Expanded dog food recall now includes all packages due to salmonella, listeria risk
Bravo Packing has expanded its earlier March 3 recall of two pet food products to now include all pet food and bones in all package sizes.
During an FDA inspection, samples collected tested positive for salmonella and listeria monocytogenes, which can pose health risks to humans and their pets. Bravo Packing Inc. is expanding the recall due to potential cross contamination of its Performance Dog and Ground Beef frozen, raw pet food products.
The expanded recall alert, issued March 16 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is nationwide. Bravo is headquartered in New Jersey and worked with a New York distributor.
Salmonella, listeria symptoms
Salmonella can make animals sick if they eat a contaminated product and can also make their owners sick, too.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, salmonella bacteria cause about 1.35 million infections, 26,500 hospitalizations and 420 deaths in the United States every year. Food is the source for most of these illnesses.
Listeria can cause sometimes fatal infections in young children, seniors 65 and older, and those with weakened immune systems. Symptoms include high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Listeria can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women. An estimated 1,600 people get listeriosis each year and about 260 die, according to the CDC.
Pets with salmonella infections can become lethargic, get diarrhea (sometimes bloody), develop a fever and vomit. Some pets will have decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Pets exposed to contaminated food can be infected without showing symptoms.
The FDA recommends that if your dog ate Bravo’s Ground Beef and Performance Dog and has these symptoms, you should tell your veterinarian. Infected animals, even without showing symptoms, can shed salmonella through their feces and saliva and spread pathogens into the home. Given that possibility, people should wash their hands after handling the product.
No human or animal illnesses have been reported to date related to the earlier March recall or this expanded version.
What to look for
Performance Dog and Ground Beef both come frozen in 2-pound and 5-pound plastic sleeves.
Some of the products are marked “Performance Dog” as chub or patties. Others are marked “Beef” chubs.
Also, “Green Tripe” chubs and “Tripe” patties. Smoked bones in 14 varieties are also included in the expanded recall.
If you have a Ground Beef or Performance Dog package, throw it away, the FDA suggests. Consumers with questions can contact Bravo Packing Inc. at 856-299-1044, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday, Eastern time.
This story was originally published March 24, 2021 at 11:05 AM.
