Status: Active surveillance program documenting elevated Salmonella positivity in raw pet food compared to dry kibble. FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine has operated a multi-year Salmonella surveillance program targeting commercial raw pet food (raw frozen and freeze-dried products) at retail and online distribution. The program samples products and tests for Salmonella spp. presence using standardized FDA methods (BAM Chapter 5 - Salmonella). Documented surveillance findings across the 2010-2024 window include: (i) raw pet food Salmonella positivity rates substantially higher than dry kibble — specific reported rates from FDA surveillance and academic literature span 5-25%+ for raw products vs <1% for dry kibble at the surveillance-sampling tier; (ii) multi-serovar diversity reflecting the diverse animal-source ingredient base used in raw pet food (poultry, beef, pork, lamb, fish, game proteins); (iii) some serovars matching human clinical cases through whole-genome-sequencing traceback, supporting the zoonotic transmission pathway concern; (iv) variation across manufacturers reflecting QC infrastructure differences across the raw pet food industry. The surveillance program drives enforcement actions including recalls (covered across multiple raw pet food brand-specific recall pages including Answers Pet Food 2024, Darwin’s 2025, Bravo Packing 2019, Aunt Jeni’s 2019, others), warning letters (covered at our FDA-CVM warning letter framework page), and broader industry-pattern controversy at our Salmonella dry kibble controversy page (which addresses the parallel dry kibble framework with substantially lower positivity rates).

What was recalled

This page synthesizes the FDA-CVM raw pet food Salmonella surveillance program and findings across the 2010-2024 window. The surveillance program operates under FDA-CVM’s broader pet food and animal feed safety mandate. The program samples commercial raw pet food products (raw frozen, freeze-dried, dehydrated raw, gently-cooked products with raw ingredient component) at retail and online distribution. Sampling reflects risk-tier prioritization with higher-frequency sampling of higher-risk product categories and lower-frequency baseline sampling across the broader category. Testing uses standardized FDA Bacteriological Analytical Manual (BAM) Chapter 5 methods for Salmonella detection in food matrices.

The documented findings across the surveillance window include: (i) elevated Salmonella positivity in raw pet food compared to dry kibble — specific reported rates vary across studies but consistently show substantially higher positivity (5-25%+ in some sampling vs <1% in dry kibble), (ii) broad serovar diversity reflecting the diverse animal-source ingredient base (Salmonella Reading, Heidelberg, Typhimurium, Newport, Enteritidis, Anatum, and many others have been documented), (iii) multidrug-resistant strains in some isolates reflecting the antibiotic-resistance pattern in source animal populations, (iv) whole-genome-sequencing matches between raw pet food isolates and human clinical Salmonella cases supporting the zoonotic transmission pathway, (v) variation across manufacturers with some producers demonstrating low positivity and others substantially higher.

The specific brand-level Salmonella recall events in the raw pet food category across 2010-2024 span dozens of brand/lot combinations. Notable events include: Aunt Jeni’s 2019, Bravo Pet Foods 2014, Bravo Packing 2019, Bravo Packing 2021, Answers Pet Food 2024, Darwin’s 2025, Steve’s Real Food 2018, Honest Kitchen 2013, Loving Pets 2017, Performance Dog 2018, Texas Tripe 2019, TruPet 2018, and Vital Essentials 2018. Each individual recall reflects the broader pattern; the cumulative pattern documents the systematic elevation of Salmonella risk in raw pet food relative to other pet food formats.

Why it was recalled

The structural concerns have three layers. Layer one — raw pet food does not include a kill-step adequate for Salmonella elimination: commercial dry kibble extrusion operates at 80-130°C for sufficient duration to achieve approximately 4-6 log reduction in Salmonella and other bacterial pathogens. Commercial canned and pouch wet pet food operates at retort temperatures sufficient to achieve commercial sterility. Raw pet food, by definition, omits or minimizes thermal processing — either intentionally (raw frozen, freeze-dried) to preserve specific nutritional and palatability characteristics or as part of a "minimally processed" positioning. Without a thermal kill-step, Salmonella present on or in the raw source ingredients persists in the finished product at potentially infectious levels.

Layer two — raw source ingredients carry baseline Salmonella prevalence reflecting source animal populations: commercial chicken, turkey, beef, pork, and other meat ingredients carry baseline Salmonella prevalence reflecting on-farm and slaughter-and-processing conditions. USDA inspection programs reduce but do not eliminate Salmonella on raw meat ingredients. Raw pet food manufacturers source from various supplier tiers (USDA-inspected for some, less-stringent for others including pet-food-grade or 3D/4D byproducts in some cases) with corresponding baseline contamination variation. The framework structurally produces some baseline Salmonella loading in raw source ingredients; the question is whether manufacturer QC adequately controls the contamination to safe consumer exposure levels.

