Nature Diet bulging/off trays

tk123

I've just mailed Amazon but wondering if anyone's ever gotten dodgy trays of Nature Diet? I got a box of 18 the other day and realized this morning that one of the trays is bulging/puffed up with air so put it aside. I've just opened another tray and it smells off. I'd already fed a couple of trays before finding the puffy one so they may have been off as well(!) - I only smelled this one because I'd found the dodgy one earlier. I'm a bit concerned now it could be a problem with the batch and about feeding it to the pup considering how fast they can go downhill when sick!

Zapperzy

I think I remember them having the same or similar issue about 2 years ago. If you google it there might be info on it somewhere, I remember a lot of people went off it that time. I was lucky and only came across 2 dodgy trays. Might be worth contacting naturediet directly with the batch number to see is it an issue with a certain batch, I'd be hesitant too about feeding it if there is.

tk123

Amazon have refunded me anyways and told me not to send it back because of the cost. I actually read a few reviews on amazon where it'd happened to people. My mega order from zooplus will be here in the next few days so think I'll just wait for that rather than chance any more from this batch! I'll mail ND too to query the batch - never thought of that

boomerang

Are you sure it isn't just the smell of the Ocean Fish variety?

DBB

boomerang wrote: »

Are you sure it isn't just the smell of the Ocean Fish variety?

A perfectly plausible explanation, given the putrid smell from it!
But yes, I've also encountered one tray of ND (not fish flavoured) which had a discolored fluid run off it, and it stank. I wondered was there a small hole or something in the tray or cover?

tk123

boomerang wrote: »

Are you sure it isn't just the smell of the Ocean Fish variety?

No it's the meaty puppy one There was water/fluid in the second one I opened today BTW the box just had the labels stuck on the plastic - there was no amazon packaging to protect it so possibly it got knocked around in transit. I got a huge can of puppy food in Maxi Zoo to try and gave a couple of spoons to both of them - it must have been tasty because Bailey squeezed into her crate after she was done and I let her out! "I'm a puppy feeeeeeed me!!" :pac:

boomerang

Think when I ordered ND off Zooplus before there were a few leaky/ballooned out trays. The packaging is pretty flimsy. Glad they refunded you!

Zapperzy

tk123 wrote: »

I got a huge can of puppy food in Maxi Zoo to try and gave a couple of spoons to both of them

I immediately pictured your pair holding spoons in their paws and tucking into a can of dog food like I'd tackle a tub of ben and jerrys

tk123

Just go this from them.

Thank you for email. I regret to hear you have had problems with Naturediet Puppy/Junior.

I have looked at this batch number and can see that no concerns were raised. By the sounds of it the packs you had issues with were blown.

For a pack, which has been correctly sterilised to blow, it is necessary for air containing the spoilage bacteria to re-enter the package. This is only
possible if the pack has a ruptured seal or a hole somewhere in the pack. Both of these are capable of then resealing with the meat juices drying and the
bacteria then produce gas, which causes the pack to blow.

As we have not had any problems with the control packs from this batch we must assume that the cause is some form of damage to the packing, most probably in the distribution chain. All packs are inspected in the production process and before final packing.

We take every precaution to prevent damage to the point of dispatch and we even print the boxes with “Do Not Drop”, “Plastic Containers Handle with
Care”.

As for the Aroma, our food is made from all natural ingredients so smell can vary from pack to pack as we don't use any artificial colours or preservatives so rely solely on our packaging to keep our food fresh.
If you are in doubt I would recommend not using the food as I said before we do rely solely on packaging so if the packaging has been damaged in any way the food will spoil.

Please accept our sincere apologies for this incident and I hope this doesn’t deter you from using Naturediet in the future.

If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us.

DBB

tk123 wrote: »

Just go this from them.

Hmmm, I'd like to think they'd have words with their distributors?
Also, surely it's implicit that if the packs had blown and bacteria had got in, that this would cause a bad smell? Surely they should have advised to definitely not feed any packs suspected to have blown?

tk123

DBB wrote: »

Hmmm, I'd like to think they'd have words with their distributors?
Also, surely it's implicit that if the packs had blown and bacteria had got in, that this would cause a bad smell? Surely they should have advised to definitely not feed any packs suspected to have blown?

+1 Covering their asses - sure the packs could have been damaged at source - ie THEM? They're going in the bin - she's been a bit dogdy in the poo dept the last few days and I'm blaming the food! I had no reason to second guess it and start mixing it up and smelling it until I found the first blown tray on Sat morning - she'd been getting 2-3 trays since wednesday(!) I have new cartons of ND that arrived this morning - going to check them all as I bought other stuff to try and may not get thru all of the ND until the new year! Hopefully they won't be the same batch or I'll be paranoid!

NickyL

I've had this problem a few times when it seems like the seal on the tray has been broken and air has gotten in. Zooplus refunded me with no issues.

DBB

NickyL wrote: »

I've had this problem a few times when it seems like the seal on the tray has been broken and air has gotten in. Zooplus refunded me with no issues.

That's good to know, thanks for that!
I must say, there was a time that zooplus were a pain to deal with customer-care wise... But they really seem to have improved in this department, I've had a couple of reasons I needed to contact them and they were great!

tk123

boomerang wrote: »

Are you sure it isn't just the smell of the Ocean Fish variety?

Sorry to drag this back up but is the sensitive/pink tray supposed to smell disgusting too lol? Peeeeewwwwww!

Boogiewoogie

tk123 wrote: »

Sorry to drag this back up but is the sensitive/pink tray supposed to smell disgusting too lol? Peeeeewwwwww!

Absolutely manky and after a week on it my Bono started to smell like it too. I couldn't stick it so put him on the lamb and rice. I love the smell of the other ones.

tk123

Back again - after looking on their FB page (duh never thought of that originally!) and amazon it looks like there WAS a problem with that batch of puppy food (#2945) - loads of people complaining and receiving the same generic response I got. TBH don't know if I'll keep buying it when my stock finally (i bought loads in case of bad weather lol) runs out!!

The pink trays I have smell weird, are wetter than meaty ones and have a little bit of liquid in them.. Is this normal for that variety?! I find myself scrutinizing every tray I open now!