This Is Every Pet Food Recall From The Past Five Years

It’s pretty stressful to find out a pet food recall has been issued on your BFF’s usual dinner. But how would you even know if your go-to food’s been recalled?

We break down what a pet food recall actually is, what to do about it, and all the pet foods that have been recalled in the past five years (plus, why that matters).

JUMP TO: Primal Pet Foods Primal Patties For Dogs (2022) | Freshpet Fresh From The Kitchen Home Cooked Chicken Recipe (2022) | Family Dollar pet food recall (2022) | Woody's Pet Food Deli recall (2021) | Top Quality Dog Food recall (2021) | Sunshine Mills dog food recall (2021) | Natural Balance cat food recall (2021) | Meow Mix cat food recall (2021) | Midwestern Pet Foods recall (2021) | Albright’s Raw Dog Food recall (2020) | Real Pet Food dog food recall (2020) | Sunshine Mills dog food recall (2020) | Natural Balance cat food recall (2020) | Texas Tripe raw pet food recall (2019) | Blue Ridge Beef kitten food recall (2018)

When a pet food is recalled, it’s taken off the market by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A pet food can be recalled if:

But just because something gets recalled doesn’t necessarily mean that product is recalled forever.

According to the FDA, a recall is “terminated” when “all reasonable efforts have been made to remove or correct the violative product” and “proper disposition has been made according to the degree of hazard.”

So, more pet foods than the ones listed below have been recalled in the past five years, but those recalls have since been terminated. We’re only including recalls that are still active, which means there can still be risks associated with using that product.

If you bought a pet food that has an active recall, here’s what you should do:

As of this publish date, these are the active pet food recalls from 2022.

When it was recalled: July 6, 2022

Why it was recalled: Primal Pet Foods recalled 6-pound packages of the beef formula of their raw frozen Primal Patties For Dogs due to possible listeria contamination. This was issued after routine FDA sampling found listeria in food from one specific lot.

The affected products were from lot #W10068709 and have a best by date of 05/22/23. According to the company, 66 cases of food from this lot had been distributed to Maryland, Georgia, Texas and British Columbia.

Luckily, at the time of the recall, no complaints or illnesses had been reported.

When it was recalled: June 18, 2022

Why it was recalled: Freshpet recalled 4.5-pound bags of the Fresh From The Kitchen Home Cooked Chicken Recipe for possible salmonella contamination. The good news is that Freshpet hadn’t gotten any reports from customers about adverse reactions at the time of the recall.

The recall is only limited to food from a single lot. Your pup’s food is only affected if it’s got the UPC code 627975011673, the lot code 10/29/22 and the expiration date 10/29/22 L3.

Freshpet had been aware of the contamination and had planned to destroy the lot, but some of the affected food was accidentally sent to Walmarts in Alabama and Georgia, some Target locations and other retailers in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia.

When it was recalled: February 18, 2022

Why it was recalled: Rats were reported at a Family Dollar distribution center in West Memphis, Arkansas. This particular distribution center stores and ships products to 404 different Family Dollar stores, so pet food that was sent to any of those stores since January 1, 2022, has been recalled.

Since these products were exposed to rats, they could be contaminated with salmonella bacteria, which means your pet can get really sick if he eats that food. (You could get sick, too, if you don’t wash your hands after handling it.)

When it was recalled: December 23, 2021

Why it was recalled: This Minnesota-based product was recalled due to a salmonella health risk. After a customer complaint regarding a different product, the FDA took a sample of the Raw Cornish Hen Pet Food With Supplements and found salmonella. The specific products recalled include the 15-ounce container and the 5-pound tub, both of which have expiration dates of November 20, 2022. The source of the salmonella is still unclear, but the company is investigating.

When it was recalled: August 26, 2021

Why it was recalled: One-pound packages of Beef HVM from Top Quality Dog Food were recalled for potential exposure to salmonella and listeria. Both these diseases can make you or your dog really sick. (According to the FDA, listeria infections aren’t too common in pets but can still happen.)

The contamination was discovered in packages with labeled lot #071521, which were distributed to Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut and South Carolina through mail order or direct delivery. According to the announcement from Top Quality Dog Food, anyone who received a package with that lot number should have been contacted already.

