Lotus Just Juicy turkey - what the??!!!

[lisamarie12]

Lotus Just Juicy turkey unidentifiable black matte

• lisamarie12
• Mar 1, 2016

Okay - that's it, I've had it.

I've been feeding my IBD Molly Lotus Just Juicy turkey on rotation, it is one of the few low fat foods that she can tolerate. Usually, upon opening a can, it's full of shredded white meat and a few carrots.  "It looks good enough for humans to eat" as I've mentioned previously on several TCS threads, recommending LJJ to others.

The last several weeks, a few of the cans had a tiny bit of "grey matter / fibers" in the middle. It seemed a bit suspect, however, it was so little that I just scooped it out and fed regardless, no problem, no adverse reactions from Molly.

Last week I opened a can and found a bit more grey matter in the middle of the can. I called the company and as of today, zero response.

I continued to use the food I had in stock - again, most were fine, nothing unusual until I opened a can this morning ... disgusting!!

Looking at it closely, the black matter resembles the turkey itself, I'm wondering if it's burnt / charred turkey?

Regardless, I tossed the food and won't be purchasing it any time soon, or ever again.

Nor can I recommend it to anyone else.

The batch and best  buy dates are as follows, if any TCS members are using this food; (the "?" denotes an indechipherable character):

LTK(?)S 15215A4

BB: 08/03/18  "17:49"

I emailed Lotus this morning along with the photo, if I receive a response, I will update this thread.

This is so doggone frustrating.  I am seriously going to have to revisit home cooking / raw again for Molly.

 

[lisahe]

Oh, no! For one thing, that looks both troubling and awful. For another, they never got back to you. And worse yet, the food was working for Molly.

I'm so sorry you have to start over again.

 

[lisamarie12]

 
Oh, no! For one thing, that looks both troubling and awful. For another, they never got back to you. And worse yet, the food was working for Molly.

I'm so sorry you have to start over again.

Thanks.... doesn't that black stuff look like the turkey itself - burnt?

Who knows .... anyway, I have got her eating Instinct LID canned rabbit, I had to add fish oil but interestingly she will now eat it w/o much fish oil added, sometimes with nothing.

But I need back up foods, I can't feed one exclusively.

Anyway, thanks for feeling my pain.

 

[lisahe]

I don't honestly know what that looks like! What's strange to me is that it has the look of something portioned out into the middle of the can. (Kind of like how Tiki's Gourmet Carnivore with chicken and duck has a clump of duck on top of the chicken...) That is very strange.

At least she'll eat the rabbit with fish oil. But I know what you mean about having a backup. Good luck, I know it's not easy!

 

[Kat0121]

That looks awful. I'd have them on the phone. Good thing you have backup foods

 

[lisamarie12]

 
That looks awful. I'd have them on the phone. Good thing you have backup foods

Thanks Kat.

I called the company last week after finding a very small amount of grey matter - left a VM but no response. Figured a photo is worth a thousand words, emailed them this morning, we'll see if they get back and what the explanation might be.

Sigh ....

Edit: I actually went ahead and retrieved the food from the garbage, I had placed it in a plastic bag by itself. Put the can with it and stuck in the refrigerator, in the event that I follow up in some capacity with this issue, I'll have evidence.

 

[lisahe]

I'm glad you took it out of the trash, L lisamarie12 ! I can't believe they still haven't gotten back to you.

 

[kittens mom]

Okay - that's it, I've had it.

I've been feeding my IBD Molly Lotus Just Juicy turkey on rotation, it is one of the few low fat foods that she can tolerate. Usually, upon opening a can, it's full of shredded white meat and a few carrots.  "It looks good enough for humans to eat" as I've mentioned previously on several TCS threads, recommending LJJ to others.

The last several weeks, a few of the cans had a tiny bit of "grey matter / fibers" in the middle. It seemed a bit suspect, however, it was so little that I just scooped it out and fed regardless, no problem, no adverse reactions from Molly.

Last week I opened a can and found a bit more grey matter in the middle of the can. I called the company and as of today, zero response.

I continued to use the food I had in stock - again, most were fine, nothing unusual until I opened a can this morning ... disgusting!!

Looking at it closely, the black matter resembles the turkey itself, I'm wondering if it's burnt / charred turkey?

Regardless, I tossed the food and won't be purchasing it any time soon, or ever again.

Nor can I recommend it to anyone else.

The batch and best  buy dates are as follows, if any TCS members are using this food; (the "?" denotes an indechipherable character):

LTK(?)S 15215A4

BB: 08/03/18  "17:49"

I emailed Lotus this morning along with the photo, if I receive a response, I will update this thread.

