The FDA recently issued a warning letter to two separate dog food brands, each for different reasons. It’s important to note that these are only warnings and not recalls.
Primal Pet Foods, Inc. of Fairfield, California, and Arrow Reliance Inc. of Tukwila, Washington, were both affected. Arrow Reliance is known for producing Darwin’s Natural Pet Products.
Primal Pet Foods Warning
The FDA inspected Primal Pet Foods’ facility after its food was recalled in July 2022 for potential Listeria contamination. After the inspection, the FDA sent a warning letter to Primal voicing some concerns with their process. They listed several safety violations in their letter, such as not enough preventative control and corrective action. Then, they listed steps that the company should take to fix these issues.
Primal Pet Foods later responded to the warning letter, saying:
“Throughout last year’s inspection, our team partnered with FDA officials to review our existing food safety plan and identify opportunities to strengthen it. The FDA was satisfied with our voluntary recall process and terminated the recall in late January 2023. As a follow up to the routine inspection, we also responded to a Warning Letter that the FDA issued to request additional information about specific aspects of our food safety plan.
For example, we committed to start using HPP on all frozen red meat formulas as an added safety measure in addition to sourcing high-quality red meats, testing raw materials, and testing and holding the finished product prior to distribution. We needed to show how we are consistently implementing this new procedure (like we’ve been doing effectively on frozen poultry formulas since 2011).
We are confident we are taking the right steps to ensure we are continuing to make raw food even safer for our consumers and their pets.”
You can read the full FDA letter here.
Arrow Reliance Warning
The FDA inspected Arrow Reliance’s facility after unopened samples of its Natural Selections Antibiotic & Grain-Free Chicken Recipe for Cats and Natural Selections Antibiotic & Grain-Free Turkey Recipe for Cats had Salmonella in them. The FDA provided safety tips to the company to prevent future contamination.
In the letter, the FDA also warned the company to stop using peroxyacetic acid (PAA) in its foods. The FDA sees PAA as an unapproved and unsafe pet food additive. Yet, Arrow Reliance says they use PAA to reduce the risk of Salmonella and E. coli in their raw pet food.
You can read the full FDA letter here.
How to Report Pet Food Concerns
Neither of these companies faced recalls related to these warning letters. However, if you experience any issues with the food, you can contact the FDA to let them know. To do so, you can call the Consumer Complaint Coordinator in your area. Reporting pet food concerns not only protects your furry friend, but it could also protect many other pets eating that food.