Open Farm removes six dog foods over non-toxic plastic film

Open Farm has removed six dog food products from the market after identifying small pieces of food-grade plastic film in limited production lots, a move the company and third-party reporting have framed as a quality withdrawal rather than a health-risk recall. The affected products were select lots of five freeze-dried raw morsel recipes and one RawMix recipe for dogs, tied to manufacturing dates from late September through mid-November 2024. Open Farm told distributors to destroy affected inventory and retailers to pull it from shelves, while offering refunds or replacements to pet parents. Dog Food Advisor reported the plastic was non-toxic and posed no danger to dogs, and independent reporting said the issue stemmed from liner material on raw protein ingredients that wasn’t fully removed during manufacturing. (dogfoodadvisor.com)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this looks less like an acute toxicosis event and more like a supply-chain and client-communication issue. Even when a company says there’s no health risk, foreign-material findings can still drive calls from concerned pet parents, especially for freeze-dried and raw-adjacent products that already receive closer scrutiny for safety and handling. FDA consumer guidance notes that product problems with pet food can be reported through the Safety Reporting Portal, and FDA also continues to emphasize Salmonella risk awareness around raw and freeze-dried pet foods more broadly. That means clinics may want to distinguish clearly between this market withdrawal for non-toxic plastic film and higher-risk contamination events involving pathogens or toxic substances. (safetyreporting.fda.gov)

What to watch: Watch for any updated lot lists, FDA posting activity, or additional company disclosures on corrective actions and whether the withdrawal remains limited to these specific late-2024 production runs. (truthaboutpetfood.com)