Merrick, Drew Brees team up for dogs’ Best Day Ever

Every dog deserves the Best Day Ever. From the ultimate game of fetch to an unending belly rub, dogs should be rewarded for their undeniable loyalty and unconditional love. That’s why Merrick Pet Care, a leader in all-natural pet food, wants to reward the Best Dog Ever with the Best Day Ever.
The company launched their Best Day Ever campaign in August with an end-of-summer splash day where they treated shelter dogs to the Best Pool Party Ever at Colorado’s Water World – plus the chance to be adopted – for their Best Day Ever.
“We believe not only that the best dog ever deserves the best food ever, but also that dogs should be able to enjoy the best day ever – everyday,” said Mark Sapir, vice president of marketing for Merrick Pet Care. “We’re continuously inspired by the stories we hear from our pet parents about the love they have for their dogs, and one of the most exciting things about our Best Day Ever campaign is that it celebrates the true stories of our best friends – our dogs. They make every day great for us and deserve nothing less than the ultimate reward for being the Best Dog Ever.”
With the Best Day Ever, Merrick Pet Care will continue to surprise pet parents nationwide with the campaign into 2016. In fact, now through December 3, 2015, Merrick is inviting pet parents across the country to share why their dog is the Best Dog Ever for a chance to win the Best Game of Fetch Ever with star football quarterback Drew Brees. Entrants can submit their photo and a brief narrative about why their dog deserves to win on Merrick’s Facebook page.
“Dogs give the best kind of love – unconditional – whether you have a good or a bad day,” said Brees. “All dogs deserve the Best Day Ever.”

Nestle Purina PetCare to purchase Merrick

Merrick Pet Care has signed an agreement for Nestle Purina PetCare Co. to purchase the company from its private equity owner, Swander Pace Capital. Terms were not disclosed.
With SuperZoo as the back drop, Merrick Founder Garth Merrick said, “I believe Nestlé Purina is the right company to take what I, along with others, have built to the next level. I’m proud my name will continue to be on the door as we remain committed to making the best food for the best pets ever.”
Merrick is one of the fastest-growing natural and organic pet food companies in the industry, and will continue to operate as an independent business with no planned changes to its management or operations.
Merrick has more than 350 employees located primarily in Hereford, Texas, USA; Amarillo, Texas, USA; and Evanston, Illinois, USA.
With this agreement, which is expected to close over the next several months, Merrick will be able to further build upon its record of providing pets with industry leading nutrition, quality and food safety, while taking advantage of new global resources and innovations.
“The Merrick team has built an extremely strong portfolio of natural and organic pet food and treat brands that are helping millions of pets thrive,” said Joe Sivewright, CEO of Nestlé Purina PetCare. “We admire Merrick and what the team is doing to provide pets with nutritious, quality and safe food and are excited about how the Merrick brands will broaden the Purina portfolios.
Merrick offers a wide variety of USA-made dry and wet foods, as well as treats, that are available nationally at independent pet specialty stores, Petco, and online via select retailers. In April 2012, Merrick Pet Care Inc. acquired Castor & Pollux and its ORGANIX branded portfolio. These brands are available at PetSmart, natural grocery, and online via select retailers.
Merrick’s manufacturing facilities are Safe Quality Food Level III certified and in 2012, Merrick’s facilities became the world’s only known organic certified manufacturer for dry and canned food for pets under the USDA National Organic Program (NOP).

Merrick to donate US$25,000 in pet food

Merrick Pet Care will donate US$25,000 in Merrick pet food – nearly 50,000 meals – to local pet shelters and animal rescues as part of its Merrick’s Homeruns for Shelters campaign held this spring in conjunction with the start of baseball season.
Merrick’s Homeruns for Shelters Facebook program culminates with a US$1,000 donation of the company’s all-natural food to a local shelter for every home run hit by home teams during Opening Day baseball games this month.
Merrick invited its Facebook community of pet parents to nominate and vote on their favorite local shelters to receive a US$1,000 food donation. During baseball home openers this April, home teams racked up 25 total homeruns for a grand total US$25,000 donation.
“Every pet deserves a healthy meal, especially those pets most in need awaiting their forever home,” said Mark Sapir, vice president of marketing for Merrick Pet Care. “What better way to help them thrive than to knock it out of the park for them at the start of baseball season.”
 “With more than 600 shelter nominations, more than 16,000 votes, and 25 homers leading to 25 local shelters receiving free food, we are thrilled our pet parent community came out in a big way to support their local shelters,” said Sapir.

