A review of class I and class II pet food recalls involving chemical contaminants from 1996 to 2008

A Review of Pet Food Recalls from 2003 Through 2022

This is a review of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recalls of products that are for dogs and cats which took place from 2003 through 2022. It includes recalls for pet foods (food, treats, and chews), ingredients, supplements (vitamins and minerals), and drugs. There were 3,691 recalls during this period: 51% were Class I, 35% were Class II, and 14% were Class III. Food items and ingredients accounted for the majority or 68%, drugs for 27%, and supplements (vitamins and minerals) accounted for 5% of these recalls. Recalls that could be associated with dogs only accounted for 42%, with cats only 18%, and with multiple species 40%. The primary reasons for the recalls were biological contamination at 35%, chemical contamination at 32%, and cGMP violations at 8%. Almost 25% of the total recalls in the past 20 years were due to a melamine incident in 2007/2008 (73% of those were Class I). Salmonella recalls for the 20 years accounted for 23% of the total recalls (94 % of those were Class I). Although the recalls for vitamins and minerals accounted for only 5.6% percent of the total, 70% of those were Class I and 30% Class II. Pet food is a complex part of the processed food industry, and the processing of pet food is subject to at least 40 different federal regulations. To avoid recalls and be successful, pet food manufacturers need a robust food safety culture to meet all of these requirements to produce a safe product. In contrast, the melamine contamination (an adulteration event) in 2007/2008 which resulted in animal deaths and recalls is a prime example of the need for an effective and robust supplier approval program in order to avoid fraudulent suppliers in the future.

Mycotoxins in Cereal-Based Products and Their Impacts on the Health of Humans, Livestock Animals and Pets

Cereal grains are the most important food staples for human beings and livestock animals. They can be processed into various types of food and feed products such as bread, pasta, breakfast cereals, cake, snacks, beer, complete feed, and pet foods. However, cereal grains are vulnerable to the contamination of soil microorganisms, particularly molds. The toxigenic fungi/molds not only cause quality deterioration and grain loss, but also produce toxic secondary metabolites, mycotoxins, which can cause acute toxicity, death, and chronic diseases such as cancer, immunity suppression, growth impairment, and neural tube defects in humans, livestock animals and pets. To protect human beings and animals from these health risks, many countries have established/adopted regulations to limit exposure to mycotoxins. The purpose of this review is to update the evidence regarding the occurrence and co-occurrence of mycotoxins in cereal grains and cereal-derived food and feed products and their health impacts on human beings, livestock animals and pets. The effort for safe food and feed supplies including prevention technologies, detoxification technologies/methods and up-to-date regulation limits of frequently detected mycotoxins in cereal grains for food and feed in major cereal-producing countries are also provided. Some important areas worthy of further investigation are proposed.

Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals and Their Effects in Pet Dogs and Cats: An Overview

Over the past few decades, several pollutants classified as environmental endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) have become a matter of significant public health concern. Companion animals play a major role in human society, and pet ownership is substantially increasing worldwide. These intimate human-pet relationships imply sharing much of the same environment, thus including exposure to similar levels of EDCs in daily routine. Here, we review the current knowledge on the sources and routes of exposure to EDCs in domestic indoor and outdoor environments and discuss whether endocrine disruption is a health concern in pets. We summarize the phenomenon of endocrine disruption, providing examples of EDCs with a known impact on dog and cat health. Then, we propose an overview of the literature on the adverse effects of EDCs in domestic pets, with a special focus on the health of reproductive and thyroid systems. Finally, we explore the potential role of companion animals as unintentional sentinels of environmental exposure to EDCs and the implications for public health risk assessment in a "shared risk" scenario. Overall, this review supports the need for an integrated approach considering humans, animals, and the environment as a whole for a comprehensive assessment of the impact of EDCs on human and animal health.

Can North American animal poison control center call data provide early warning of outbreaks associated with contaminated pet food? Using the 2007 melamine pet food contamination incident as a case study

