The Top 5 Manufacturers of Recalled Pet Food

Who has recalled the most pet food over the past 8 years?

Based on pounds of pet food recalled taken from data provided in FDA Enforcement Reports (since 2012), the leading manufacturers of recalled pet food are…

#5

Mars Petcare with an estimated 1,812,803 pounds of recalled kibble and can pet foods.

In June 2012, Mars Petcare announced a recall of “a limited range of three varieties of PEDIGREE® weight management canned dog food products due to a potential choking risk.” What Mars termed a “limited range of three varieties” was actually a recall for 1,653,276 cans of dog food.

Mars Petcare purchased the Natura and Iams/Eukanuba brands from Procter & Gamble in April 2014. After the sale, in November 2014, a recall was announced for Evo cat foods (and ferret foods) due to “a formulation error, these products contain insufficient levels of vitamins and excess minerals.”

And in August 2014 Mars Petcare announced a recall of kibble Pedigree due to “Bags may contain small metal fragments, which could have entered the packages during the production process.” For an unknown reason, the FDA classified this recall as a Class II instead of a more serious Class I recall.

Based on the data provided in FDA Enforcement Reports, these 3 recalls totaled an estimated 1,812,803 pounds putting Mars Petcare as the 5th leading manufacturer of recalled pet foods.

#4

Nestle Purina Pet Food with an estimated 4,886,521 pounds of recalled can and kibble pet foods.

In May of 2012 Purina recalled “Purina Veterinary Diets® OM Overweight Management canned cat food” due to “a low level of thiamine (Vitamin B1).” The FDA Enforcement Report tells us 20,356 cases of cat food were recalled, each case containing 24 5.5-oz. cans.

In August 2013 Purina announced it was recalling “a limited number of 3.5-pound bags of its Purina ONE Beyond Our White Meat Chicken & Whole Barley Recipe Adult Dry Dog Food from a single production run. This is being done because one bag of the product was found to be contaminated with Salmonella.” What Purina claimed was a “limited number of 3.5-pound bags” was actually 103,635 pounds of recalled dog food.

In March of 2016, Nestle Purina recalled numerous varieties of Beneful wet dog food. This recall was categorized as a Class II recall by FDA even though the cause was listed as “Product may contain less vitamins and minerals than label purports” – a mislabeling violation.

And in March of 2019 Purina recalled “a limited amount of Muse wet cat food Natural Chicken Recipe in Gravy in three-ounce cans” due to “The product could contain rubber pieces that are translucent yellow with a blue backing, which may present a potential choking hazard.” The “limited amount” of this cat food recalled was for 123,252 cans.

These recalls totaled together equals 4,886,521 pounds of pet food putting Nestle Purina as the 4th leading manufacturer of recalled pet foods.

#3

Hill’s Pet Food with an estimated 6,329,086 pounds of recalled can and kibble since 2012.

In June 2014 Hill’s Pet Food recalled “62 bags of Science Diet® Adult Small & Toy Breed™ dry dog food as they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.” This one recall totaled only 961 pounds of pet food.

In January and March of 2019 Hill’s Pet Food announced it was “voluntarily recalling select canned dog food products due to potentially elevated levels of vitamin D.” For an unknown reason, the FDA has not included quantity information of these recalled pet foods in the Enforcement Reports as they have included in all other reports. Based on information in one of the lawsuits against Hill’s we know the company recalled “675,000 cases of canned food.” This recall for “select canned dog food products” totals to an estimated 6,328,125 pounds of dog food.

Totaled together these recalls equal an estimated 6,329,086 pounds of pet food putting Hill’s as the 3rd leading manufacturer of recalled pet food.

#2

Diamond Pet Food with an estimated 24,781,468 pounds of kibble.

In April and May of 2012 multiple Diamond Pet Foods and multiple other brands of pet foods manufactured by Diamond were recalled due to “the product has the potential to be contaminated with salmonella.” The second recall was for all batches manufactured in this plant from December 9, 2012 through April 7, 2013 resulting in millions of pounds of pet food recalled.

All of these recalls totaled together equals an estimated 24,781,468 pounds of pet food putting Diamond as the 2nd leading manufacturer of recalled pet food.

#1

Smucker’s pet foods with an estimated 92,102,195 pounds of canned.

The J.M. Smucker Company has only been in the pet food business since March 2015 purchasing Del Monte’s Big Heart Brands of pet foods; “Meow Mix^®, Milk-Bone^®, Kibbles ‘n Bits^®, 9Lives^®, Natural Balance^®, Pup-Peroni^®, Gravy Train^®, Nature’s Recipe^®, Canine Carry Outs^®, and Milo’s Kitchen^®.” In May of 2018 Smucker purchased Ainsworth Nutrition; most notably in this purchase was the “Rachael Ray™ Nutrish^®” pet food brand.

In January 2017 Smucker “announced a limited voluntary recall on certain lots of 9Lives^TM, EverPet^TM, and Special Kitty^TM canned cat food due to possible low levels of thiamine (Vitamin B1).” This “limited” recall resulted in 179,421 pounds of recalled cat food.

In February of 2018 Smucker issued a withdrawal of multiple varities of “Gravy Train^®, Kibbles ‘N Bits^®, and Skippy^® Wet Dog Food because a minor ingredient may contain low levels of pentobarbital.” The FDA Enforcement Report stated “A TV station notified the firm and stated that certain varieties of their canned pet food products may contain Pentobarbital in low levels. The firm performed a safety assessment and concluded that no threat to pet safety was present. The firm agreed to conduct a product withdrawal, but the FDA considered this to be a recall once data indicated that the tallow was contaminated with pentobarbital.”

Just one product alone in this recall – Gravy Train With Beef Chunks – was for 4,136,951 cases of dog food.

All of these recalls totaled together puts Smucker pet foods as the #1 pet food manufacturer of recalled pet food.

Dishonorable mention:

Procter & Gamble is no longer in the pet food business, selling all of its brands in 2014. A year earlier, in 2013, the company issued 3 recalls totaling an estimated 124 million pounds of dog and cat food.

As comparison…

The top 5 Manufacturers of Recalled Pet Food all produce feed grade pet foods. But what about human grade pet foods? As comparison, how many pounds of human grade pet food has been recalled in the past 8 years?

Two human grade pet foods have experienced a recall; Honest Kitchen and JustFoodforDogs. These two recalls combined together were for an estimated 87,600 pounds of pet food.

Top Pounds of Recalled Feed Grade Pet Food	ALL Pounds of Recalled Human Grade Pet Food
1,812,803 pounds	56,600 pounds
4,886,521 pounds	31,000 pounds
6,329,086 pounds
24,781,468 pounds
92,102,195 pounds

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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