This is so doggone frustrating.  I am seriously going to have to revisit home cooking / raw again for Molly.

Go to the BBB site and make a complaint. There is also a website called p****d off consumer. Both of these forward your complaint to the company. You can post a picture on the BBB site.

 

[ruthm]

 
Thanks Kat.

I called the company last week after finding a very small amount of grey matter - left a VM but no response. Figured a photo is worth a thousand words, emailed them this morning, we'll see if they get back and what the explanation might be.

Sigh ....

Edit: I actually went ahead and retrieved the food from the garbage, I had placed it in a plastic bag by itself. Put the can with it and stuck in the refrigerator, in the event that I follow up in some capacity with this issue, I'll have evidence.

Oh no, I am one of those TCS users :-((((  The chicken stew is one of the few things my female kitten KC loves...  I did not see  your posts indicating that you found gray matter in a different can either! :-(   I only buy the chicken stew, the turkey one is 50 cents more at our stores.  But I have never found anything but white chicken meat inside.

I am praying the company calls you back and has some sort of redeeming customer service to offer!

Serial numbers on my cans of the chicken one are: CCS15299A1 with a use by date of 12-26-18.

Thank you for reporting this!

 

[red dog]

Hmmm...looks like an open can of Soulistic to me.

Not sure if you even have an issue. Bad mouthing a company on a BBB board based on cat food looks alone is probably not prudent. Giblets and such are darker in color. When I was in the Navy I remember them serving up green roast beef for dinner. Not including one offs, bulk processing has an effect on most any canned meats, including tuna.

Most cat foods have some discolorations, even pates, including the better brands. Unless its spoiled or an incorrect meal, I let my cats tell me if its a go or no go.

Can understand your disappointment in the drop in quality though, good luck.

 

[kittymomma1122]

Thanks! I have the Turkey and Pork in my rotation. Mine has so far looked like shreaded meat, broth and a few carrots. Keep us updated.

 

[lisamarie12]

 
Hmmm...looks like an open can of Soulistic to me.

Not sure if you even have an issue. Bad mouthing a company on a BBB board based on cat food looks alone is probably not prudent. Giblets and such are darker in color. When I was in the Navy I remember them serving up green roast beef for dinner. Not including one offs, bulk processing has an effect on most any canned meats, including tuna.

Most cat foods have some discolorations, even pates, including the better brands. Unless its spoiled or an incorrect meal, I let my cats tell me if its a go or no go.

Can understand your disappointment in the drop in quality though, good luck.

Lotus Just Juicy is shredded meat, similar to Soulistic. 

I don't plan on "bad mouthing" via BBB. I am giving Lotus an opportunity to contact me, I just emailed the company this morning with the photo, my call to them last week (Thursday) was re: a similar issue with several cans of the LJJ turkey, but much smaller in size - grey, not black, they haven't returned my call.

Lotus doesn't use giblets, this is turkey breast meat (or should be, per the ingredient list).

I realize b/c of bulk processing batches can differ in color, however, I see no reason to just let this go without alerting the company as well as others who use this food.

 

[lisamarie12]

 
Go to the BBB site and make a complaint. There is also a website called p****d off consumer. Both of these forward your complaint to the company. You can post a picture on the BBB site.

Thanks. I'll give Lotus a chance to get back to me before pursuing further. If I don't hear back, actually, I'd contact my state division of AAFCO first (for what's it's worth) and / or file a complaint with the FDA, then I would follow up with BBB.

 

[lisamarie12]

So I sent this photo over to Susan T. at TAPF. She also suspects the "black matter" is possibly the turkey itself, that the food wasn't cooked properly "in the can". Huh?!! "Canned pet foods are cooked in the cans."

Well, I didn't know that - going to have to research that topic a bit and get informed, if that's the case, canned pet foods cooked in the cans brings up a whole other Pandora's Box, IMO, but that's a topic for another discussion ...

Thanks all for the feedback, I'll update if I hear back from Lotus.

 

[lisamarie12]

 
Oh no, I am one of those TCS users :-((((  The chicken stew is one of the few things my female kitten KC loves...  I did not see  your posts indicating that you found gray matter in a different can either! :-(   I only buy the chicken stew, the turkey one is 50 cents more at our stores.  But I have never found anything but white chicken meat inside.

I am praying the company calls you back and has some sort of redeeming customer service to offer!

Serial numbers on my cans of the chicken one are: CCS15299A1 with a use by date of 12-26-18.

