What was recalled
This page documents an FDA Warning Letter, not a recall. The underlying recall sequence at Mid America Pet Food LLC began in September 2023 and expanded through November 2023, eventually covering all products with best-by dates before October 31, 2024 across the Victor, Eagle Mountain, Wayne Feeds, and Member’s Mark brand portfolios — covered in detail on our 2023 Mid America recall page. The 2023 recall was triggered by a CDC-investigated 7-state human Salmonella outbreak linked to the products and produced one of the largest multi-brand pet food recalls of 2023.
The November 22, 2024 FDA Warning Letter consolidated findings from two post-recall FDA inspections of the Mid America facility: November 2023 (post-recall initial inspection) and January-February 2024 (follow-up inspection). The Warning Letter documents that the Mid America food safety program did not adequately address the Salmonella hazard that caused the 2023 recall, that environmental Salmonella was repeatedly detected in the production facility during both inspections, and that the company’s Preventive Controls plan was not adequately implemented or verified as required under FSMA. The FDA published the Warning Letter at its Warning Letters archive. Industry coverage at eFoodAlert’s December 2024 reporting contextualizes the regulatory escalation.
Why it was recalled
FDA Warning Letters represent a significantly more severe regulatory action than typical post-recall closeouts. The standard post-recall enforcement sequence is: (1) recall executed, (2) FDA inspects facility for root-cause resolution, (3) facility passes follow-up inspection and recall is closed. A Warning Letter is issued when the FDA finds that the manufacturer’s post-recall corrective actions have not adequately resolved the underlying regulatory violations — in this case, persistent Salmonella in the production environment plus inadequate implementation of FSMA Preventive Controls for Animal Food.
The Mid America Warning Letter is one of several 2024-2025 FDA enforcement escalations in the pet food category that signal increased agency willingness to pursue formal action against repeat-offender or inadequate-corrective-action manufacturers. The June 2025 Answers Pet Food / Lystn LLC Warning Letter (covered separately on our Answers 2024 recall page) followed a similar escalation pattern. The pattern matters because FSMA Preventive Controls violations indicate the manufacturer’s food safety plan itself does not adequately address microbial hazards — a quality-systems-level deficiency distinct from any single batch event. Mid America Pet Food’s response to the November 2024 Warning Letter has involved facility-level operational changes; the company has not had a publicly documented additional recall expansion since the November 2023 closeout.
Health risks for your pet
The 2024 Warning Letter does not represent a new outbreak event or new product distribution; it represents FDA enforcement against persistent regulatory non-compliance. Health risks from any current Mid America Pet Food production depend on whether the post-Warning-Letter corrective actions have effectively eliminated the in-facility Salmonella that the FDA inspections documented. The underlying 2023 Mid America Salmonella outbreak caused at least 7 confirmed human Salmonella cases across 7 states (CDC-investigated) plus multiple pet illness reports linked to the affected brands. Salmonella in dry kibble carries the same clinical risks documented in other dry kibble Salmonella events: self-limited gastroenteritis in healthy adult dogs and cats, more severe disease in puppies, kittens, seniors, and immunocompromised animals, and significant zoonotic human-handling risk pathway with severe disease possible in vulnerable populations.
What to do if you bought affected product
If you are currently feeding Victor, Eagle Mountain, Wayne Feeds, or Member’s Mark dog or cat food, monitor for any new recall expansions or product advisories. The 2023 Mid America Pet Food recall covered all best-by dates before October 31, 2024; any product with later best-by dates was produced after the 2023 recall closure and is governed by Mid America’s post-recall production protocols. The 2024 FDA Warning Letter raises concerns about the adequacy of those protocols. Pet owners with concerns about Mid America-manufactured products should consider alternative brands with cleaner recent recall histories until Mid America’s post-Warning-Letter corrective actions are verified by subsequent FDA inspection. If your dog or cat develops Salmonella-consistent illness (diarrhea, vomiting, fever, lethargy) after feeding Mid America-manufactured product, contact your veterinarian; mention the brand and disclose the 2023 recall + 2024 Warning Letter context.
How this affects KibbleIQ’s grade
Victor, Eagle Mountain, Wayne Feeds, and Member’s Mark (the Mid America-manufactured brands) are not currently in the KibbleIQ scored database. The 2024 FDA Warning Letter is a significant brand-level reliability signal that extends beyond the 2023 recall event; it indicates the manufacturer’s food safety plan and post-recall corrective actions have not adequately resolved the underlying regulatory violations. Recall-history scoring under our planned methodology v2 will weight Warning Letter escalations more heavily than standard post-recall closures, since Warning Letters indicate systemic FSMA Preventive Controls violations rather than single-batch failures. The Mid America case is one of the clearer 2024-2025 examples of how repeated FDA inspection findings escalate from recall through Warning Letter, and how recall-history scoring needs to distinguish between manufacturers with rapid effective post-recall corrective action versus those with persistent regulatory non-compliance.