Dog food: recall record, label claims, and who makes it
Dog food brands compete on stories: ancestral diets, human-grade kitchens, vet-recommended formulas. The parts you can check are narrower and more useful: whether the label says the food is complete and balanced, what the public recall and inspection record shows, and who made it. Whether a food suits your dog, and whether to change diets, is a question for your vet.
The short answer. Look for "complete and balanced" on the label, which FDA says means the food is meant to be the sole diet. Then check FDA's recall list, keeping in mind FDA says not every recall is posted there. The records in this set range from Hill's canned dog foods with potentially toxic levels of vitamin D in 2019, to an FDA warning letter in 2024 for the plant that makes Victor after a Salmonella outbreak that made seven people ill, to Pedigree cans in 2026 that were meant to be destroyed and were sold instead. On grain-free food and heart disease, FDA says it has no definitive information that the diets are inherently unsafe and asks owners to talk to their vet before changing diets.
The data, at a glance
Recall and safety record in the explorer. Higher means a cleaner public record, and a missing record is not proof of safety:
What the records show
Nutrient errors. Hill's recalled canned dog food from 31 January 2019 and expanded the recall on 20 March and 17 May, to 86 lots of 33 varieties, after testing found excessive, potentially toxic vitamin D. FDA says the recall covered only canned dog food, not cat food, kibble or treats, and it terminated the recall in December 2021.
Plant hygiene. Food Safety News reports that FDA sent Mid America Pet Food, which owns Victor and makes its dry food in its own Texas plant, a warning letter on 22 November 2024. A multistate Salmonella outbreak linked to its pet food had made seven people ill, six of them children under one, and inspectors found Salmonella strains that persisted across inspections, rainwater standing in production areas and inadequate heat treatment of raw chicken fat.
Diversion. On 2 July 2026, Mars Petcare recalled two lots of Pedigree High Protein canned food that had been sent to a third party for destruction and were fraudulently sold instead. The cans may contain metal and plastic fragments; Mars reported no illness or injury.
Shared plants and suppliers. In 2018 FDA warned that canned dog foods made by J.M. Smucker, including Gravy Train, Kibbles 'N Bits, Ol' Roy and Skippy, could contain the euthanasia drug pentobarbital, traced to a tallow ingredient. FDA said the low levels were unlikely to harm pets, and that any pentobarbital in pet food is a violation of federal law. In 2012 Diamond Pet Foods recalled more than 30 product lines from one South Carolina plant after Salmonella, including Taste of the Wild, Kirkland Signature, Canidae and Natural Balance, according to Food Safety News. One plant can make many labels.
Makers that name their kitchens. Champion Petfoods, which makes Orijen and Acana, says it makes its dry and freeze-dried foods in its own kitchens in Auburn, Kentucky and Acheson, Alberta, while its canned foods are "produced by a collaborator".
Claims against contents. Blue Buffalo agreed a $32 million class action settlement in December 2015 over claims that foods sold under its "True Blue Promise" contained poultry by-product meal. It denied wrongdoing and blamed a former ingredient supplier.
The grain-free question
In 2019 FDA published the brands named most often in reports of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a heart disease, in dogs; Acana, Zignature and Taste of the Wild topped that list. Its current Q&A, updated in August 2024, says it has "no definitive information indicating that the diets are inherently unsafe", that several companies have since changed their formulas, and that it does not plan to update the brand list. A count of reports is not proof that a food caused harm. FDA encourages owners to work with their vets before changing diets.
If you care most about...
| If you care most about... | Look at | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A clean safety record | FDA's recall list, then the company's own notice | recalls differ in cause and size |
| Knowing who made it | brands that name their plants; the manufacturer or distributor on the label | store labels can come from contract makers |
| Price and availability | what your local shops stock, compared per serving | we could verify few prices, so the shelf is your best source |
| Cooking at home | a recipe from a board-certified veterinary nutritionist | UC Davis found 95 percent of 200 published recipes short of at least one essential nutrient |
| A dog with a health condition | your vet | diets for conditions are a clinical call |
There is no single best dog food. A long record can partly reflect how long and how widely a brand has sold, and a new brand with no recall has less history to judge.
Reading the label in 30 seconds
- "Complete and balanced" plus a life stage: growth and reproduction, or adult maintenance. Treats are often not complete.
- The name on the pack. FDA requires the manufacturer or distributor. A distributor is not always the plant.
- Ingredients are listed by weight, heaviest first.
- Keep the lot number and best-by date until the bag is finished. FDA says the lot number tells it the plant and production date.
If something seems wrong
Call your vet if your dog is unwell. You can report a food to FDA through its Safety Reporting Portal without a sick animal: a foul smell, off colour, or swollen or leaking can all count.
What we're not telling you
We do not rate nutrition, ingredient quality, taste or price per meal. "No recall found" means no public record on the date we searched. Records are US only. For cats, see the cat food guide.
How we made this
We take no money from pet food companies or retailers. Every record above comes from a page we opened in September 2026. Tell us through Contribute if we have missed a recall.
Sources
- FDA, "Complete and Balanced" pet food, checked 2026-09
- FDA, animal food labeling and pet food claims, checked 2026-09
- FDA, recalls, market withdrawals and safety alerts, checked 2026-09
- FDA, Hill's vitamin D alert, checked 2026-09
- Victor, FAQ, checked 2026-09
- Food Safety News, FDA warning letter to Mid America Pet Food (2024), checked 2026-09
- FDA, Pedigree recall (2026), checked 2026-09
- FDA, pentobarbital in canned dog food (2018), checked 2026-09
- Food Safety News, Diamond Pet Foods recalls 2012, checked 2026-09
- Champion Petfoods, FAQ, checked 2026-09
- Top Class Actions, Blue Buffalo settlement, checked 2026-09
- FDA, DCM questions and answers (June 2019), checked 2026-09
- FDA, DCM questions and answers (current), checked 2026-09
- UC Davis, homemade dog food recipes study, checked 2026-09
- FDA, how to report a pet food complaint, checked 2026-09
Compare dog foods on recall record, availability and transparency by your own weighting in the dog food explorer.