What was recalled
The September 2019 FDA advisory covered Performance Dog frozen raw pet food, sold in 2-pound plastic pouches through Tefco distribution in Brooklyn, NY to brick-and-mortar retail and direct-to-consumer channels. The triggering sample was collected during an FDA inspection at the Bravo Packing, Inc. facility in Carneys Point, New Jersey on July 22, 2019; lot 072219 tested positive for both Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes. The FDA published its formal notice at its Outbreaks and Advisories archive.
A critical complication of the 2019 event was the absence of lot codes on retail packaging. Lot codes were printed only on the outer shipping boxes used to distribute pallets to retailers; the 2-pound consumer pouches carried no production-specific identifier. Consumers buying single pouches at retail had no way to determine production date. As a result, the FDA advisory broadened to recommend consumers not feed any Performance Dog raw pet food produced on or after July 22, 2019. Bravo Packing did not initiate a voluntary recall in response to the FDA advisory; in March 2021, the company eventually issued a separate voluntary recall covering its third documented pathogen event (covered in our Bravo Packing 2021 page). CNN’s national coverage at CNN’s September 2019 report reflects the public-attention level of the advisory.
Why it was recalled
The 2019 Performance Dog event was the second of three FDA-documented pathogen events at the Bravo Packing facility in three years (September 2018, September 2019, March 2021). The recurring pattern indicated a facility-level harborage point rather than a single ingredient or batch failure. The 2018 event (covered on our Performance Dog 2018 page) was a single-lot Salmonella detection with no illness; the 2019 event added Listeria to the detection profile, expanding the contamination pathway concern. The cumulative pattern set the stage for a 2020 FDA Warning Letter to Bravo Packing citing insanitary conditions and inadequate preventive controls.
Raw pet food production requires either a kill step (HPP, freeze-drying, gentle cooking) or robust environmental monitoring + supplier qualification to manage Salmonella and Listeria. Bravo Packing’s production model relied on raw ingredient sourcing without a post-production kill step. The 2019 sampling that found both pathogens in a single lot, combined with the absence of retail-pouch lot codes preventing targeted recall, drove the FDA to issue a broad public "do not feed" advisory — functionally equivalent to a recall in consumer communication but without the manufacturer’s voluntary initiation. The pattern is one of the clearer examples in raw pet food enforcement of a manufacturer whose response to repeated FDA pathogen detection did not match the severity of the underlying findings.
Health risks for your pet
No confirmed pet or human illnesses were reported at the time of the 2019 advisory. The detection was driven by FDA inspection sampling rather than consumer illness complaints. Salmonella infection in dogs presents as diarrhea (sometimes bloody), vomiting, fever, anorexia, and lethargy; severe cases produce septicemia, particularly in puppies and immunocompromised animals. Listeria monocytogenes in dogs can cause similar gastrointestinal symptoms plus, in rare cases, septicemia and CNS involvement. The dual-pathogen profile (Salmonella + Listeria in lot 072219) raises the human-handling risk for owners feeding the product. Listeria monocytogenes is particularly concerning for pregnant women (miscarriage, neonatal infection), infants, the elderly, and immunocompromised adults (septicemia, meningitis). Pets infected with Salmonella can shed bacteria in stool for weeks after clinical recovery, exposing owners through litter-box and stool-cleanup contact.
What to do if you bought affected product
The 2019 Performance Dog FDA advisory remains in the FDA Outbreaks and Advisories archive; current Bravo Packing distribution status should be checked through the FDA listing. If you have Performance Dog raw pet food from any 2019-2021 production window in your freezer, dispose of the product securely. Wash food bowls, prep surfaces, and hands with hot soapy water; both Salmonella and Listeria are inactivated by standard household disinfectants. Pet owners feeding any raw pet food should follow strict handling-hygiene protocols: separate utensils and cutting boards for raw pet food, immediate handwashing after handling, no cross-contamination with human food prep surfaces. If your dog ate Performance Dog product and shows diarrhea, vomiting, fever, or lethargy, contact your veterinarian; mention the recent raw-food exposure history. Pregnant women, infants, the elderly, and immunocompromised adults in households feeding raw pet food face elevated Listeria risk and should avoid handling the food directly.
How this affects KibbleIQ’s grade
Performance Dog and Bravo Packing are not in the KibbleIQ scored database — our methodology v15 covers commercial dry kibble, fresh cooked food, and selected raw-coated kibble per our published methodology; standalone raw frozen is a distinct format that the rubric does not yet specifically score. The 2019 event is one of three FDA pathogen events at the Carneys Point facility documented in our recall encyclopedia (2018, 2019, 2021), establishing the pattern of recurring contamination that drove the FDA’s eventual Warning Letter. Recall-history scoring under our planned methodology v2 will weight repeat-offender patterns substantially more than isolated single-event detections; three FDA events at the same facility in three years is the canonical pattern this rubric design targets. The case study is one of the clearer examples in raw pet food enforcement of how repeated FDA findings escalate from advisory through Warning Letter to inspection-driven recall expansion.