Mars Petcare US Extends Latest Voluntary Recall

On October 27th, Mars Petcare announced a voluntary recall of a "limited number of bags" of SPECIAL KITTY® Gourmet Blend dry cat food. The cat food was available only in Wal-Mart stores in 15 states, and just one day's production was affected. Mars took pains to reassure pet owners that there were "... no complaints or reports of illness..." associated with the recalled production lot of cat food.

Four days later, the West Virginia Department of Agriculture advised consumers that its lab had found Salmonella in the recalled cat food AND in "... samples of Ol' Roy Meaty Chunks 'N Gravy dog food." The state issued a "stop-sale" order for both products, and alerted FDA to their findings.

eFoodAlert contacted the WVDA and obtained additional information about their findings, which we published – with permission – on November 18th. In our exclusive report, we revealed that the cat food and dog food were contaminated with different types of Salmonella, that WVDA had initiated their investigation after receiving complaints from pet owners that their dogs had been made ill, purportedly after eating the Ol' Roy dry dog food. WVDA also told us that the contaminated pet foods had been manufactured in two different facilities.

This evening, November 25th, Mars Petcare announced an expansion of its October 27th recall. According to the company's news release, the original recall was triggered by the detection of Salmonella in "... an additional sample of SPECIAL KITTY® made on September 25, 2008." The original contaminated lot was produced on August 11, 2008. 

As a result of this new finding, Mars Petcare has recalled all dry dog and cat food manufactured at its Allentown, PA production facility that are labeled with a Best By date of August 11, 2009 to October 3, 2009, inclusive.

The following list of recalled pet foods were sold at BJ's Wholesale Club, ShopRite Supermarkets (the chain has stores in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania), and Wal-Mart stores in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont and West Virginia.

• Berkley & Jensen Bistro Blend Premium Cat Food,  21.6 lb. (UPC 00000 20052)
  
• Berkley & Jensen Small Bites & Bones Dog Food,  52 lb. (UPC 00000 14958)
  
• Ol' Roy Puppy Complete Premium Dog Food,  4 lb. (UPC 81131 79078)
  
• Ol' Roy Puppy Complete Premium Dog Food,  20 lb. (UPC 81131 79080)
  
• Ol' Roy Complete Nutrition Premium Dog Food,  4 lb. (UPC 81131 17550)
  
• Ol' Roy Complete Nutrition Premium Dog Food,  4.4 lb.  (UPC 81131 69377)
  
• Ol' Roy Complete Nutrition Premium Dog Food,  8 lb. (UPC 05388 67144)
  
• Ol' Roy Complete Nutrition Premium Dog Food,  20 lb. (UPC 81131 17549)
  
• Ol' Roy Complete Nutrition Premium Dog Food,  22 lb. (UPC 05388 60342)
  
• Ol' Roy Complete Nutrition Premium Dog Food,  44.1 lb. (UPC 81131 17551)
  
• Ol' Roy Complete Nutrition Premium Dog Food,  50 lb. (UPC 78742 01022)
  
• Ol' Roy High Performance Premium Dog Food, 20 lb. (UPC 05388 60345)
  
• Ol' Roy High Performance Premium Dog Food,  50 lb. (UPC 78742 05815)
  
• Ol' Roy Meaty Chunks & Gravy Premium Dog Food,  22 lb. (UPC 81131 69630)
  
• Ol' Roy Meaty Chunks & Gravy Premium Dog Food,  50 lb. (UPC 81131 69631)
  
• ShopRite Crunchy Bites, Bones and Healthy Squares Dog Food,  20 lb. (UPC 41190 04521)
  
• Special Kitty Original Premium Cat Food,  3.5 lb. (UPC 81131 17557)
  
• Special Kitty Original Premium Cat Food,  7 lb. (UPC 81131 17562)
  
• Special Kitty Original Premium Cat Food,  18 lb. (UPC 81131 17559)
  
• Special Kitty Gourmet Blend Premium Cat Food,  3.5 lb. (UPC 81131 17546)
  
• Special Kitty Gourmet Blend Premium Cat Food,  7 lb. (UPC 81131 17547)
  
• Special Kitty Gourmet Blend Premium Cat Food,  18 lb. (UPC 81131 17548)
  
• Special Kitty Kitten Premium Cat Food,  3.5 lb. (UPC 81131 17553)
  
• Special Kitty Kitten Premium Cat Food,  7 lb. (UPC 81131 17554)
  

Mars is asking consumers who purchased the recalled items to return them to the store for a full refund. The company has posted a widget on its web site to enable customers to determine whether the specific bag of dog or cat food that they purchased is included in the recall.

There's still been no news on the progress of the investigation into the second production facility that WVDA implicated in its initial report. The FDA investigation into that second manufacturing plant may still be in progress. If so, another Mars Petcare recall could be in the works.

Consumers with questions about this recall should contact Mars Petcare directly, toll-free, at 1-877-568-4463.