Concerning Ollie Pet Food Recall FDA Did Not Require Public Press Release For

Ollie Pet Food recently issued a recall of Ollie Gently Baked Beef Dish with Sweet Potatoes due to “Potential foreign material contamination (metal)”.

According to the FDA Enforcement Report record, the pet food was “Distributed to consumers nationwide” – BUT, the Enforcement Report stated a “Press Release Not Issued For This Recall.” The FDA required no public notice to be issued regarding this recall.

Why?

Public notice of pet food recalls depends on several aspects of the recall, one being its classification. Pet food recalls are classified as follows (quoting FDA website):

• Class I recall: a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.
• Class II recall: a situation in which use of or exposure to a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.
• Class III recall: a situation in which use of or exposure to a violative product is not likely to cause adverse health consequences.
• Market withdrawal: occurs when a product has a minor violation that would not be subject to FDA legal action. The firm removes the product from the market or corrects the violation. For example, a product removed from the market due to tampering, without evidence of manufacturing or distribution problems, would be a market withdrawal.

A Class I recall is required to issue a press release, UNLESS – according to the FDA (direct correspondence with FDA), the company is direct to consumer (not sold in pet stores, shipped directly from the manufacturer to the consumer). A Class II recall might require a press release or it might not; it depends on FDA discretion.

Ollie Pet Food originally started as a direct to consumer pet food. But, since 2023 Ollie has sold in Petco stores.

So…why did FDA NOT require a press release about this recall?

Further, why was this pet food recall classified as Class II when the cause was pieces of metal in the food? Metal fragments in a pet food has serious risk of causing ‘adverse health consequences or death.’

We sent the FDA these questions (12/17/25), should the FDA respond we will post their response.

Are FDA classifications of recalls arbitrary? It appears so.

In the FDA Enforcement Report records for the week of June 19, 2024 (for the category Veterinary), we find these two reports of pet foods that are recalled due to the same cause – “potential metal contamination“.

Two identical causes for recall; “metal contamination”.

One pet food is Pedigree dog food, a Mars Petcare product. The reason for recall stated on the enforcement report is “potential metal contamination“. The FDA classified this pet food recall as Class II – “the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote“. No public notice was required.

The other pet food is a raw pet food, TDBBS green tripe product. Again, the reason for this recall as stated on the enforcement report is “Foreign material (metal) contamination“. But the FDA classified this pet food recall differently, as a Class I recall – “a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.“ A public press release was required.

Identical recall causes classified very differently. Identical recalls, one the public was notified of – the other no notification. Why?

Pet food consumers deserve better than this from FDA.

IF (a big IF) there is a legitimate reason why metal fragments in one pet food is a lesser risk, pet owners deserve to know those details. Feel free to email the FDA with your concerns; AskCVM@fda.hhs.gov.

Provided after initial post publishing:

Ollie pet food provided this statement to us: “All customers who had purchased and received the single batch of dry food were notified by email to discontinue feeding it to their dog, and were shipped a replacement bag with enhanced safety checks in place.” (12/17/25)

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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