The 2007 melamine pet food contamination incident highlighted the need for enhanced reporting of toxicological exposures and development of a national quantitative disease surveillance system for companion animals. Data from poison control centers, such as the Animal Poison Control Center (APCC), may be useful for conducting real-time surveillance in this population. In this study, we explored the suitability of APCC call data for early warning of toxicological incidents in companion animal populations by using a-priori knowledge of the melamine-related nephrotoxicosis outbreak. Patient and household-level information regarding possible toxicological exposures in dogs and cats reported to the APCC from 2005 to 2007, inclusive, were extracted from the APCC's AnTox database. These data were used to examine the impact of surveillance outcome, statistical methodology, analysis level, and call source on the ability to detect the outbreak prior to the voluntary recall issued by the pet food manufacturer. Retrospective Poisson temporal scan tests were applied for each combination of outcome, method, level, and call source. The results showed that month-adjusted scans using syndromic data may have been able to help detect the outbreak up to two months prior to the voluntary recall although the success of these methods varied across call sources. We also demonstrated covariate month-adjustment can lead to vastly different results based on the surveillance outcome and call source to which it is applied. This illustrates care should be taken prior to arbitrarily selecting a surveillance outcome and statistical model for surveillance efforts and warns against ignoring the impacts of call source or key covariates when applying quantitative surveillance methods to APCC call data since these factors can lead to very different results. This study provides further evidence that APCC call data may be useful for conducting surveillance in the US companion animal population and further exploratory analyses and validation studies are warranted.

Live in same region, respond differently: Canine and human response to pollutants in placental accumulation

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Their presence in the environment is particularly concerning in cases of fetal exposure, which is the most vulnerable period of life for both human and animals who share the same environment. Placenta, as a sample collected using noninvasive methods to screen EDCs, is a good indicator for potential fetal exposure. Although recent studies indicate that companion animal may correspond to human exposure, species-specific anatomo-morphological and metabolic differences are controversial. In this study, placenta samples of 60 women and 25 dogs living and giving birth within the same region were evaluated for the presence of PCB, OCP, PBDE, and PAH residues; where, socio-demographic factors were also assessed to identify the possible sources. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method was validated for the matrix, and among 45 screened and targeted pollutants, only 18 were found in human placentas. While the most frequently detected pollutants were DDTs, followed by PAHs and PCBs in decreasing order, the pollutants with the highest concentrations were PAHs, followed by PCBs and DDTs. Only five of the target contaminants were detected in the dog placentas. These results indicate that; as dogs have different bioaccumulation capacities and higher excretion rates than humans, the life-long effects of exposure to endocrine compound and possible consequences related to adverse health outcomes are expected to vary and concentrations cannot be directly correlated.

Toxic element levels in ingredients and commercial pet foods

Nowadays, there is a growing concern about contamination of toxic metals (TM) in pet food due to the great potential for health risks of these elements. TM concentrations in commercial pet foods (n = 100) as well as in ingredients used in their composition (n = 100) were analyzed and compared to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maximum tolerable level (MTL), and the TM concentrations found in the different sources of carbohydrate, protein, and fat were compared. The TM concentrations were determined by inductively coupled plasma with optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Concentrations above the MTL for aluminum, mercury, lead, uranium, and vanadium were observed in both dog and cat foods, and the percentage of dog foods that exceeded the MTL of these TM were: 31.9%; 100%; 80.55%; 95.83%; and 75%, respectively, and in cat foods: 10.71%; 100%; 32.14%; 85.71%; 28.57%, respectively. The MTL values of these TMs and the mean values in dog foods (mg/kg dry matter basis) (MTL [mean ± standard deviation]) were: aluminum: 200 (269.17 ± 393.74); mercury: 0.27 (2.51 ± 1.31); lead: 10 (12.55 ± 4.30); uranium: 10 (76.82 ± 28.09); vanadium: 1 (1.35 ± 0.69), while in cat foods were: aluminum: 200 (135.51 ± 143.95); mercury: 0.27 (3.47 ± 4.31); lead: 10 (9.13 ± 5.42); uranium: 10 (49.83 ± 29.18); vanadium: 1 (0.81 ± 0.77). Dry foods presented higher concentrations of most TM (P < 0.05) than wet foods (P < 0.05). Among the carbohydrate sources, there were the highest levels of all TM except cobalt, mercury, and nickel in wheat bran (P < 0.05), while among the protein sources, in general, animal by-products had higher TM concentrations than plant-based ingredients. Pork fat had higher concentrations of arsenic, mercury, and antimony than fish oil and poultry fat. It was concluded that the pet foods evaluated in this study presented high concentrations of the following TM: aluminum, mercury, lead, uranium, and vanadium.

A Lateral Flow Method for Aflatoxin B1 in Dry Dog Food: An Inter-Laboratory Trial

BACKGROUND

Dogs are highly susceptible to aflatoxins, the mycotoxins which most commonly cause acute dog illnesses and deaths following the consumption of contaminated food.

