Pet Food Recalls – The Important Things To Know

What’s a cat/dog food recall, and what does it mean for your pets? The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates food and drug products — including dog & cat food — The FDA regularly tests batches for contamination and illness-causing ingredients ( like Salmonella)  These could also include unapproved pesticides or excessive amounts of minerals such as calcium. When the FDA deems a product potentially dangerous, it issues alerts to let you know. From there, most pet food brands will issue a voluntary recall and have the contaminated products removed from the shelves.

What kinds of pet food recalls are there?

There are two major types of pet food recalls. There are voluntary and ordered. Most recalls are voluntary, this means that they originate from your pet food company, and they make the decision to pull the product from stores and issue a warning to the public. Very occasionally, the FDA will be forced to step in and issue the recall themselves.Once the product has been recalled, the FDA and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) will issue an alert. That’s where our lists come in! It’s important to know as soon as possible when potentially dangerous foods are being fed to your dog. The consequences can be fatal if not dealt with in a timely manner.