FDA Issues Warning Letter to Primal Pet Foods

Important — This Is Not a Recall

March 29, 2023 — The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) posted a Warning Letter to Primal Pet Foods, Inc. of Fairfield, California. The letter was issued to the company on February 21, 2023 but was not made public by the FDA until March 14, 2023. The Dog Food Advisor first became aware of the warning on March 21, 2023.

This action appears to be related to an official FDA inspection conducted at the Primal Pet Food manufacturing facility from July 14, 2022 through October 11, 2022.

“This inspection was conducted in response to a Class 1 recall initiated on July 6, 2022, of Raw Frozen Primal Patties for Dogs Beef Formula, lot number W10068709, due to the presence of Listeria monocytogenes detected in an FDA surveillance sample.”

Primal Pet Foods issued an official statement regarding the warning letter on March 15.

“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 company stated. “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.”

The full report can be found here.

Reporting Pet Food Problems

U.S. citizens can report complaints about FDA-regulated pet food products by calling the consumer complaint coordinator in your area.

Or go to the FDA’s “Report a Pet Food Complaint” page.

Canadians can report any health or safety incidents related to the use of this product by filling out the Consumer Product Incident Report Form.

Get Lifesaving Recall Alerts

Get free dog food recall alerts sent to you by email. Subscribe to The Dog Food Advisor’s emergency recall warning system.

There’s no cost. No spam ever. Cancel any time.