OBJECTIVE

In this study, a screening method to detect aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in dry dog food was further evaluated at the FDA action level of 20 ng/g. A fourth-round multi-laboratory trial was performed. In contrast to the previous work, a different source of dog food was used in the multi-laboratory trial and more participants were involved.

METHOD

The tested lateral flow method employs a modified procedure of the "Rosa® AFQ-Fast Test Kit" from Charm Sciences Inc. A total of 60 unfortified blank study samples, 220 study samples fortified at 20 ng/g, and 80 study samples fortified at 9-11 ng/g were prepared by an independent party and analyzed in 10 collaborating laboratories in a blinded manner.

RESULTS

The pass rates were 98.3 and 94.5% for unfortified and 20 ng/g fortified study samples, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The method is suitable for aflatoxin B1 screening at the FDA action level of 20 ng/g in a complex matrix such as dry dog food.

HIGHLIGHTS

This work completes extensive method performance evaluation through four rounds of multi-laboratory trials.

Insights into Commercial Pet Foods

Veterinarians are faced with the challenge of understanding and discussing the wide array of commercial pet foods with their clients. To promote these discussions, a pet food processing categorization system is applied to define familiar heat processed dry and can pet foods as ultra-processed commercial diets (UPCD) and other less processed diets as minimally processed commercial diets. A review of the FDA pet food recalls on commercial diets are used to discuss well-known health risks, such as nutritional imbalances, bacterial pathogens, aflatoxin, and toxic contaminations. A less-known concern of advanced glycation end products found in UPCDs is presented.

Evaluation of a novel syndromic surveillance system for the detection of the 2007 melamine-related nephrotoxicosis foodborne outbreak in dogs and cats in the United States

The 2007 nephrotoxicosis outbreak associated with melamine and cyanuric acid adulteration of pet foods in the United States sparked an urgent need for a nationwide companion animal surveillance program. In 2016, we introduced a syndromic surveillance system based on a novel epidemiological algorithm, the proportionate diagnostic outcome ratio (PDOR). The PDOR procedure was validated using simulated outbreaks of foodborne illness (i.e., aflatoxicosis and gastrointestinal illness) in dogs and cats. In this study, we further evaluated the PDOR procedure using the 2007 melamine-related outbreak of nephrotoxicosis. The performance of the PDOR procedure was assessed by the time to alert and positive predictive value (PPV). Electronic medical records of dogs and cats seen at networked primary care veterinary hospitals across the United States were retrieved from a centralized database. The data of four relevant syndromic components: elevated serum creatinine concentration, vomiting, anorexia, and lethargy from July 28, 2006 to May 31, 2007 were prospectively analyzed using the PDOR algorithm. The results showed that the alerts generated from the analysis of elevated serum creatinine concentration could have led to an early detection of this nephrotoxicosis foodborne outbreak and were well matched to the reported timeline of the outbreak. Additionally, we also observed variations in the performance of the PDOR procedure across age of animals and syndromic components, with the PPVs ranged from 0.61 to 1.0. Combined with the findings from previous evaluations using simulated outbreak scenarios, this study provided additional evidence that the PDOR procedure can be applied in syndromic surveillance to effectively and accurately detect various types of foodborne illness outbreaks in companion animals. However, the interpretations of and responses to alerts require an understanding of clinical veterinary medicine and relevant syndromic knowledge, and should not be based solely on quantitative measures.

True nutrient and amino acid digestibility of dog foods made with human-grade ingredients using the precision-fed cecectomized rooster assay

For a pet diet to be labeled as human-grade, every ingredient and the finished food must be stored, handled, processed, and transported according to the current good manufacturing practices for human edible foods. Human-grade dog foods are now available and increasing in popularity, but little research has been conducted to test the digestibility of these foods. For this reason, the objective of this experiment was to determine the true nutrient and amino acid (AA) digestibilities of dog foods formulated with human-grade ingredients using the precision-fed cecectomized rooster assay. Six commercial dog foods were tested, including the Beef & Russet Potato (BRP), Chicken & White Rice (CWR), Fish & Sweet Potato (FSP), Lamb & Brown Rice (LBR), Turkey & Whole Wheat Macaroni (TWM), and Venison & Squash (VSR) formulas provided by Just Food For Dogs LLC (Irvine, CA). Before analysis, all foods were lyophilized and ground. A precision-fed rooster assay using cecectomized roosters was conducted to determine the true nutrient digestibility and standardized AA digestibilities of the foods tested. Conventional roosters were used to determine the nitrogen-corrected true metabolizable energy (TMEn) of the foods. All animal procedures were approved by the University of Illinois Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee prior to experimentation. The substrates and rooster excreta were analyzed for macronutrient and AA composition. All data were analyzed using the Mixed Models procedure of SAS (version 9.4; SAS Institute, Cary, NC). In general, all foods tested were highly digestible. Dry matter digestibility was similar among CWR, LBR, and TWR foods, and greater (P < 0.0001) than that of FSP and VSR foods. Organic matter digestibility was highest (P = 0.0002) for CWR and lowest (P = 0.0002) for VSR. For the majority of indispensable AA, digestibilities were greater than 85%, with some being greater than 90%. TMEn was higher (P < 0.0001) for BRP than the other foods, which were similar to one another. Also, TMEn values were much higher than what would be estimated by using modified Atwater factors and often above the predictive equations for metabolizable energy (ME) recommended by the National Research Council or by using Atwater factors. Although statistical differences were observed among foods, they all performed well and the foods tested had very high AA digestibilities. Additionally, the TMEn data suggest that existing methods and equations for ME prediction underestimate the energy content of the foods tested.