Thank you for reporting this!

I've been using the food for several months and haven't had a problem - just recently, the past few weeks, I started noticing in the middle grey stuff.  I didn't post a thread about this, but rather, commented via another TCS members' post who had questions about something she found in Instinct's LID lamb. 

I'm sure your cans are probably fine. I mentioned this via the thread in the event anyone else has had a similar problem, or who knows - maybe it'll just be an isolated case. I went to the indy store today where I get the food, talked with the owner, he still has cans on the shelf with the same batch and BB date. We'll see ... so far, I'm the only one (customer) who buys this food.  But I wanted to alert him nonetheless.

 

[lisamarie12]

Okay, so Lotus emailed back this morning, here is the response re: that black meat:

Sorry for the delay in answering, I have been out of the office and am playing catch up.  We have investigated this problem and although it looks bad the discolored area is harmless. Let me give you a quick back ground on our Just Juicy hand packed.  We slice and steam cook the meat.  The meat is strained out and we use the broth to make the gravy.  The liquid is put into a mixer along with the vitamin/mineral powders and essentials oils.  If small shards of meat slip through the strainer back into the broth, they come into direct contact with the dry mineral powder before it is dissolved.  This will turn the bits a grey color.  When the broth was piped into the center can, these colored pieces formed an 'eye'.  We have reviewed the process from the point of straining the meat to the filling of the cans to prevent this from occurring in the future. If you would give us a mailing address we will happily send you a replacement case from a current production batch.

 

[Kat0121]

 
Okay, so Lotus emailed back this morning, here is the response re: that black meat:

Sorry for the delay in answering, I have been out of the office and am playing catch up.  We have investigated this problem and although it looks bad the discolored area is harmless. Let me give you a quick back ground on our Just Juicy hand packed.  We slice and steam cook the meat.  The meat is strained out and we use the broth to make the gravy.  The liquid is put into a mixer along with the vitamin/mineral powders and essentials oils.  If small shards of meat slip through the strainer back into the broth, they come into direct contact with the dry mineral powder before it is dissolved.  This will turn the bits a grey color.  When the broth was piped into the center can, these colored pieces formed an 'eye'.  We have reviewed the process from the point of straining the meat to the filling of the cans to prevent this from occurring in the future. If you would give us a mailing address we will happily send you a replacement case from a current production batch.

Good for them!!  

 

That food did look scary. I'm glad that they are trying to make things right by you

 

[kittens mom]

 
Okay, so Lotus emailed back this morning, here is the response re: that black meat:

Sorry for the delay in answering, I have been out of the office and am playing catch up.  We have investigated this problem and although it looks bad the discolored area is harmless. Let me give you a quick back ground on our Just Juicy hand packed.  We slice and steam cook the meat.  The meat is strained out and we use the broth to make the gravy.  The liquid is put into a mixer along with the vitamin/mineral powders and essentials oils.  If small shards of meat slip through the strainer back into the broth, they come into direct contact with the dry mineral powder before it is dissolved.  This will turn the bits a grey color.  When the broth was piped into the center can, these colored pieces formed an 'eye'.  We have reviewed the process from the point of straining the meat to the filling of the cans to prevent this from occurring in the future. If you would give us a mailing address we will happily send you a replacement case from a current production batch.

Makes sense. Now get your free case. I have been beyond fussy since the Chinese melamine gluten debacle.  I didn't lose a cat but I know someone who did. Sadly she buried them before all the information was out and was unable to produce enough proof for the pet food company to make it somewhat right.

 

[lisamarie12]

Not sure why my cut/paste text has that odd border ....

I emailed back asking if the black pieces were due to the same process as described above re: the grey and was told, "Yes, the cans we examined from the same batch as your cans looked a charcoal grey.  It could have been the lighting in the lab."

?

Anyway, thanks again all for the feedback.

 

[lisamarie12]

 
Makes sense. Now get your free case. I have been beyond fussy since the Chinese melamine gluten debacle.  I didn't lose a cat but I know someone who did. Sadly she buried them before all the information was out and was unable to produce enough proof for the pet food company to make it somewhat right.

Thank you, much appreciated.

Yes, that's my feeling.  While some cats may instinctively know to avoid a food if it's "spoiled" - hence, someone who may choose to feed a food that's different in color than what it looks like normally, a cat / dog wouldn't necessarily know to avoid something like melamine, which caused so many pet deaths.

I spend a lot of money on Lotus (and others) per month, however, regardless, even if I were using a lower price point food, I have the right to know and ask if a food seems off, either discolored or whatever - from the company.