Merrick’s helps shelter pets with baseball campaign

As baseball season begins in the US, Merrick’s is kicking off Homeruns for Shelters, a campaign that will support local shelters.
For every home run hit by the home teams during Opening Day games, Merrick’s will make a US$1,000 Merrick food donation to a local animal shelter – that’s one shelter for every homer. Pet parents can nominate their favorite local shelter or rescue on Merrick’s Facebook page and invite others to share and vote for their shelter. The shelters with the most votes will win a special delivery of Merrick food in April.
Here’s how to help your favorite shelter:

• Share #HomerunsForShelters from Merrick’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages and encourage your fans to nominate their local shelters or pet rescues.
• Post or tweet to your favorite baseball team about #HomerunsForShelters.
•  Share your best pet rescue and adoption stories and photos with us. Tweet and post pics of your pets sporting their home team caps and T-shirts, too, tagging #HomerunsForShelters. 

For every can of Merrick petfood purchased at Petco in Dec., one meal will be donated to a rescue animal

Petco and Merrick have partnered to give back to pet shelters during the holiday season. For each Merrick can of petfood purchased at Petco in November or December 2014, a meal will be donated to a rescue animal.
The companies will donate meals up to US$1 million of cans purchased to selected shelters:

• Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals
• PAWS Chicago
• Best Friends Animal Society
Special displays are up in Petco stores throughout the US so pet parents can learn about the promotion and pick up a can to help make a difference in a shelter animal's life. 

Merrick Pet Care unveils all-natural treats, expanded grain-free recipes at Global Pet Expo

Merrick Pet Care Inc. will introduce a lineup of more than 60 new all-natural food and treat recipes for dogs at the 2014 Global Pet Expo being held March 12-14, at the Orange Country Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. The products will include full lines of all-natural treats, humanized canned dog food recipes and expanded grain-free recipes, according to the company.

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"Many pet parents believe their dog is the best dog ever, and to honor that relationship they seek the very best for their dog, including food choices that make every mealtime special with quality, nutrition and taste," said Mark Sapir, vice president of marketing for Merrick Pet Care. "This and other insights drove us in our development of our new items that we believe surpass many of the options currently available in the marketplace."
Natural treats are experiencing significant market growth, and to meet those expanding needs Merrick Pet Care is introducing a series of all-natural treats from both the Merrick and Castor & Pollux brands. From the Merrick brand, three new grain-free, gluten-free treat lines include:

• Merrick Kitchen Bites: Oven-baked biscuits based on Merrick's classic can recipes. Real deboned meat is the number one ingredient, and biscuits also include fresh fruits and vegetables. Available in six flavors.
• Merrick Power Bites: Soft and chewy all-natural treats high in protein; several flavors contain deboned meat as the number one ingredient and have no sorbic acid. Star-shaped treats serve well for training or rewards. Available in six flavors.
• Merrick Dental Chews: All-natural dental chews come in shapes and textures to combat plaque and tartar and freshen breath. Treats contain no sorbic acid or sodium copper chlorophylin. Available in five varieties, including Flossies, Texas Toothpicks and three sizes of bones: Mini Brush Bones, L'il Brush Bones and Big Brush Bones.
From Castor & Pollux come two new treat lines, including:

