What was recalled
In late 2022, Primal Pet Foods, a Fairfield, California-based premium-raw pet food manufacturer, issued a voluntary recall covering a single lot of its Raw Frozen Patties for Dogs product line. The recall covered a specific lot code distributed nationally through pet specialty retailers and online channels. The trigger was FDA routine sample-testing detection of Listeria monocytogenes in unopened product. Primal’s recall scope was tightly limited — one product line, one lot, one production run — reflecting production-run-level traceability comparable to the Freshpet 2022 Salmonella recall pattern. Specific UPC, lot, and Best By date details are at the FDA recall and market-withdrawal alerts archive.
This recall was noteworthy because Primal had already implemented high-pressure processing (HPP) as a standard step across its raw product lines — the same pathogen-reduction technology that Stella & Chewy’s adopted after its 2015 Listeria event. The 2022 recall reflected post-HPP contamination, meaning the bacterial source entered the production stream after the HPP step in packaging or transfer surfaces, rather than passing through the HPP step itself.
Why it was recalled
Listeria monocytogenes is environmentally persistent — the bacterium can establish biofilms on stainless steel, conveyor surfaces, and packaging-zone equipment that resist standard cleaning. In raw pet food production, post-HPP contamination typically arises from environmental drift in the packaging zone, where finished product is exposed to plant air and contact surfaces before sealing. Primal’s investigation focused on a specific environmental sampling point that had drifted out of specification; the company resolved the issue with deep cleaning, surface replacement at the implicated transfer point, and increased environmental swab frequency. The episode confirmed an important industry lesson: HPP reduces but does not eliminate pathogen risk; environmental monitoring downstream of HPP remains essential. The FDA’s broader raw-pet-food safety review notes that HPP is most effective as one element of a layered safety system rather than as a standalone control.
Health risks for your pet
Listeria infection in dogs is uncommon — healthy adult dogs are generally resistant. The primary concern with Listeria-contaminated pet food is human transmission, particularly for pregnant women, newborns, elderly, and immunocompromised individuals who face elevated severe-listeriosis risk. The CDC notes pregnant women are 10 times more likely than the general population to develop listeriosis, which can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, or newborn meningitis. The 2022 Primal recall reported zero confirmed pet or human illnesses; the recall was driven entirely by FDA sample detection. As with the Stella & Chewy’s 2015 event, this single-lot precautionary recall represents the lowest severity tier on the recall spectrum — a quality system catching an environmental drift before it caused harm.
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. Primal Pet Foods processed full refunds through its consumer affairs line. The brand’s current production runs through HPP plus the post-HPP environmental remediation implemented in 2022; the company has had no subsequent Listeria recalls. As with all raw pet food, standard handling applies: wash hands after handling, keep raw pet food separated from human food in freezer and refrigerator, and disinfect feeding bowls and prep surfaces.
How this affects KibbleIQ’s grade
Primal is in the KibbleIQ scored database with detailed analysis at our current Primal review. Our rubric (v15) scores Primal using the fresh-food / freeze-dried sub-rubric, and the brand earns A-tier grades on ingredient quality — high named-meat content, organ inclusion, no fillers. The 2022 single-lot Listeria event is not a scoring input under v15. Recall-history scoring under methodology v2 will weigh this event as a well-handled single-lot precautionary action with HPP already in place, the lowest possible severity tier. The episode illustrates an important industry truth that raw pet food owners should understand: HPP, environmental monitoring, and rigorous sanitation collectively reduce risk, but raw production never reaches the inherent safety baseline of high-temperature extruded kibble. That is the structural tradeoff of the category — higher nutritional whole-ingredient quality at the cost of higher inherent surface-contamination risk profile. For now, our recommendation: read both our current Primal Pet Foods review AND this recall page when evaluating the brand.