Manufacturing Plant Closes After Pet Food Recall

Suspected Salmonella Contamination Led to Recall of Pedigree, Others

Oct 1, 2008

The Everson, PA manufacturing plant involved in the Mars Petcare pet food recall for Pedigree and more than a dozen other brands will close permanently.

Mars Petcare U.S., the manufacturer of Pedigree dog food and more than a dozen other brands, says that its Everson, Pennsylvania pet food manufacturing facility will close its doors permanently.

This pet food plant stopped production following involvement in two salmonella-related pet food recalls, issued in August and September of 2008. According to published reports, the plant is closing because the source of salmonella cannot be found.

The Everson Pet Food Plant & It's Connection to Pet Food Recalls

This announcement comes weeks after Mars Petcare issued its first voluntary recall due to possible salmonella contamination affecting Pedigree Complete Nutrition Small Crunchy Bites dog food that was sold at Costco in Northern California and Nevada and at Albertsons in Southern California and Las Vegas.

After the first limited recall was issued in mid-August 2008, a second larger nationwide pet food recall was issued by Mars Petcare on September 12, 2008.

This second salmonella-related recall affected Pedigree dog food, Ol' Roy dog food, Special Kitty cat food and eleven other brands of dry pet food that were manufactured at the Everson facility.

According to the Mars Petcare website, the recalled pet food was manufactured at Mars Petcare's Everson plant between February 18, 2008 and July 29, 2008.

According to a Mars Petcare statement, pet food production ceased at the Everson facility on July 29, 2008 "when the company was alerted of a possible link between dry pet food produced at the plant and two isolated cases of people infected with [a strain of] Salmonella."

Production of pet food never resumed after pet food production stopped on July 29, 2008, as the makers of Pedigree vowed to fully investigate the situation and to clean the facility before resuming operations.

No other pet food manufacturing facilities have been involved in Mars Petcare's voluntary salmonella-related pet food recalls.

The Pet Food Plant Closure Announcement

News of the Everson, PA pet food plant's permanent closure was made public after Mars Petcare U.S. notified the Department of Labor and Industry that more than 50 employees would be unemployed due to the closure of the pet food plant that was involved in the two salmonella scares.

According to published reports in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the same pet food plant had been closed for cleaning in 2007, after salmonella was detected in bags of dog food that was manufactured at the facility.

Pet Food Safety Following This Recall

Pet owners who feed the following brands are urged to check to see if their pet's food has been recalled:

According to Mars Petcare, dog and cat owners can look at the production lot code, located below the "Best By" date - typically situated near the UPC bar code - to determine if their pet's food has been recalled.

For Pedigree dog food, pet owners should look for "PAE" as the sixth, seventh and eighth digits of the production lot code. It will appear like this:

For all other brands listed above, pet owners should look for "17" as the first two digits of the production lot code. It will appear like this:

Pet owners can also check their pet food's UPC code numbers against a list of recalled pet food flavors and varieties, available on the Mars Petcare U.S. website.