• ORGANIX Jerky Chip Cookies: All-natural oven-baked cookie treats with organic whole grains and protein-rich jerky chips from chicken, salmon, beef or lamb. The cookies also contain organic fruits and vegetables such as organic peas, organic apples and organic carrots, and contain no corn, soy or wheat. Four flavors available including Oatmeal & Salmon, Oatmeal & Beef and Oatmeal & Lamb, as well as Oatmeal & Chicken which is made with 95% organic ingredients (including organic chicken) and can bear the USDA Organic logo on the front of the bag.
• Good Buddy All American Nibs: Soft and chewy all-natural treats for dogs; ideal for training and rewards. Treats are grain-free, gluten-free, without sorbic acid and many flavors have real deboned meat as the number one ingredient. Treats also contain fresh fruits and vegetables. Available in six flavors.
Merrick Pet Care is also introducing four new canned recipes for dogs. "We're recognized for our high-quality, innovative and humanized canned dog food recipes, like Wingaling, Brauts N Tots and Grammy's Pot Pie," said Sapir. "We're introducing new Merrick Chunky Cans as the next evolution of that legacy; four new recipes for dogs with big chunks of carved meat, hand-stuffed real vegetables and hearty gravy for a high level of visual appeal and aroma for pet parents, and a meaty and delicious taste for dogs."
The four grain-free Chunky Can flavors include:

• Pappy's Pot Roast Dinner: Made with big chunks of beef and hand-stuffed red jacket new potatoes and carrots in gravy.
• Carver's Delight Dinner: Made with big chunks of turkey and hand-stuffed Yukon gold potatoes and carrots in gravy.
• Big Texas Steak Tips Dinner: Made with big chunks of beef in gravy.
• Colossal Chicken Dinner: Made with big chunks of chicken and hand-stuffed peas and carrots in gravy.
The company's grain-free line, which has been expanding since 2012, is growing further in 2014. "Grain-free now accounts for 40% of all natural dog food sold in pet specialty stores, which reflects an increased demand among pet parents seeking the benefits of a grain-free diet for their pet, from allergy management to easier digestibility to healthier skin and coat," said Sapir. "We've grown our grain-free options to provide even more protein choices and life stage options."
New grain-free options throughout the company portfolio include:

• Four Merrick grain-free dry recipes for dogs: Grain-Free Real Salmon + Sweet Potato (grain-free fish recipe with 34% protein); Grain-Free Lamb + Sweet Potato (high-protein, poultry-free, grain-free lamb recipe with 30% protein); Grain-Free Puppy Recipe; and Grain-Free Healthy Weight Recipe (a nutritious and palatable recipe with a smart protein balance of lean meat plus animal and plant protein).
• Two Whole Earth Farms grain-free dry recipes for dogs: The relaunched Whole Earth Farms offers Grain-Free Recipe Beef + Lamb (poultry-free) and Grain-Free Recipe Chicken + Turkey. All seven Whole Earth Farms canned recipes are grain-free, including four loaf recipes and three new Hearty Stew Recipes.
"The mission here is to become the leader in this natural/organic premium petfood space," said CEO Greg Shearson. "We as a company believe that we're very well positioned to make that stated objective possible, and we're committed to going after it every day, in all that we do."

Merrick Pet Care to provide petfood for pets at PAWS Chicago

Greg Shearson, CEO of Merrick, feeds dogs at PAWS Chicago.
PAWS Chicago and Merrick Pet Care are partnering to provide quality nutrition for homeless pets in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Starting December 1, Merrick Pet Care will provide petfood for the dogs and cats at the PAWS Chicago and PAWS Chicago North Shore shelters. In addition to providing food for the pets at the shelters, Merrick will also provide each adopter with a supply of dry petfood to help the pet's transition to its new home.
"PAWS Chicago is committed to ensuring the health and happiness of every pet in our adoption program," said Paula Fasseas, PAWS Chicago founder. "We are proud to provide the pets in our care with Merrick petfood during their stay and provide a foundation of health and nutrition that we hope will continue for the rest of their lives."
"PAWS Chicago has a proven record of helping pets in need and we are pleased to partner with them to feed homeless pets awaiting their forever homes," said Greg Shearson, CEO of Merrick Pet Care. "Together, we can better help pets not only survive, but thrive through feeding them more wholesome, natural and nutritious foods."

