The Magnitude of Pet Food Recalls

When a pet food tells you a “limited amount” of pet food is being recalled – how much is that ‘limited amount’? It depends on who’s recalling.

When a recall notice is issued, the notice doesn’t give much information to exactly how much pet food is recalled. As example…

On June 30, 2012 “Mars Petcare US Announces Voluntary Recall of Limited Range of Pedigree® Brand Wet Dog Food“. The recall press release told consumers “three varieties of PEDIGREE® weight management canned dog food ” were being recalled. So, how much pet food is “three varieties” and a “limited range“? It couldn’t be that much…could it?

Yes…yes it could.

The FDA website provides us with recall details through their Enforcement Reports database. Anyone can enter the details of a recall into the form and learn how much pet food was recalled. With the above “three varieties of Pedigree” dog food – the Enforcement Report for this recall tells us 1,653,276 cans of dog food were recalled. Each can was 13.2 ounces…this “Limited Range of Pedigree” recall was for more than 1 million pounds of dog food.

In April 2018, Carnivore Meat Company issued a recall for “a limited amount” of Vital Essentials Pet Food because the products may have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. How much – in this case a raw pet food – is “a limited amount“?

It turns out that this recall press release was very honest. The Enforcement Report on this recall states that “302 cases (1812 units) 6 ounces – 295 cases (1475 units) 5 pounds” of pet food were recalled. The “limited amount” stated in this pet food’s recall press release was an accurate description – a total of 8,054 pounds of pet food was recalled.

Does size matter with pet food recalls? Was the Pedigree recall of more than 1 million cans a riskier recall than the Vital Essentials recall of 8,000 pounds?

More recall amounts…

June 4, 2015 –Ainsworth Pet Nutrition recalled “five varieties” of Rachael Ray Nutrish wet cat food “due to potentially elevated levels of vitamin D”. The Nutrish recall press release warned “Symptoms of excessive vitamin D consumption usually develop within 12-36 hours after ingestion and may include vomiting or diarrhea, increased thirst and urination, and muscle tremors or seizures.” How much pet food was recalled from “five varieties”?

A total of 131,316 cases of pet food.

Purina recalls…

In August 2013, Nestlé Purina PetCare Company recalled “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.” How much was ‘a limited number of 3.5 bags from a single production run’?

A total of 29,610/3.5-lb bags were recalled – a total of 103,635 pounds. Think about that…“a single production run” produced more than 100 thousand pounds of pet food.

And another…

The FDA Enforcement Report database provided information on another Purina recall – Beneful – that we didn’t get notified on. In March 2016, Purina had a Class II recall because the pet food “may contain less vitamins and minerals than label purports.” How much pet food was recalled here?

A total of 946,325 cases of pet food were recalled – each case contains 8-10 ounce tubs. Making a total of 7,570,600 10 oz tubs recalled or 4.7 million pounds of Beneful recalled.

And another…

In May 2012, Purina PetCare recalled “one specific lot of its Purina Veterinary Diets® OM Overweight Management canned cat food“. Available only through veterinarians, this pet food was recalled because of “low level of thiamine (Vitamin B1).” How much pet food was recalled in this “one specific lot”?

A total of 20,356 cases – 24-5.5-oz. cans per case. 488,544 cans – 2,686,992 pounds of pet food. One lot of Rx pet food = 2,686,992 pounds.

Kibble Salmonella Recalls

In May 2012, Diamond Pet Food recalled multiple pet foods due to Salmonella contamination. The FDA Enforcement Report does not disclose how many pounds of pet food labeled as Diamond Pet Food was recalled (22 different pet foods) and the report does not disclose how many pounds of pet food labeled as Canidae Pet Food was recalled (4 products) – but – the report does tell us how many pounds of other pet foods manufactured by Diamond were recalled…

Approx. 1,153,000 lbs (for all Country Value products – 4 recalled products).
Approx. 332,300 lbs (total for all Professional brand products – 10 products recalled).
Approx. 2,476,000 lbs (total for all 4 Health brand products – 8 recalled products).
Approx. 10,275,000 lbs total (for all Taste of the Wild brand products – 8 products recalled).
47,600 lbs total Apex (1 product recalled).
Approx. 842,000 lbs total (for all Premium Edge brand products – 12 recalled products).
Approx. 4,033,000 lbs total (for all Kirkland brand products – 8 recalled products).
Approx. 2,809,000 lbs total (for all Chicken Soup brand products – 10 recalled).

