Raw Dog Food Vs. Kibble: Salmonella Recalls

Busting The Myth About Contamination Risks Between The Two

Nutrition is the cornerstone of preventative pet health and the center of holistic pet care, so we're taking a moment to to address a myth surrounding the prevalence in salmonella recalls of raw dog food ( aka: species appropriate dog food & fresh pet food) vs. processed kibble.

If you’ve spent any time in pet parent forums or scanned pet industry headlines, you’ve probably seen the posts. Another recall. Check your bag. Possible Salmonella contamination. The comment sections light up, panic spreads quickly, and almost inevitably someone says, “This is why I would never feed raw. Too risky.”

For years, pet parents have been warned that raw dog food is dangerous because of bacteria. The word Salmonella gets thrown around like a flashing red siren. We are told raw equals risk.

And yet, when you actually review recall history, something curious appears. Kibble, not raw, has been repeatedly recalled for Salmonella contamination, often in large multi-state events involving major manufacturers.

So what’s going on? If raw is supposedly the bacterial villain of the pet food world, why does kibble show up so frequently on recall lists?

Before we go further, it’s important to acknowledge that dog food gets recalled for numerous reasons. Sometimes it’s nutrient imbalances. Sometimes it’s foreign material contamination. Sometimes it’s aflatoxins. And yes, sometimes it’s bacteria, including Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria. For the sake of this discussion, we are focusing specifically on Salmonella.

Salmonella In Dog Food Kibble: An Abbreviated History Of Recalls

Publicly available recall information shows that dry kibble has been recalled numerous times over the past two decades for Salmonella contamination.

Several of the most widely discussed events involved dry extruded kibble produced in centralized facilities and distributed country-wide. When contamination occurs at that scale, it can impact massive production volumes and trigger wide recalls.

In 2012, a CDC investigation linked human Salmonella Infantis infections to multiple brands of dry dog food produced by Diamond Pet Foods at a single facility in Gaston, South Carolina. [1] In 2013, Procter & Gamble’s Natura unit recalled certain dry pet foods due to potential Salmonella contamination. [2]

In 2021, Midwestern Pet Foods issued a voluntary recall for multiple brands produced at its Monmouth, Illinois facility due to possible Salmonella health risk. [3]

Investigative reporting and recall tracking in the independent pet food space have also documented how kibble recalls can repeat when environmental contamination and facility-level issues are involved. [4]

How Does Salmonella Get Into Kibble Dog Food?

Many pet parents assume extrusion makes kibble sterile. Extrusion is the industrial process used to manufacture most dry pet foods. In simple terms, ground ingredients such as meat meals, grains or starches, vitamins, and minerals are mixed into a dough-like slurry and pushed through a machine called an extruder. Inside the extruder, the mixture is exposed to intense heat, moisture, and pressure before being forced through small die openings that shape the familiar kibble pieces. As the hot mixture exits the machine, the sudden drop in pressure causes it to puff and expand, creating the crunchy texture we recognize as kibble.

Because of the high temperatures involved, some naturally occurring nutrients, enzymes, and delicate fats can be altered or destroyed during this process, which is one reason many nutrients are added back later as synthetic vitamin and mineral premixes.

Extrusion does involve high heat and pressure. However, contamination rarely occurs during cooking. It often occurs afterward.

After extrusion, kibble is coated with fats and flavor enhancers to improve palatability. These post-cooking steps create opportunities for contamination if equipment or environments are not impeccably sanitized. Centralized production adds another layer of risk. When multiple brands share the same manufacturing facility, one contamination event can affect enormous volumes of product.

Dry kibble also has a long shelf life. It may sit in warehouses, distribution centers, retail shelves, and pantries for months. If contamination is introduced post-processing, it can persist. Heat treatment is not a guarantee of ongoing sterility.

Although not always Salmonella-specific, one of the most common questions I ask clients who feed kibble, especially after they tell me their dog had an episode of diarrhea requiring a veterinary visit, is this: Is the bag new, in the middle, or almost finished?

More often than not, the answer is either “We just opened a new bag” or “We were at the very end of the bag.” Even when pet parents are feeding the same brand and same protein source consistently, contamination can vary from batch to batch. A bag of kibble may have been manufactured months prior, stored in fluctuating temperatures, transported across state lines, and handled multiple times before it reaches your pantry. There is simply no way to know how long that specific bag has been sitting or under what environmental conditions.