FDA, Merrick Pet Care investigate moldy cat food cans

The US Food and Drug Administration and Merrick Pet Care announced they are investigating a California, USA, pet owner's complaint that mold was found in Merrick cat food cans.
The moldy cat food cans were first reported on TruthAboutPetFood.com, which said the cans came from two cases and did not appear to be sealed properly because they did not make a vacuum-seal noise when they were opened. The cat food associated with the complaint is Merrick BG Chicken Grain Free Cat Food, sold in 5.5-ounce cans, with a "best by" date of March 14 and lot number 12074 CL2 20473 1203.
“We take pet health very seriously, and our number one priority is to ensure that we are doing everything we can to help in the care and well-being of pet family members,” a Merrick spokesman said. “We are aware of this report regarding the cat cans and have been in touch with this customer, with the common goal of obtaining the necessary information to investigate this matter more fully as well as ensure their pet’s continued good health. As you may know, there are a number of ways cans can be compromised and we are working diligently to understand more about this particular situation.”

RECALL: Merrick Pet Care recalls 'Beef Filet Squares' for dogs

Merrick Pet Care recalled 83 cases of its "Beef Filet Squares" for dogs after a sample tested positive for Salmonella contamination.
The dogt treats are sold in 10-ounce packages, and are marked with the lot number 10127 and item number 60116. All have a "Best By" date of May 6, 2012. No illnesses have been reported yet.
If consumers purchased these treats, they may be returned to the place of purchase for a full refund. For more information, contact Merrick at +1.800.664.7387 Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CDT.

FDA calls January recall of Merrick Beef Filet Squares 'ineffective'

The 2010 January recall of Merrick Pet Care's Beef Filet Squares for dogs was "ineffective," according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Tejas Industries Inc. manufactures the brand and was given a warning letter on June 1, 2010, stating an FDA analysis showed that the dog treats tested positive for Salmonella meleagridis. The company was given 15 business days to respond to FDA claims that the company delayed alerting consumers, gave incorrect lot codes and failed to alert pet owners that the recall was for Salmonella contamination. Tejas Industries originally said the recall was for improper processing.

RECALLS: Three pet products may contain salmonella

*Merrick Pet Care Inc. recalled one lot of 10-ounce bags of Beef Filet Squares for Dogs. The treats could be contaminated with salmonella. The treats were sold in 10-ounce plastic bags marked with the best by date of March 24, 2012, and the lot number 10084TL7. Consumers can call 800-664-7387 . The company recalled the same product in January, for the same reason.

*Feline’s Pride announced a voluntary recall of Feline’s Pride Raw food with ground bone for cats and kittens, Natural Chicken Formula, Net Wt. 2.5 lbs., produced on June 10, because it may be contaminated with salmonella. The product is packaged in uncoded plastic containers and sold frozen to private customers nationwide. This recall affects only those orders placed and shipped from June 10-17. Consumers can call 716-580-3096.

*United Pet Group is voluntarily expanding its recent recall of Pro-Pet Adult Daily Vitamin Supplement tablets for Dogs to include additional supplements for dogs and cats, due to possible salmonella contamination. A list of recalled products is provided on the Web site of the Food and Drug Administration. The affected products are those with expiration dates from "01/2013"to "06/2013."

Merrick continues donating petfood to shelters

Merrick Pet Care has donated about 400,000 pounds of petfood to 16 no-kill shelters in the past several months as part of its efforts to combat the effects of the economy on smaller, no-kill shelters that do not necessarily have the means to promote themselves and secure funding for petfood and supplies.

FDA warns of potential contamination in dog treats

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns consumers not to use Merrick Beef Filet Squares for dogs, distributed by Merrick Pet Care with a package date of “Best By 111911,” because the product may be contaminated with Salmonella.
The product was distributed nationwide through retail stores and Internet sales.
Although no illnesses associated with these products have been reported, FDA advises consumers in possession of these products not to handle or feed them to their pets.

Merrick donates petfood to shelters

After deciding upon a list of no-kill shelters throughout the US, Merrick Pet Care committed to providing six months worth of petfood to each. To date, Merrick delivers both dry and canned food to shelters in nine states: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and Washington.
This past month, the company provided approximately 14,500 pounds of dry food and 50,000 cans to the shelters.