A total 21,967,900 pounds of pet food were recalled by Diamond – not including 22 Diamond Pet foods recalled and 4 Canidae Pet Foods recalled.

Also in the same recall – May 2012, Natural Balance Pet Foods recalled “certain dry pet food formulas manufactured by Diamond Pet Foods at their Gaston, South Carolina facility.” 

A total of 1,666,101 pounds of dog food were recalled by Natural Balance.

Combining the Diamond pet food known pounds of pet food recalled (26 product amounts were not provided) with the Natural Balance pet food recall – this one recall from one pet food manufacturing plant resulted in more than 23 million pounds of pet food being recalled.

In an unrelated Salmonella recall – August 2013 The Procter & Gamble Company told consumers they were recalling “specific lots of dry pet food because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.” The title of the recall press release stated “Limited Quantity“. How much was P&G’s limited quantity?

The FDA Enforcement Report did not disclose how much pet food was recalled for 28 different products. All they provided pound information on was one pet food – Eukanuba Dog Food Base Large Breed Mature Adult. For this one single pet food – a total of 211,161 bags (15# and 30#) of pet food were recalled.

Chicken Jerky Treats

Remember when we finally got a recall of the jerky treats manufactured in China? January 2013, Milo’s Kitchen announced a recall of Chicken Jerky and Chicken Grillers home-style dog treats. from retailer shelves nationally. The reason these deadly treats were recalled: “trace amounts of residual antibiotics.” How many “Chicken Jerky and Chicken Grillers” were recalled?

The Enforcement Report tells us 1.97 million cases of Chicken Jerky in 3, 14 and 20 ounce packages (unknown how many products per case), and .43 million cases of Chicken Grillers in 3, 14 and 20 ounce packages (unknown how many products per case).

Blue Buffalo recall

In March 2017, Blue Buffalo Company recalled “one production lot of BLUE Wilderness® Rocky Mountain RecipeTM Red Meat Dinner Wet Food for Adult Dogs, as the product has the potential to contain elevated levels of naturally- occurring beef thyroid hormones.”

How much pet food was “one production lot“? Blue Buffalo recalled 8887 cases (12 per case) totaling 106,644 (12.5 0z) cans.

Treats

In February 2018, Redbarn Pet Products “with an extreme abundance of caution” recalled “a single product, Redbarn’s 7-inch Bully Stick three pack, because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.”

The FDA Enforcement Report for this recall told us that Redbarn recalled 19,5211 cases of dog chews.

Raw

Just to give pet owners a comparison…March 2018, Rad Cat Pet Food recalled “one lot” of Chicken pet food and “one lot” of Turkey pet food. How much is this raw pet food’s ‘one lot’?

The Enforcement Report for this recall tell us 789-8 oz. packages, 660-16 oz. packages, and 1860-24 oz. packages of Chicken pet food was recalled. For Turkey pet food – 1277-8 oz. packages, 2232-16 oz. packages, and 1200-24 oz. packages were recalled. This raw pet food “one lot” recall = a total of 8,514 pounds.

In February 2018, Northwest Naturals recalled “5lb frozen Chicken and Salmon pet food chubs because it has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.” In this case the raw pet food manufacturer provided full disclosure in their recall notice – a total of 97 cases of 5 pound cubs were recalled.

In March of 2013, Bravo! Pet Food recalled “three of its raw diet frozen foods for dogs and cats“. The FDA Enforcement Report states 461 cases of pet food (2 lb. and 5 lb. products) were recalled in total.

Does size matter in pet food recalls? 

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

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