Human Food Adverse Events vs Pet Food Adverse Events

Human food linked illnesses and pet food linked illnesses are both reported to FDA. Human food (and supplement) adverse events are reported to FDA via the agency’s Human Food Complaint System. All reports are publicly available for consumers to view.

Pet illnesses linked to pet foods and treats are reported to FDA via the Safety Reporting Portal. None of the reports are publicly available.

Both human illness linked to human food and pet illness linked to pet food are known to be under-reported. The CDC estimates (in reference to human food/human illness), that “foodborne Salmonella causes 29 illnesses for each case that is detected through laboratory testing.” In other words, for human illnesses linked to human foods, it is believed that only one in 29 cases are reported to FDA.

We can safely assume similar under-reporting occurs in pet food.

In 2024, the FDA received an estimated 2,300 human illness reports linked to human food (based on data from FDA Human Food Complaint System, sorted for food reports).

With an estimated 340 million people in the US, this means that an estimated 1 in 148,000 people reported a human food linked illness to FDA.

Unlike with human food reported illnesses which are provided publicly on the FDA website, pet food reported illnesses can only be obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request (which requires waiting months to years to receive). Based on the FOIA documents Kohl Harrington (Pet Fooled) and TruthaboutPetFood.com has received, an estimated 2700 pet illness reports linked to pet foods were reported to FDA in 2024. 

With an estimated 160 million cats and dogs in the US, this means that an estimated 1 in 59,000 pets were reported to FDA ill in 2024 linked to pet food.

Human illness linked to human food reported:
1 report per 148,000 people.

Pet illness linked to pet food reported:
1 report per 59,000 pets.

That is a significant difference. Reported illnesses of pets from pet foods were almost 3 times more than reported illnesses of people from human food. 

Almost 3 times more. Why? 

Perhaps the reason is safety standards for (most) pet foods are significantly lower than human food safety standards. Such as when a Mars Petcare facility was found during FDA inspection to have “millions of roaches” in the production area yet FDA took no action against the company. ‘Millions of roaches’ appeared to be an acceptable manufacturing standard for pet food (based on FDA’s lack of action).

Perhaps the FDA’s allowance of illegal per federal law ingredients – such as meats or meat meals sourced from diseased animals and animals that have died other than by slaughter – into pet food is linked to reported pet illnesses being almost 3 times more likely. Such as the bloated decomposing hog carcasses at Darling Ingredients in Denver, CO witnessed by a pet owner – waiting to be ground, cooked, and sold to pet owners without label disclosure.

As well, perhaps the reason pet foods are almost 3 times as likely to cause a reported adverse event is linked to the non-disclosure of the use of illegal ingredients and misleading labeled pet foods. How can pet owners avoid potentially high risk ingredients if they are not required to be disclosed?

Could it be…that if pet food was required to abide by existing federal and state laws – instead of being allowed to violate federal and state laws by FDA and State regulatory authorities – there would be significantly less sick pets?

Personal opinion: I firmly believe so. 



Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food

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