What was recalled
On June 14, 2017, Loving Pets Corporation voluntarily recalled multiple lots of air-puffed dog treats spanning three product lines:
- Barksters Sweet Potato/Chicken (#5700) and Brown Rice/Chicken (#5705)
- Puffsters Snack Chips: Apple/Chicken (#5100), Banana/Chicken (#5110), Sweet Potato/Chicken (#5120), Cranberry/Chicken (#5130)
- Whole Hearted Chicken & Apple Puff Treats (#2570314) — Petco-exclusive private label
The affected lots spanned production dates from approximately late 2018 (mfg date codes 021619, 021419, 051219, 112118, 112918, 012719, 012519, 013019, 112218, 112818, 113119, 020119, 020319, 020219, 121418, 121918, 122318, 010419, 010619, 010519 — representing multiple production runs across late 2018 / early 2019 manufacturing). The Petco-exclusive Whole Hearted SKU was the first known recall affecting a Whole Hearted-branded product. The FDA published the formal notice at its Recalls archive; Food Safety News covered the event at its June 2017 article.
Why it was recalled
The contamination was discovered through Loving Pets’ own internal QA testing program — not by FDA surveillance, retail-channel sampling, or consumer complaint. The internal-detection-then-voluntary-recall pattern is the quality-systems response the post-2008 FDA Amendments Act traceability framework was designed to enable: manufacturers test their own product, find contamination, and pull affected lots before they reach the consumer population. The contamination was traced to a single finished ingredient from a U.S.-based supplier. Loving Pets did not publicly identify which specific ingredient was contaminated, but the affected SKUs all use chicken-based formulations.
Air-puffed dog treats are produced by an extrusion-and-expansion process that involves high temperatures (typically above 250°F) but with a short residence time; depending on production parameters and incoming Salmonella levels, the process may not reliably kill all viable Salmonella present in incoming ingredients. The Loving Pets event reflects the structural reality that even thermally processed pet treats can carry Salmonella risk if incoming ingredients carry a sufficient initial pathogen load. Post-recall corrective actions included revised supplier qualification protocols and enhanced finished-product testing.
Health risks for your pet
No consumer illnesses (animal or human) were reported in connection with the 2017 Loving Pets recall. The internal-QA detection happened before any clinical disease reached pets. Had affected product reached dogs, Salmonella infection presents as diarrhea (sometimes bloody), vomiting, fever, anorexia, lethargy, typically self-limited in healthy adult dogs but more severe in puppies, seniors, and immunocompromised animals. The zoonotic human-handling risk is the larger concern with dog treat Salmonella events because owners typically handle treats by hand multiple times daily; subsequent transfer to surfaces and human food prep areas exposes the household. CDC recommends washing hands after handling pet treats regardless of recall status. The 2017 event’s zero-illness count validates the internal-testing-and-recall response sequence.
What to do if you bought affected product
All recalled Loving Pets and Whole Hearted treats from 2017-2018 production have expired Best By dates; no household pantry should still contain recalled product. Current Loving Pets and Whole Hearted production operates under post-2017 supplier qualification and finished-product testing protocols. The 2017 Whole Hearted recall was the first known event for the Petco private-label brand; Petco has not had a subsequent Whole Hearted recall through 2026. If you fed Loving Pets or Whole Hearted air-puffed treats during the 2017 distribution window and your dog developed Salmonella-consistent illness, the timing aligned with this recall, though no cases were confirmed at the time.
How this affects KibbleIQ’s grade
Loving Pets and Whole Hearted are not in the KibbleIQ scored database — our methodology v15 covers commercial dry kibble, fresh cooked food, selected raw-coated kibble, and a Treats Rubric v1.0 catalog of 18 specific treat products spanning 8 function classes. The 2017 internal-detection-driven recall is a quality-systems credit relative to external-detection events where manufacturer testing missed contamination that FDA later found. Recall-history scoring under our planned methodology v2 will treat single-event internal-detection recalls with documented corrective action less heavily than multi-event patterns indicating systemic process gaps. The structural lesson for the Treats Rubric: incoming-ingredient supplier qualification is a primary control point for air-puffed and thermally processed treats, since extrusion-temperature kill steps may be incomplete depending on initial Salmonella load. Brands publishing finished-product pathogen testing results have lower retail-sampling Salmonella detection rates.