Lot 12493, MFG Date: Apr 02, 2026
The FDA is warning consumers to throw away the implicated Darwin’s cat food in a secure container. Any pet supplies or surfaces that came into contact with the cat food should be cleaned and sanitized.
Darwin’s Natural Pet Products are sold online through a subscription service. Products are sold frozen in 2-pound packages divided into four separate units. The products 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.
This is not the first time Darwin’s pet foods have been found to be contaminated. Since 2023 there have been six instances. Prior to 2023 there were a number of instances of Darwin’s pet foods testing positive for pathogens.
In August this year the Department of Justice filed a complaint seeking to close down the pet food manufacturer citing instances in which people that came into contact with the company’s food became ill, including a 4-year-old boy who developed kidney failure. Third-party laboratory testing of the family’s unopened pet food from Arrow Reliance confirmed the presence of both Salmonella and STEC bacteria that matched a sample from the child.
The complaint seeks to permanently enjoin Gary T. Tashjian, through his business, Arrow Reliance Inc., also doing business as Darwin’s Natural Pet Products, from making and selling raw pet food.
In the complaint, the government states that the Washington-based company violated the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) by failing to follow preventive controls requirements and causing uncooked pet food to become adulterated.
Darwin’s has been a manufacturer of raw pet food since 2004 and has repeated instances of FDA findings of pathogens in its products.
In 2024, FDA investigators also found Salmonella in the company’s Tukwila, WA, manufacturing facility.
From 2016 through January 2026, the FDA received 49 consumer complaints involving sick pets who had been fed a Darwin’s raw pet food. The list includes 34 sick dogs, including five that died, and 35 sick cats, including four deaths.
