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Update – Thursday 26^th August 2021

The Food Standards Agency has released a new update which you can find here https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/news/further-update-from-the-food-standards-agency-and-food-standards-scotland-following-the-rise-in-cases-of-feline-pancytopenia.

While it reaffirms that they have not yet been able to find a causative link between pancytopenia and the recalled cat food products manufactured at Fold Hill Foods, we know how disappointed consumers will be there are still no firm conclusions.

We strongly believe cat owners should get the answers they deserve.

While we’re deeply appreciative of the significant effort from the FSA, we understand how important it is for those affected that this investigation should continue.

In our 15-year history, we’ve never had a product recalled and we’ve been distraught at the stories we’ve heard from cat owners across the country. We know how important it was for every cat owner who bought one of the recalled brands to understand precisely what happened.

We recognise there is scientific uncertainty as to whether mycotoxin levels can be proven to have caused the spike in cases of pancytopenia and that’s why there is much more work to do.

Cat owners and pet food manufacturers need to better understand the relationship between the full range of mycotoxins and why some were present at the levels they were at Fold Hill Foods.

We’ve always taken pride in the ingredients in our pet food – the care we take to find the best manufacturers and the auditing and monitoring of every aspect of production.

Only through further work, can the industry come to a better understanding of the relationship between different classes of mycotoxins – even those that are not currently part of any testing regime – and pet food.

In the meantime, because customers have not yet had the answers they need, we know they would not want us to return any cat food production to Fold Hill and we confirm we have no plans to do so.

We are acutely aware of our responsibility to those who have placed their trust in our Applaws cat food because we know the significant impact this has had on them.

We know we can only start to rebuild that trust if when consumers get firm conclusions. We will help in any way we can reach those conclusions.

We continue to urge customers to follow the advice in the FSA’s recall notice https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/alert/fsa-prin-36-2021-update-1 and our customer team remains available at https://applaws.com/uk/contact-us/ to any Applaws customers who wish to discuss their individual circumstances with us.

Previous updates

Product Recall Information – Wednesday 16^th June 2021

Updated Product Recall Information – Thursday 17^th June 2021

Updated Statement – Tuesday 22^nd June 2021

Updated FSA Statement – Thursday 1^st July 2021

The team at Applaws is incredibly grateful for the unprecedented effort from the Food Standards Agency to identify the cause of the spike in cases of Feline Pancytopenia. We’re also deeply appreciative of the role played by many cat owners on social media to try and help accelerate our understanding of the cause of the problem.

While there continues to be much we don’t know, we’ll continue to work hard to fully understand precisely what happened. You can find the updated FSA statement here: https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/news/update-from-the-food-standards-agency-food-standards-scotland-and-defra-following-the-rise-in-cases-of-feline-pancytopenia

Updated FSA Statement – Friday 16^th July 2021

There’s been a short update from the FSA today which you can find here – https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/news/update-from-the-food-standards-agency-and-food-standards-scotland-following-the-rise-in-cases-of-feline-pancytopenia

The team here at Applaws is deeply appreciative of the significant ongoing effort from the Food Standards Agency, Royal Veterinary College and cat owners to accelerate our understanding of what occurred.

It goes without saying, we’re continuing to assist the FSA and RVC in the efforts to discover the cause of the rise in cases of feline pancytopenia.

Our contact centre at https://applaws.com/uk/contact-us/ remains open to any Applaws customer.

We continue to urge anyone who bought the dry cat food products listed here https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/alert/fsa-prin-36-2021-update-1 to follow the FSA’s guidance.

Update – Friday 6^th August 2021

We welcome the additional publicity for June’s recall of certain Applaws dry cat food products by the manufacturer, Fold Hill Foods Limited as it’s important the recall continues to be widely heard by cat owners across the UK.

Even though the FSA has not, to date, confirmed a definitive link between the rise in cases of Feline Pancytopenia, and the food brands recalled in June, It’s clear from the data published bi-weekly by the Royal Veterinary College the publicity over the last seven weeks has led to a significant fall in reported cases of Feline Pancytopenia.

The team here at Applaws continues to be deeply appreciative of the work at the Food Standards Agency, Royal Veterinary College and cat owners themselves have done to accelerate our understanding of what happened.

Some of the media reports over the past 24 hours haven’t been as accurate as they could have been, about which products were voluntarily withdrawn by Fold Hill Foods in June – and we know from your emails that’s led to some confusion.

We’d like to remind consumers that:

• All the Applaws dry cat food varieties recalled bear the manufacturing code GB218E5009 and cover all Best Before Dates
• The full list of the seven recalled varieties can be found here on the FSA’s website – https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/alert/fsa-prin-36-2021-update-1
• All recalled Applaws products were made in the UK for the UK – no other Applaws lines are affected, including the same varieties with other manufacturing codes or those outside the UK
• If they still have a pack bearing this UK manufacturing code, they should stop using it and return the affected product to the retailer where it was purchased for a full refund.

The team at Applaws continues to work with the FSA to help them conclude their investigations as quickly as possible. Alongside all concerned pet owners, we know how important those investigations are to everyone involved.

Any Applaws consumer who has additional questions can get in touch with us here https://applaws.com/uk/contact-us/.

 

Recall is on any of the UK Applaws Dry Cat Food products with that site manufacturing code – GB218E5009 – on the pack.
Please return the affected product to the retailer where you bought it from for a full refund.

For all customer enquiries please click here: https://applaws.com/uk/contact-us/
For media and press enquiries only, please contact: [email protected]