Three Years of Pet Food Recalls Tells Us… – Truth about Pet Food

In the past three years – 8/1/23 through 7/30/26 – there have been 38 pet food recalls involving more than 237 million pounds of pet food. 

Looking at recall announcements, the styles of pet foods involved break down like this:

However when we look at the pounds involved in each recall, it tells a very different story. 

An FDA Enforcement Report is issued for each pet food recall, these reports provide pounds recalled in each incident. As example, on October 30, 2023 Mid America Pet Food issued a recall for three lots of Victor dog food due to potential Salmonella contamination. On November 9, 2023 this recall was expanded to include all the brands they manufacture with a best by date before 10/31/2024.

With these two recall announcements, the FDA Enforcement Report tells us in total “9,508,943 bags” of pet food was recalled – for an estimated 190 million pounds.

When all pounds recalled is totaled within each style of pet food category, the breakdown looks like this:

Dry pet foods were responsible for 99.7% of all pounds recalled over the past three years. Raw pet foods were responsible for 0.2% of pounds, Freeze dried/Cooked pet foods were responsible for 0.002%, and Treats were responsible for 0.03% of pounds recalled.
Note: the above chart representation is not an exact representation of the FDA Enforcement Report data. Due to the dramatic variance in data totals, we altered the chart slightly in order to display all styles.

Causes of recalls.

Pathogenic bacteria contamination was the leading cause of recalls, with more than 237 million pounds.

Mislabeled pet food was the second leading cause, with 177,122 pounds recalled.

Foreign objects in pet food was the third leading cause, with 28,018 pounds of pet food recalled. However this cause is missing data from the most recent recall for foreign objects from Pedigree dog food. The FDA Enforcement Report for this Pedigree incident does not provide quantity recalled. This cause category total would change if FDA provides quantity information for the Pedigree recall in the future.

In forth place is pet foods recalled for Avian Flu, with 5,244 pounds.

And lastly, pet foods recalled for excess or insufficient vitamins or minerals included 4,712 pounds.

Pet owners can view Enforcement Report records on the FDA website. You can search a particular manufacturer or view weekly reports.

We provide recall history HERE, with announcements dating back to 2007.

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Consumer Advocate
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food

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