What was recalled
The 2018 Rad Cat Raw Diet recall sequence began on March 9, 2018 with three initial lots (#62762 and #62926) of the Free-Range Chicken Recipe, after FDA third-party testing detected Listeria in product collected from a retail location. The recall expanded substantially in July 2018 to cover lots #63057, #63069, #63076, and #63063 across Free-Range Chicken, Free-Range Turkey, Grass-Fed Beef, and Pasture-Raised Lamb varieties. On August 9, 2018, Radagast announced a full-line expansion: lots #62763 through #63101 inclusive, covering 1-oz, 8-oz, 16-oz, and 24-oz packages of Free-Range Chicken, Free-Range Turkey, Grass-Fed Beef, Pasture-Raised Lamb, Natural Pork, and Pasture-Raised Venison Recipe. Best By dates spanned 10/19/2018 to 12/3/2019.
The FDA published its formal notice at its Recalls archive. Distribution covered the United States and Canada between May 10, 2017 and August 9, 2018. One turkey lot tested positive for both Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes; the other recalled lots were Listeria-only. Coverage at Food Safety News’ August 2018 expansion reporting documents the cascading scope.
Why it was recalled
The 2018 Rad Cat Raw Diet recalls reflect a facility-level Listeria harborage point rather than a single ingredient or batch failure. The pattern — Listeria detected in multiple protein varieties (chicken, turkey, beef, venison) over a multi-month detection window — is characteristic of Listeria monocytogenes’ ability to colonize raw pet food production environments (floor drains, walk-in freezer surfaces, processing equipment biofilm) and persist across cleaning cycles. Once an environmental harborage point is established, multiple product lots can be cross-contaminated independent of incoming ingredient quality.
Radagast attempted corrective action between the March 2018 and July 2018 detection events, but the recurring positive results across additional lots indicated the contamination source had not been fully eliminated. The August 2018 full-line expansion covering a 15-month production window reflected the FDA’s position that any product from the affected production environment during the window of unidentified harborage should be considered potentially contaminated. The cascading recall scope — combined with the cost of full-facility decontamination, lost inventory, and reputational damage — was financially unsustainable for the company. Radagast ceased operations in October 2018, ending 14 years of raw cat food production. The case is a canonical example of how Listeria environmental harborage can drive a small raw pet food manufacturer out of the market.
Health risks for your pet
No pet or human illnesses were reported in connection with the 2018 Rad Cat Raw Diet recalls. The detection was driven by routine FDA third-party retail-sample testing rather than by consumer illness complaints. Listeria monocytogenes in cats can cause diarrhea, vomiting, fever, anorexia, and lethargy; severe cases involve septicemia or CNS disease. The zoonotic-risk pathway to humans remains the primary concern in raw cat food Listeria events: pets can shed Listeria in stool and saliva even when asymptomatic, exposing owners through litter-box and food-prep surface contact. Pregnant women, infants, the elderly, and immunocompromised adults face the highest risk for severe listeriosis (miscarriage, neonatal infection, septicemia, meningitis). The CDC documents listeriosis at its Listeria information page.
What to do if you bought affected product
The 2018 Rad Cat Raw Diet recall is closed, the Radagast Pet Food company has ceased operations, and no Rad Cat Raw Diet product remains in the consumer market. If you have any Rad Cat Raw Diet remaining in a freezer from the 2017-2018 production window, dispose of it securely. Wash food bowls, prep surfaces, and hands with hot soapy water; Listeria is inactivated by standard household disinfectants and heat above 60°C. The broader lesson for current raw cat food selection: prefer brands with documented post-production environmental monitoring and explicit kill-step processing (HPP or freeze-drying) rather than relying solely on supplier qualification. The CDC’s raw pet food handling guidance covers safe-handling protocols for households continuing to feed raw.
How this affects KibbleIQ’s grade
Rad Cat Raw Diet is not in the KibbleIQ scored database; the brand exited the market in October 2018. The Radagast case is instructive for evaluating other raw cat food brands today: a cascading multi-month recall pattern indicating environmental harborage is qualitatively more concerning than a single-batch positive finding, because the former suggests an unresolved facility-level contamination source. Recall-history scoring under our planned methodology v2 will weight cascading multi-lot patterns substantially more than isolated single-lot detections. Among current raw cat food brands, indicators of robust microbial control include: explicit post-production kill step (HPP or freeze-drying), routine environmental monitoring programs published to consumers, third-party pathogen testing on finished product, and segregation of high-risk protein streams (poultry during HPAI circulation) from established lower-risk streams.