Equine feed contamination and toxicology

Feed as a cause of poisoning in horses can occur on small or large scales. It is challenging to work up cases of suspected feed contamination, but there are resources available to veterinarians and owners. Feed contamination can be chemical or biological. This article focuses on and provides examples of chemical feed contamination including misformulation, adulteration, and natural contaminants. Additionally, recommendations for feed sampling and diagnostic submission, including legal documentation, are included.

Use of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to screen for aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, and deoxynivalenol in dry pet foods

The objective of this study was to perform a market survey on dry pet foods using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect total aflatoxins (AFs), ochratoxin A (OTA), and deoxynivalenol (DON). Pet food products (n = 58) marketed for dogs, cats, birds, and rabbits were tested in duplicate with ELISA, and results above the limit of quantitation were confirmed using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). OTA was detected in one product (rabbit food) and AFs were detected in two products (one dog treat and one bird treat). In contrast, DON was detected in the majority (74%) of products tested. Bird and rabbit products were the most affected by DON, with levels above 0.5 μg/g in 50 and 80% of samples, respectively. One rabbit sample tested positive for both OTA and DON. Overall, the findings of this study revealed a low incidence of AFs and OTA in commercial pet food. Although DON was detected in numerous products, the levels were well below those associated with acute toxic effects.

Melamine, beyond the kidney: A ubiquitous endocrine disruptor and neurotoxicant?

Melamine is commonly used in a variety of consumer products such as furniture, dining ware, and food utensils. The chemical infamously gained worldwide attention by its illegal addition to a variety of foodstuffs in order to falsify protein content, which led to serious, sometimes fatal, health impacts in children and pets. This resulted in a large amount of published primary studies and reviews of the impacts of melamine exposure on kidney function. However, a growing body of literature suggests that melamine may have impacts beyond renal dysfunction. We conducted a scoping review of this literature which yielded more than 40 studies with human, animal, and in vitro findings. Neurological impacts, reproductive function, and anthropometric outcomes were identified as possible candidates for systematic review based on evidence stream and replication of endpoints. The results of this analysis provide a basis for prioritizing future research on health impacts associated with melamine exposure.

Intralaboratory development and evaluation of a high-performance liquid chromatography–fluorescence method for detection and quantitation of aflatoxins M1, B1, B2, G1, and G2 in animal liver

Aflatoxins are potent mycotoxins with effects that include hepatotoxicity, immunosuppression, and suppression of animal growth and production. The etiologic diagnosis of aflatoxicosis, which is largely based on analysis of contaminated feed matrices, has significant disadvantages given the fact that representative feed samples may not be available and feed-based test methods are not confirmatory of an etiologic diagnosis. A tissue-based analytical method for biomarkers of exposure would be valuable for confirmation of aflatoxicosis. We describe in-house development and evaluation of a high-performance liquid chromatographic method with fluorescence detection and precolumn derivatization for determination of aflatoxins M1, B1, B2, G1, and G2 in animal liver. The method demonstrates good selectivity for the tested aflatoxins in the liver matrix. The overall range was 0.03–0.10 ng/g for limit of detection and 0.09–0.18 ng/g for limit of quantitation. The correlation coefficient ( R2) of calibration curves was >0.9978 for AFM1, 0.9995 for AFB1, 0.9986 for AFB2, 0.9983 for AFG1, and 0.9980 for AFG2. For fortification levels of 0.2–10 ng/g, repeatability was 10–18% for AFM1, 7–14% for AFB1, 5–14% for AFB2, 6–16% for AFG1, and 10–15% for AFG2. Recovery was 52–57% for AFM1, 54–62% for AFB1, 55–61% for AFB2, 57–67% for AFG1, and 61–65% for AFG2. There was no liver matrix effect found. The method is rugged against minor changes based on the selected factors. The results indicate that the proposed method is suitable for quantitative determination of aflatoxins M1, B1, B2, G1, and G2 in liver.

