What was recalled
The recall played out in waves between 2007 and 2008 as the CDC outbreak investigation expanded. The initial action in August 2007 covered 5-pound bags of Krasdale Gravy Dry Dog Food and 50-pound bags of Red Flannel Large Breed Adult Formula dry dog food after FDA detected the same Salmonella Schwarzengrund subtype as the outbreak strain. Both products were manufactured at Mars Petcare’s Everson, Pennsylvania plant.
The plant suspended operations July through November 2007 for cleaning and disinfection after an FDA inspection isolated the outbreak Salmonella strain on an environmental surface and in two brands of dry dog food made at the plant. On September 12, 2008, after additional human cases emerged, Mars announced a nationwide voluntary recall of all dry dog and cat food products produced at the Everson plant over a 5-month period covering multiple private-label and Mars-branded cuts. The CDC’s MMWR update on the outbreak documents the full epidemiologic case definition, multistate distribution, and final case count of 70 across 19 states.
Why it was recalled
Salmonella enterica serotype Schwarzengrund is an uncommon Salmonella serotype, which made the CDC outbreak detection possible: PulseNet pattern-matching identified that 70 human cases across 19 states shared the same molecular fingerprint, an unusual signature that pointed to a single common source. Case-control interviews revealed that affected humans were disproportionately likely to have a dog or to have handled dry dog food in their household in the weeks before illness onset. Environmental sampling at the Everson plant identified Salmonella Schwarzengrund on multiple plant surfaces including conveyor belts, fat-coating equipment, and finished-product cooling areas. The contamination pattern indicated a post-extrusion harborage problem rather than an ingredient-source issue: the kibble-extrusion step kills Salmonella, but the post-extrusion fat-and-flavor coating area allowed recontamination of finished kibble. This is a well-documented failure mode in dry kibble manufacturing and was the basis for Mars’s extended plant cleaning shutdown and re-design of the post-extrusion area.
Health risks for your pet
The 2006-2008 outbreak was epidemiologically distinctive because the human cases vastly outnumbered the documented pet cases. The transmission pathway was contaminated dry dog food → pet food handling by owners → cross-contamination of human food prep areas, hands, or surfaces. Affected humans presented with classic salmonellosis: diarrhea (sometimes bloody), abdominal cramping, fever, vomiting, typically lasting 4–7 days. Of the 70 documented cases, 11 required hospitalization; no deaths were reported. Infants and young children were disproportionately affected, consistent with the floor-level exposure pathway (toddlers crawling near food bowls, putting kibble or dog-food-contaminated hands in mouths). The case definition required PFGE-matching to the outbreak strain; the true affected population is likely larger because mild self-limited salmonellosis often goes undiagnosed. The PubMed-indexed CDC outbreak update documents the epidemiologic timeline.
What to do if you bought affected product
All recalled product is long out of distribution and the Everson plant was permanently reconfigured following the 2007 cleaning shutdown. If you handled dry dog food in 2007-2008 and developed unexplained diarrheal illness during that window, the timing aligns with this outbreak. The lasting lesson for current pet owners is the handling hygiene question: dry kibble is generally Salmonella-safe out of the bag, but post-manufacturing contamination is a documented risk vector. CDC and FDA jointly recommend washing hands after handling pet food, keeping pet food storage separate from human food prep surfaces, and avoiding letting young children touch kibble or pet food bowls.
How this affects KibbleIQ’s grade
Mars Petcare US is the manufacturer of Pedigree, Cesar, Nutro, Iams, Eukanuba, Sheba, Whiskas, and other major brands — one of the two largest pet food companies in the world. Our methodology v15 scores each Mars-brand on its current ingredient list per our published methodology; we do not deduct points for a 2007-2008 plant-level Salmonella event when the corrective actions (4-month plant shutdown, post-extrusion area redesign, expanded environmental monitoring program) are documented and effective. The Everson plant has not had a recall of this severity since 2008. Recall-history scoring under methodology v2 will weigh single-plant events with documented multi-month corrective shutdown less heavily than serial plant-level failures. The 2006-2008 Schwarzengrund outbreak also drove broader industry adoption of post-extrusion environmental monitoring programs that benefit every dry kibble manufacturer today.