The United States Food and Drug Administration confirmed that low levels of sodium pentobarbital (pentobarbital) had been found in some samples of dog food (cat food was not tested) in 2002. Because Pentobarbital is used to euthanize animals, it was possible that companion animals were entering the pet food matrices.

In 2004, the FDA announced on their website that it had performed DNA-based testing on samples of dog food and was unable to find a single instance of dog or cat DNA present (again, cat food was not tested). The results were not published in a peer-reviewed journal. Unfortunately, pentobarbital continues to be found in samples of pet food and pet owners continue to ponder the precise sources of this chemical.

ACGT, Inc. now offers the Pet Food DNA Test service, which eliminates the possibility that a tested pet food contains rendered companion animals.