The food was recalled after a state surveillance sample found salmonella and listeria in multiple 1-pound packages of Beef HVM.

When was it recalled: June 2, 2021

Why was it recalled: Sunshine Mills, which makes pet food for multiple brands, issued a recall on some dog food from its Sportsman’s Pride, Sprout Sporting, Intimidator and FRM Gold Select collections. The food was recalled after the Minnesota Department of Agriculture found salmonella in a 5-pound bag of Sprout Sporting Dog Food during routine testing.

This recall includes the following products:

According to Sunshine Mills’ announcement, products with other lot codes weren’t affected and the company hasn’t identified the cause of the salmonella exposure.

When it was recalled: May 20, 2021

Why it was recalled: Natural Balance recalled its L.I.D. Limited Ingredient Diets Green Pea & Chicken dry cat food because of potential salmonella contamination. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture flagged the health risk after a routine state surveillance sample. This recall applies specifically to the 5- and 10-pound bags with the lot code 1008080 and a best by date of March 10, 2022.

When it was recalled: April 9, 2021

Why it was recalled: 30-pound bags of Meow Mix Original Choice dry cat food were recalled because of potential salmonella contamination. The recall only applies to products that have lot codes 1081804 and 1082804, which were sold at Walmarts in Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming. According to the company’s announcement, this food was recalled “out of an abundance of caution.”

When it was recalled: January 11, 2021

Why it was recalled:Midwestern Pet Foods recalled all dog and cat food made with corn products that were produced at an operations facility in Chickasha, Oklahoma, due to excessive aflatoxin levels. Aflatoxin is a toxin that comes from a mold that grows on corn, and exposure can be serious and even fatal for pets. Symptoms of aflatoxin poisoning include:

According to the company’s announcement, this recall was issued “out of an abundance of caution,” and only applies to those products from that specific facility in Chickasha that have expiration dates on or before July 9, 2022. The recalled products are:

When it was recalled: November 13, 2020

Why it was recalled: Albright’s Raw Dog Food recalled 67 cases of 2-pound rolls of its Chicken Recipe For Dogs because of potential salmonella contamination. This recall was issued after one animal illness was reported. After FDA testing, products with salmonella bacteria all came from the same batch — they have the lot code C000185 and a May 19, 2021 best by date.

When it was recalled: September 22, 2020

Why it was recalled: Real Pet Food recalled 4-pound bags of Billy+Margot Wild Kangaroo And Superfoods after routine sample testing found salmonella in this product. The only products affected have the lot code V 07.

When it was recalled: September 2, 2020

Why it was recalled:Sunshine Mills recalled some dog food products because of the possibility that it contains excessive levels of aflatoxin. According to the company’s announcement, this recall was issued “as a precautionary measure.”

This recall includes the following products:

When it was recalled: July 3, 2020

Why it was recalled: Natural Balance recalled its Ultra Premium Chicken & Liver Paté cat food after receiving reports of adverse reactions. According to the company’s announcement, these issues are most likely associated with elevated levels of choline chloride in the food. Ingesting elevated amounts of choline chloride could lead to illness or even death.

If your cat consumes an unsafe amount of choline chloride, he may experience symptoms like:

This recall applies to 5.5-ounce cans with the lot code 9217803 and a best by date of August 4, 2021.

As of this publish date, there’s only one active pet food recall from 2019.

When it was recalled: August 14, 2019

Why it was recalled:Texas Tripe recalled 23 different raw pet food products — across 35 different lots — after samples tested by the Office of the Texas State Chemist found salmonella and listeria in over half of those samples. The recalled products are:

As of this publish date, there’s only one active pet food recall from 2018.

When it was recalled: February, 2018

Why it was recalled: Blue Ridge Beef issued a recall on its Kitten Grind raw pet food due to potential salmonella and listeria contamination. The recall comes after two reported kitten deaths — one of the deaths was confirmed to be a result of salmonella exposure. FDA testing confirmed the presence of salmonella and listeria in Kitten Grind raw food. Affected products are 2-pound rolls from lot GA1102.

If you have any of these foods at home, stop feeding them to your pet ASAP. And make sure you either return it or get rid of it so that no other animal can eat it.