Cat Food Recall Database

Pet food recalls make the news for a day or two and then they’re gone. If you want to know whether a brand has a history, you end up piecing it together from old press releases. So we put the whole record in one place: every cat food, treat and supplement recall the FDA has on file since 2010, which company issued it, which brands were involved, and why.

You can search it by brand, filter by year or reason, and click through to the FDA record for each one. For the newest recalls with lot numbers and what to do, see our cat food recall alerts page.

What the numbers show

• About 5 cat food recalls a year. That’s the average from 2013 to 2025. Some years are much busier than others, usually because one ingredient problem hit many products at once.
• Salmonella is the main reason. 37 of the 82 recalls (45%) were for Salmonella, alone or together with Listeria. These recalls protect people as much as pets, because the bacteria spread to whoever handles the food and the bowl.
• Too little thiamine (vitamin B1) caused 8 recalls. Cats need a lot of thiamine and it breaks down easily during processing, so this one shows up far more in cat food than dog food.
• The companies with the most recalls are Nestlé Purina PetCare (5), Bravo! (5), Steve's Real Food (4), Blue Ridge Beef (4). A single recall can cover dozens of products, so the count says how often a company had a problem, not how big it was.

How we built this database

The data comes from the FDA’s Enforcement Report, which lists the recalls the FDA has classified for animal products, plus FDA recall notices. We pulled every veterinary record, kept the ones for food, treats, chews, supplements and milk replacer eaten by cats, and left out drugs, shampoos and sprays, and feed for other animals. Last updated October 22, 2026. We update this database every week as the FDA adds new recalls.

• One row is one recall event by one company. A recall can cover many products and brands. When a company later expands a recall, the FDA usually logs the expansion as a new event, so it gets its own row too.
• The date is when the company started the recall, as listed by the FDA.
• We grouped the FDA’s stated reasons into plain categories, such as Salmonella or too much vitamin D. The original wording is in the FDA record behind each link.
• The “Brand owner today” shown under a company is who owns that brand now, from our brand ownership map. It doesn’t mean that company owned the brand when the recall happened.
• FDA advisories that weren’t recalls, state-only actions and recalls outside the US are not counted. The FDA’s online records are less complete before mid-2012, so the earliest years may be a little low.

Common questions

Which cat food brand has had the most recalls?

In this data, the brands that appear in the most recalls since 2010 are Blue Ridge Beef (5), Bravo! (5), Rad Cat (4), Steve's Real Food (3). Raw and freeze-dried brands show up often, mostly for Salmonella and Listeria, since raw food has no cooking step to kill bacteria.

How often is cat food recalled?

About 5 times a year on average since 2013, but it swings a lot. The busiest full year in this database was 2015, with 10 recalls.

Does a recall mean a brand is unsafe?

Not by itself. A recall usually means a company or the FDA found a problem in specific lots and pulled them. What matters more is the pattern: the same problem coming back, slow responses, or recalls that kept growing. The table lets you check that for any brand.

How do I know if my food is part of a recall?

Check the lot number and best-by date on your bag or can against the recall notice. Our recall alerts page lists the details for each new recall, and you can sign up there to get an email when a cat food is recalled.