Gravy Train is an American brand of

dog food Dog food is food specifically formulated and intended for consumption by dogs and other related canines. Dogs are considered to be omnivores with a carnivorous bias. They have the sharp, pointed teeth and shorter gastrointestinal tracts of ca ...

, currently owned by

the J.M. Smucker Company The J.M. Smucker Company, also known as Smuckers, is an American manufacturer of food and beverage products. Headquartered in Orrville, Ohio, the company was founded in 1897 as a maker of apple butter. J.M. Smucker currently has three major bus ...

after it acquired

Big Heart Pet Brands Big Heart Pet Brands is an American company that manufacturers, distributes and markets branded pet food and other products for the U.S. retail market. Now a subsidiary of The J.M. Smucker Company, it is headquartered at the One Maritime Plaza i ...

in 2015.J.M. Smucker adds major pet food brands in ‘transformational’ $5.8 billion purchase
by Jim Mackinnon at Ohio.com, 3 Feb 2015 (archive

/ref> Originally developed by

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate ...

, the Gravy Train brand was introduced in 1959 and trademarked in 1960. It was the first brand of dog food to have a brown

gravy Gravy is a sauce often made from the juices of meats that run naturally during cooking and often thickened with wheat flour or corn starch for added texture. The gravy may be further coloured and flavoured with gravy salt (a simple mix of salt an ...

form when warm water is added to the dry kibble, mixing with the kibble's powder coating. The gravy is intended to make the food more palatable. The advertising catchphrase was "the gravy taste dogs can't wait to finish".

History

Products under the "Gravy Train" brand were originally produced and marketed by

, as part of its ''Gaines''

division Division or divider may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...

which included Gaines Meal, Gaines-Burgers as well as Prime Choice and Top Choice. In 2014,

, the pet food division of

Del Monte Foods Del Monte Foods, Inc (trading as Del Monte Foods) is an American food production and distribution company headquartered in Walnut Creek, California. Del Monte Foods is one of the country's largest producers, distributors and marketer of br ...

, became an independent company, taking over rights to the ''Gravy Train'' brand. In March 2015, it was announced that J.M. Smucker had completed the acquisition of Big Heart Pet Brands and its brands portfolio. Big Heart had 2,500 employees at the moment of the purchase. J.M. Smucker was best known for its jams, jellies, coffee, and other people food, committed to pay $5.8 billion cash and stock deal for the acquisition. Big Heart was the largest pet food manufacturer in the U.S. by then.

Pentobarbital detection in 2018

After

pentobarbital Pentobarbital (previously known as pentobarbitone in Britain and Australia) is a short-acting barbiturate typically used as a sedative, a preanesthetic, and to control convulsions in emergencies. It can also be used for short-term treatment of ...

—a

barbiturate Barbiturates are a class of depressant drugs that are chemically derived from barbituric acid. They are effective when used medically as anxiolytics, hypnotics, and anticonvulsants, but have physical and psychological addiction potential as we ...

used for euthanasia of dogs, cats and horses—caused the death of a dog on New Year's Eve of 2016, a wide range of pet food brands were tested by

WJLA-TV WJLA-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with ABC. It is one of two flagship stations of Sinclair Broadcast Group (alongside dual Fox/MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFF hannel 45in Baltimore), and is also sister to ...

of Washington, D.C., partnered with Ellipse Analytics. The brand that most consistently was found to contain pentobarbital was Gravy Train dog food. Out of 15 cans of Gravy Train dog food that were tested, 60% tested positive for pentobarbital. The source was identified as likely to be that animals that had been euthanized with pentobarbital had been used for making the dog food. While the levels detected were not considered lethal, the drug is not legally permitted at any concentration in pet food. After declining an on-camera interview, the U.S. FDA stated that it would "investigate the matter and take appropriate enforcement action".

Nutritional info

Gravy Train primarily consists of byproducts from corn, wheat and soybeans,

cellulose Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of β(1→4) linked D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important structural component of the primary cell wall ...

gum (the active ingredient that creates the gravy),

bone meal Bone meal is a mixture of finely and coarsely ground animal bones and slaughter-house waste products. It is used as a dietary supplement to supply calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) to monogastric livestock in the form of hydroxiapathite. As a slo ...

, vitamin and mineral supplementation, artificial colors, BHA and

rosemary ''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native plant, native to the Mediterranean Region, Mediterranean region. Until 2017, it was kn ...

.Gravy Train Dog Food Review (Dry)
at Dog Food Advisor

References

External links

*
Gravy Train TV commercial
at the

Duke University Libraries Duke University Libraries is the library system of Duke University, serving the university's students and faculty. The Libraries collectively hold some 6 million volumes. The collection contains 17.7 million manuscripts, 1.2 million public documen ...

{{General Foods Dog food brands Del Monte Foods brands General Foods The J.M. Smucker Co. brands 1959 establishments in the United States