Over the past five years – September 1, 2019 to August 31, 2024 – we’ve seen 44 pet food recalls, involving nearly 70 million pounds of pet food. Based on FDA Enforcement Report records, the breakdown of pounds of pet food recalled in the past five years is:
2019 (four months) – 387,062 lbs.
2020 – 59,764,699 lbs.
2021 – 8,656,987 lbs.
2022 – 136,175 lbs.
2023 – 756,848 lbs.
2024 (eight months) – 33,250 lbs.
In the first eight months of 2024, only 33,250 pounds of pet food were recalled. This number is very low, considering that the FDA received reports of more than 1,300 sick pets in January 2024 alone, with more than 100 pets dying in the same month. We expect that the large amount of consumer-submitted reports will be followed by a recall, but…
Looking at the number of recall incidents (not pounds), kibble pet foods had the most recalls over the past five years with 20. Raw pet food was second with 11 recalls.
But if we look at the total pounds of pet food recalled for each category, there is one significant style of pet food that was recalled the most – kibble. Over the past five years, more than 68 million pounds of kibble have been recalled, compared to nearly 700 thousand pounds of canned pet foods, 120 thousand pounds of chilled/frozen pet foods, and nearly 46 thousand pound of raw.
The leading cause of pet food recalls in the past five years has been aflatoxin contamination, involving more than 60 million pounds. This particular contaminant has been poisoning pet foods for decades AND can easily be avoided with proper laboratory testing. Raw ingredients must be continuously tested, finished pet foods with mycotoxin prone ingredients must be continuously tested. There is no reason for these types of recalls to continue.
The second leading cause is contamination by pathogenic bacteria with more than 8 million recalled. The third leading cause is too much/not enough vitamins or minerals with nearly 1 million pounds recalled.
The ONLY causes of recalls in the past five years are:
Aflatoxin
Pathogenic Bacteria
Inadequate/Excessive Vitamins or Minerals
Foreign Object
Mislabeling
Oversize Fish Treat (no joke)
This short list of causes of recalls should not be considered comforting to pet owners. Instead, what these few reasons tell pet owners are the ONLY ones that regulations are looking for as potential contaminants in pet food.
And the top five pet food manufacturers of recalled pet foods over the past five years are:
Midwestern Pet Foods is by far the leading manufacturer of recalled pet foods, having had both a Salmonella and aflatoxin recall in the past five years.
Sunshine Mills has both aflatoxin and Salmonella recalls.
TFP Nutrition has two Salmonella recalls.
Walmart pet foods – made by unknown private label manufacturers – have recalled many Special Kitty products for excess vitamins.
And Purina remembered two things; one for excessive levels of Vitamin D, the other for mislabeling.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Buyer Beware of Author, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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