The assessment of daily dietary intake reveals the existence of a different pattern of bioaccumulation of chlorinated pollutants between domestic dogs and cats

Pet dogs and cats have been proposed as sentinel species to assess environmental contamination and human exposure to a variety of pollutants, including POPs. However, some authors have reported that dogs but not cats exhibit intriguingly low levels of some of the most commonly detected POPs, such as DDT and its metabolites. This research was designed to explore these differences between dogs and cats. Thus, we first determined the concentrations of 53 persistent and semi-persistent pollutants (16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), 18 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and 19 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs)) in samples of the most consumed brands of commercial feed for dogs and cats, and we calculated the daily dietary intake of these pollutants in both species. Higher levels of pollutants were found in dog food and our results showed that the median values of intake were about twice higher in dogs than in cats for all the three groups of pollutants (ΣPAHs: 274.8 vs. 141.8; ΣOCPs: 233.1 vs. 83; ΣPCBs: 101.8 vs. 43.8 (ng/kg bw/day); respectively). Additionally, we determined the plasma levels of the same pollutants in 42 and 35 pet dogs and cats, respectively. All these animals lived indoors and were fed on the commercial brands of feed analyzed. As expected (considering the intake), the plasma levels of PAHs were higher in dogs than in cats. However, for organochlorines (OCPs and PCBs) the plasma levels were much higher in cats than in dogs (as much as 23 times higher for DDTs), in spite of the higher intake in dogs. This reveals a lower capacity of bioaccumulation of some pollutants in dogs, which is probably related with higher metabolizing capabilities in this species.

Retrospective evaluation of methionine intoxication associated with urinary acidifying products in dogs: 1,525 cases (2001-2012)

OBJECTIVE

To describe the signalment, clinical findings, timing of signs, outcome, and prognosis in a population of dogs exposed to methionine through the ingestion of urine acidifying products.

DESIGN

Retrospective observational study from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2012.

SETTING

Animal Poison Control Center.

ANIMALS

A total of 1,197 case calls yielding 1,525 dogs identified with presumed methionine ingestion.

INTERVENTIONS

None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Records of dogs with presumptive methionine ingestion were reviewed from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Animal Poison Control Center database. Ingested methionine doses ranged from 3.9 mg/kg to 23,462 mg/kg. Clinical signs developed in 47% of dogs. The most common clinical signs were gastrointestinal (GI) and neurologic. The mean onset of GI signs was 2.8 hours following ingestion. The mean onset of neurologic signs was 6.8 hours following ingestion. GI signs were identified with ingested doses ≥22.5 mg/kg. Vomiting was the most common GI sign. Neurologic signs were identified with ingested doses ≥94.6 mg/kg. Ataxia was the most common neurologic sign. Resolution of clinical signs occurred within 48 hours of ingestion, and no fatalities were reported.

CONCLUSIONS

Prognosis for dogs with methionine intoxication is excellent. Vomiting and ataxia were the most common clinical signs associated with methionine toxicosis.

Nutritional concepts for the veterinary practitioner

Although veterinary practitioners know that nutrition can make a difference in the health and recovery from disease or illness in dogs and cats, they may feel poorly equipped to provide unbiased information on nutrition. This article provides information about evaluating and recommending diets and interpreting a pet food label to allow for comparisons among pet foods and discussion about how to do a nutritional assessment. It provides an example of how nutritional assessment and recommendation were successfully introduced into a busy private practice. Finally, some of the myths and misperceptions about nutrition are discussed with information provided from evidence-based research.

Pet food recalls and pet food contaminants in small animals

Most pet foods are safe, but incidents of chemical contamination occur and lead to illness and recalls. There were 11 major pet food recalls in the United States between 1996 and 2010 that were due to chemical contaminants or misformulations: 3 aflatoxin, 3 excess vitamin D3, 1 excess methionine, 3 inadequate thiamine, and 1 adulteration with melamine and related compounds and an additional 2 warnings concerning a Fanconilike renal syndrome in dogs after ingesting large amounts of chicken jerky treat products. This article describes clinical findings and treatment of animals exposed to the most common pet food contaminants.