Why Contaminated Dog Food Doesn't Causes Salmonella Poisoning Symptoms In Shared Households

Another common question follows quickly: But why would only one of my dogs be sick? They eat the same food. And this is where the terrain conversation becomes unavoidable. Two dogs can consume the exact same meal and have completely different physiological responses.

One may have a resilient gut lining, diverse microbiome, and strong mucosal immunity. The other may be under stress, recently medicated, inflamed, or metabolically compromised.

Exposure is one variable. Internal resilience is another.

Salmonella Recalls In Raw Dog Food

To be clear, raw food companies have issued recalls as well. No food system operating in the real world is immune from risk. But what’s striking is how contained raw recalls often are compared to mass-produced extruded diets.

For example, in 2018, Steve’s Real Food voluntarily recalled one lot of a turkey raw frozen canine recipe due to potential Salmonella contamination. [5]

In 2018, Carnivore Meat Company issued a voluntary recall of limited batches of specific Vital Essentials beef products due to potential Salmonella contamination. [6]

These actions were lot-specific and batch-specific, which is often the reality when production runs are smaller and more contained.

How Does Salmonella Exist in Raw Dog Food?

Raw meat contains bacteria. That is biological reality.

But bacteria in raw food are expected and managed differently than contamination in a product marketed as shelf-stable and sterile.

Many reputable raw manufacturers implement lot-specific pathogen testing and test-and-hold programs. Some use high pressure processing (HPP) as an additional safeguard. Smaller batch sizes reduce widespread contamination risk.

The presence of bacteria in raw meat is not evidence of negligence. It reflects the nature of fresh food.

Not All Salmonella Is Pathogenic. There are more than 2,500 serotypes of Salmonella. Not all strains cause disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, illness depends on strain virulence, infectious dose, and host susceptibility.

Healthy adult dogs with diverse microbiomes are not immunologically identical to senior dogs or immunocompromised pups. Exposure does not automatically equal illness.

This is where the terrain conversation becomes unavoidable. A dog eating a highly processed, carbohydrate-heavy diet with chronic gut inflammation may have a very different response to bacterial exposure than a dog consuming a fresh, species-appropriate diet that supports microbiome diversity.

Exposure is one variable. Internal resilience is another.

How Salmonella Testing Is Done

When Salmonella testing occurs, whether in kibble or raw, laboratories typically use enrichment culture methods followed by molecular detection and confirmation, as outlined in regulatory bacteriological manuals.

Samples are incubated in selective media that encourage Salmonella growth, then analyzed through biochemical or PCR methods. The testing methodology itself does not dramatically differ between kibble and raw. What differs is perception.

Contamination Risks: Industrial Scale Kibble vs Biological Food Production

The conversation we should be having is not does raw contain bacteria. The real conversation is about centralized manufacturing, long supply chains, environmental contamination, and ultra-processed foods.

Large-scale kibble production amplifies risk. One facility error can impact millions of pounds of product.

Raw food manufacturing tends to operate in smaller batches with tighter sourcing chains.

Is raw food processing immune from contaminations? No. But the fear narrative does not proportionately reflect recall history or biological reality.

Why This Matters for Pet Parents

If you have been told raw feeding is reckless because of bacteria contamination, it is worth reviewing recall history. It is worth asking manufacturers about pathogen testing and environmental monitoring.

The truth is: dogs evolved consuming fresh prey. Their digestive systems are designed to manage microbial exposure. The goal should not be sterilize food at all costs. The goal should be biologically appropriate nutrition paired with informed handling and intelligent sourcing.

Raw feeding is not the reckless outlier it is often portrayed to be. Sometimes, the bigger risk lies in assuming that ultra-processed food is immune to contamination simply because it passed through a high-heat machine.

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Sources

1. CDC archive page on the 2012 Salmonella Infantis outbreak linked to Diamond Pet Foods dry dog food (Gaston, SC).

2. News coverage and market reporting on Natura / Procter & Gamble dry pet food recall (2013).

3. FDA recall notice: Midwestern Pet Foods voluntary recall due to possible Salmonella health risk (March 26, 2021) and company recall PDF.

4. Truth About Pet Food recall reporting and commentary.

5. FDA recall notice: Steve’s Real Food voluntary recall of one lot of raw frozen turkey canine recipe (March 2, 2018).

6. FDA recall notice: Carnivore Meat Company voluntary recall of limited batches of Vital Essentials beef products (April 15, 2018).