The FDA pet food recall list is a vital resource for pet owners. It tells you what foods you should skip buying for your cat or dog. FDA recalls only happen when the producer of the food violates an FDA guideline, so they're not something you should ignore.

Let's look at the FDA pet food recall list and what you ought to know about it. Remember – it's important to keep your pet safe. Knowing what foods are dangerous is one of the first steps to making sure your four legged friend stays healthy and happy.


Why FDA Recalls Happen

The FDA is responsible for making sure that food and drugs are pure and safe. This is the case whether they're for humans or for animals. The FDA pays even closer attention to food meant for animals people will eventually eat than it does to food for pets. But there have been several cases where the FDA has recalled pet food and snacks because of problems. This helps keeps buyers from getting a product that's actually harmful to their pet.

The best known FDA pet food recall list for most of us showed up in 2007. A lot of major brands of dog and cat food were recalled because they were poisoned. These foods had been made with batches of vegetable proteins that had been processed in China.

The companies that did the processing used a chemical called melamine to make the proteins look better than they really were. Normally, melamine is used to make plastic and glue. It's not good for any animal to eat. The pet food poisoned with it caused liver failure in many pets.

But this isn't the only FDA pet food recall that has ever happened. The FDA recalls any food that might be contaminated or dangerous. For instance, when a large number of foods that might contain salmonella tainted peanut butter were recalled in early 2009, they included dog treats.

There are lots of peanut butter flavored dog treats on the market. Some of them had used the same kind of peanut butter that was known to have salmonella in it. In November 2009, the FDA issued a warning about some kinds of beef hoof and pig ear dog chew treats that were also found to have salmonella.


How To Find Out About A Recall

Usually news articles will announce an FDA recall. That means that you can look at pet related news sources and find out whether a food or treat is on the recall list.

But that doesn't always happen. In these cases, you'll need to look for the list on your own. After all, you don't want to find out that your beloved pet is sick just because you didn't know there was a problem. Many people lost their family pets in 2007, and didn't realize what was wrong.

If they had known there was a problem, they could have saved their cats and dogs. Knowing where to find the information you need can keep your dog, cat, or other pet safe.

The good news is that the recall list is easier to find than it's ever been. The FDA website lists all foods – human and pet – that have been recalled by the FDA. This list can be sorted by brand and by type of pet food. That makes it easy to find out if the brand of food you use could be a problem. You can also find out information about all kinds of government recalls just by looking at www.recalls.gov. This site has information about food recalls, vehicle recalls, and many others.


Safety Is Important

Most of us don't think much about what our dogs and cats eat. If they like the food and aren't sick or getting fat, we don't pay attention. But pet food contaminated with chemicals or bacteria could be a real problem for your pet. That's why it's important to know where to find recall information and what pet foods are the problem. It might take a little bit of extra time now, but it's definitely worth it in the long run.