Often raw feeders will claim that kibble is much more frequently recalled than raw – but this isn’t actually looking at the full picture. So, let’s actually take a look at the numbers and what they mean in the context of the pet food industry as a whole.
Both raw and kibble diets can be subject to recalls – no diet is immune. But before we demonise recalls, it’s also important to remember that recalls happen because companies prioritise pet safety. A recall might be triggered by contamination with things like salmonella, listeria or mycotoxins but it may also be something as simple as an incorrect label or a foreign object (plastic bits or a machinery part) that has fallen into the manufacturing line.
The vast majority of recalls will occur before the product ever hits the shelves, but here we are going to focus on FDA recall notices only, as this is the data we have publicly available. For a refresher on different types of recalls, you can read my blog on the topic here.
Here’s the thing – comparing the magnitude of recalls between raw and kibble does get tricky. Reporting on raw food recalls can be less consistent as they may not conduct as many tests on their products compared to kibble (so might not actually ‘catch’ something off), and raw food manufacturers are often smaller than big kibble brands or are less in number as many pet parents may opt to DIY raw food. For the purpose of this blog, I’m only going to focus on commercially manufactured products of both kibble diets and raw diets.
2018-2024 FDA Recall Data
Looking at the data from 2018 to 2024 that is available on the FDA website, and excluding products that are listed as treats, we have a total of 34 recalls of pet food.
Of these 34 recalls, they were from 22 different manufacturers (a few have had more than one recall in the time period, and some had multiple brands under the same company).
I filtered the data down into 5 broad categories – the vast majority (70%) of the recalls related to bacterial contamination; this included Salmonella and/or Listeria.
Next, was vitamin D excesses – 4 recalls of wet canned food, 2 of dry food and 1 of raw food. Foreign objects (metal), aflatoxin contamination and a labelling error all had 1 recall of dry food each.
Now let’s take our analysis a step further. When we talk about pet food safety, what are we referring to? Because this might mean very different things to different people. For some, a foreign object might be more alarming than say the presence of bacteria.
Food safety should be looked at holistically – taking into consideration all of above. Bacterial or fungal (aflatoxin) contamination is significantly more likely to cause foodborne illness as opposed to a labelling error or the potential for an object to be found in the diet. It is also likely to leave pathogens on surfaces the product has touched, potentially becoming a much bigger issue than just the one consuming it.
Of course, nutritional inadequacies are also of the utmost importance – but we need to consider these values in context again. The majority of recalls relating to vitamin D excesses were for wet and dry pet food; these diets are routinely batch tested for their nutritional adequacy and therefore are more likely to find an issue with the food and recall it, compared to a commercial raw diet. I know of several raw products that have resulted in nutritional excesses, however as the company does not routinely test for nutritional adequacy there’s no way of a recall being issued (even if we did have the power to initiate one).
So zooming out for a minute, two things are true here; raw is most frequently recalled due to bacterial contamination whereas kibble is usually recalled due to nutritional or manufacturing issues (mislabeling or foreign bodies).
With those values in mind, when we look at the pet food ‘types’ that are most affected by recalls we actually see just over half of all pet food recalls relate to raw diets (54.2%) which includes frozen raw mixes, complete raw diets (not frozen) and freeze-dried raw diets. Next is commercial kibble diets at 41.7% and then the last is wet food (canned diets and loaf/dog roll style ‘fresh’ diets) at 4.2%.
Now this might seem like a fairly marginal difference –
But wait – there’s more.
When we compare this to the market share of products produced in the USA, raw pet food (frozen and freeze-dried/dehydrated products) actually only make up 10.3% of the total market share, while the rest is dominated by kibble and wet products (89.7%).
So, how does this change the numbers? Well when we control for market share for a better side-by-side comparison, we can look at the actual proportion of recalls in relation to the amount produced. When we do this, the numbers become quite a bit more alarming.
For raw pet food, it makes up a significantly smaller proportion of the overall market however, a large proportion of what is produced commercially is actually involved in recalls (64.8%).
When we compare this to dry and wet products which dominates the pet food market, only 36.2% are involved in recalls.
What is safer?
So looking at the data, the numbers speak for themselves. There are risks that come with all types of pet food and no pet food is immune from experiencing a recall, however we mustn’t be naive – raw diets do carry a much higher risk of bacterial contamination by their design and processing pet food to eliminate pathogens is important to avoid harm and lower the risk of serious illness. Of course, this doesn’t mean kibble is without risk – it encounters it’s own issues when we think about labelling, nutritional adequacy and manufacturing issues. But when we look at the level of risk by magnitude, it is still significantly lower as the proportion of products produced is much higher compared to the amount that is subject to a recall.
Pet food safety should always be a deciding factor when selecting a pet food – not just if they have a history of recalls, as this isn’t necessarily always reflective of the company’s protocols and procedures. Regardless of what diet you feed, its recommended you speak with the manufacturer about what their food safety procedures and quality testing entails; it should include ingredient (food and supplement) validation, final diet nutrient analysis, toxicology, bacteriology, and packaging/shelf-life screenings prior to, during, and after manufacturing.
References
https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts
https://nielseniq.com/global/en/insights/report/2023/pet-food-trends-shaping-the-industry-in-2023/
You must be logged in to post a comment.