What was recalled
In 2021, Albright’s Raw Dog Food, a small-scale frozen-raw pet food manufacturer, voluntarily recalled a single lot of Albright’s Adult Chicken Dinner for Dogs product after FDA routine sampling detected Salmonella in unopened product. The recall covered a specific lot code and Best By date; distribution had been concentrated through pet specialty retailers and direct-ship channels. The trigger was FDA’s ongoing raw-pet-food sampling program that has been active since 2014 across the raw-pet-food category. Specific lot, UPC, and Best By date details are listed at the FDA recall and market-withdrawal alerts archive.
Albright’s scope was tightly limited to a single production run, reflecting production-run-level traceability common to small-batch raw producers. The brand subsequently revised its environmental sampling and supplier qualification protocols.
Why it was recalled
Salmonella contamination in raw pet food typically originates from one of three sources: incoming raw protein contamination, environmental persistence on production equipment, or post-processing handling drift. Albright’s investigation traced the contamination to a specific environmental sampling point at the production facility, resolved with deep cleaning and increased environmental swab frequency. Small-batch raw producers face a structural challenge that larger producers do not: every production run is a higher percentage of total annual output, so a single environmental drift can affect a meaningful share of distribution before detection. The FDA’s post-2014 raw-pet-food sampling program is calibrated to catch these events before they reach widespread household consumption.
Health risks for your pet
The 2021 Albright’s recall reported zero confirmed pet or human illnesses — the recall was driven entirely by FDA sample detection rather than by reported illness clusters. Standard Salmonella exposure precautions apply: in dogs, infection often presents milder than in humans (vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy) with asymptomatic shedding common; in humans, particularly the immunocompromised, elderly, pregnant, or young children, Salmonella causes diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps with severe outcomes possible in vulnerable populations. The CDC’s standard guidance applies to all raw pet food handling: wash hands after handling, keep raw pet food separated from human food in refrigerator and freezer, and disinfect feeding bowls and prep surfaces.
What to do if you bought affected product
Affected product Best By dates have now passed; any frozen patties from the recalled lot still in household freezers should be discarded sealed. Albright’s processed full refunds at the time of recall through its consumer affairs line. Current Albright’s product runs through the post-event environmental remediation; for ongoing raw-pet-food feeding, standard CDC handling practices apply regardless of brand. Small-batch raw producers should be evaluated on transparency around environmental monitoring and incoming-ingredient qualification rather than on whether they have any recall history at all — FDA sampling-driven recalls in the raw segment reflect functioning detection rather than failing safety, while absence of any recall history at a small producer may indicate FDA sampling has not yet reached the brand.
How this affects KibbleIQ’s grade
Albright’s is not currently in the KibbleIQ scored database — the brand operates at small-batch scale and in regional channels outside our standard coverage criteria. Our rubric (v15) scores brands on their current ingredient list per our published methodology; the 2021 single-lot Salmonella event is not a scoring input. The Albright’s case fits the lowest-severity-tier category for methodology v2 recall-history scoring: single-lot precautionary recall, FDA-sample-driven detection, zero reported illness, prompt corrective action. This is the model recall response — small-scale producers should aim for this pattern when contamination is detected. Buyers should not interpret a single such recall as a brand-safety red flag; the absence of any recall history at a small raw producer is more concerning than a single well-handled FDA-sample-driven event.