Layer three — alternative kill-step technologies are available but not universally adopted: high-pressure processing (HPP, covered at our HPP validation controversy page) achieves approximately 3-5 log Salmonella reduction without thermal processing, preserving most "raw" nutritional characteristics. Freeze-drying achieves modest Salmonella reduction but is not generally a robust kill-step. Some raw pet food manufacturers adopt HPP universally; some adopt selectively for specific product lines; some do not adopt at all citing nutritional preservation arguments. The variation in kill-step adoption produces variation in finished product Salmonella positivity across the raw pet food category. The framework is covered in additional depth at our raw pet food HPP kill-step efficacy page if it exists in the corpus, otherwise at adjacent raw-feeding pages.

Health risks for your pet

The health-risk pathways from Salmonella in raw pet food include both pet-direct and zoonotic-to-human dimensions. Pet-direct risk is variable: healthy adult dogs and cats are relatively resistant to Salmonella with substantial intestinal microbiome competition and immune defense; documented clinical illness in healthy adult pets fed Salmonella-positive raw pet food is uncommon. Pets at elevated pet-direct risk include puppies and kittens (immature immune system), senior pets, pets with concurrent illness or immunosuppression, pets on antibiotics (reduced microbiome competition), and breeds with specific susceptibility patterns. Acute Salmonellosis in pets can present as vomiting, diarrhea (sometimes bloody), fever, lethargy, and dehydration; severe cases can produce sepsis.

Zoonotic-to-human risk is the more substantial concern at the population health tier. Pets exposed to Salmonella-positive raw pet food can shed the organism in feces (often asymptomatically); humans handling the raw pet food directly, handling pet feces, or handling surfaces contaminated with pet food or feces can acquire Salmonella infection. Human Salmonellosis presents with diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, and (in severe cases) systemic infection requiring medical treatment. Elevated human risk applies to: (i) immunocompromised household members, (ii) elderly household members, (iii) infants and young children (lower infectious dose threshold), (iv) pregnant women (specific Salmonella-related pregnancy complications). FDA-CVM has documented whole-genome-sequencing matches between raw pet food Salmonella isolates and human clinical cases supporting the zoonotic transmission pathway.

What to do if you bought affected product

Pet owners considering or feeding raw pet food can take several practical approaches to manage Salmonella risk: (1) understand that raw pet food carries substantially elevated Salmonella risk compared to dry kibble or canned wet pet food — the risk is well-documented and not eliminable through manufacturer selection alone; risk-managed feeding is appropriate for some households but not all; (2) evaluate household risk factors — households with immunocompromised members, elderly members, infants and young children, pregnant women, or members at elevated zoonotic-infection risk should consider whether raw pet food is appropriate given household composition; (3) select manufacturers using HPP or other documented kill-step technology — HPP-treated raw pet food carries approximately 3-5 log Salmonella reduction compared to non-HPP raw pet food; the residual Salmonella risk is lower but not zero; (4) practice strict handling hygiene — wash hands thoroughly after handling raw pet food, after handling pet feeding bowls, after handling pet waste; clean and sanitize food preparation surfaces; do not feed raw pet food in proximity to human food preparation; (5) monitor pets for clinical illness — vomiting, diarrhea, fever, lethargy in raw-fed pets warrants prompt veterinary evaluation including Salmonella consideration in differential diagnosis; (6) monitor FDA recall press releases for raw pet food brands — raw pet food recalls are more frequent than dry kibble recalls; brand-specific subscription to FDA notifications captures events; (7) consider gently-cooked or freeze-dried alternatives with kill-step — gently-cooked raw pet food (sous-vide-style processing with controlled-temperature cooking) provides many raw-pet-food nutritional and palatability characteristics with substantially reduced Salmonella risk; some freeze-dried products are made from gently-cooked rather than truly-raw source material; (8) reconsider raw feeding if household risk factors change — new infant, new immunocompromised household member, household member on chemotherapy, etc. warrant fresh evaluation of raw pet food appropriateness.

How this affects KibbleIQ’s grade

The KibbleIQ rubric v15 evaluates raw pet food on ingredient quality, nutrient profile, and processing approach per our published methodology — Salmonella surveillance status and HPP adoption are considered indirectly through manufacturer QC and processing factors but do not directly determine rubric grade. Future rubric extensions under consideration: explicit kill-step adoption scoring axis differentiating HPP-treated from non-HPP raw pet food; manufacturer surveillance-history scoring axis incorporating recall frequency. The framework is covered across our Salmonella dry kibble controversy, Listeria raw pet food controversy, H5N1 raw pet food controversy, HPP validation controversy, and dozens of specific raw pet food brand recall pages.