FDA Launches Pet Food Recall Site

A workman's hard hat, mold and thiamine deficiencies all led to pet food recalls near the end of 2009. Now you can access a new Web site to find out about all pet food recalls—almost as soon as they are announced.

Launched recently by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Silver Spring, Md.), the pet food-specific site lists recalls as they are announced as well as recalls dating to Jan. 1, 2006. Users can click on more than 100 brand names listed to find recall numbers and additional information. In addition, they can search by brand name, pet type—cat, dog or horse—or combinations of those.

Users also may download a list of all recalled products in an Excel spreadsheet.

Nearly 1,000 entries had been posted at press time.

Food recalls, which can be voluntary, may be related to a variety of incidents. For example, Nutro Products Inc. (Franklin, Tenn.) in early October announced a voluntary recall after an employee's plastic hard hat was sucked into the production machinery. Later in the month, Diamond Pet Foods (Meta, Mo.) voluntarily recalled some of its cat foods because of a lack of thiamine, also known as vitamin B1, which can lead to neurological problems in felines. And Wysong Corp. (Midland, Mich.), which makes natural and holistic pet foods, announced a voluntary recall in October because of batches that contained "above acceptable moisture levels and may contain mold."

Find the FDA's searchable recall list and more information at http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/newpetfoodrecalls/

In addition, you can find consumer-friendly information from all federal agencies that deal with food and food safety, including alerts on food recalls, at www.foodsafety.gov.