OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
12:57 PM – Tuesday, May 26, 2026
New Jersey-based raw pet food manufacturer Raaw Energy has voluntarily initiated a sweeping recall of more than 180 lots of frozen raw dog food due to potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes.
The recall, announced in coordination with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) late last week, dramatically increases the scope of an initial January advisory that originally flagged only eight batches.
Following subsequent testing by state agricultural departments that yielded a series of positive results for the pathogen, federal regulators confirmed that the company has now recalled dozens of its product varieties manufactured over a multi-month period — citing a “risk to both animal and human health.”
The updated recall reportedly encompasses all Raaw Energy frozen dog food products manufactured between July 17, 2025, and December 23, 2025, along with a separate single batch of its Beef and Turkey Medley produced on March 31, 2026.
Meanwhile, the action affects over 60 distinct varieties of raw food, spanning popular flavors such as Chicken Medley, Turkey Medley, Duck, Salmon, Pork, and specialized blends like “Chips Agility” and “Country Soul.”
These products are typically distributed frozen to consumers across nine East Coast states — including Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia — via direct pickup orders placed through the company’s official website. The recalled items are packaged in either two-pound or five-pound clear plastic tubes sealed with metal clips at both ends, which are sold inside brown cardboard boxes bearing white identification labels.
According to federal and state authorities, the decision to expand the recall stems from rigorous environmental and product testing carried out by the Connecticut and New Jersey departments of agriculture.
Investigators initially collected eight samples following a reported animal illness in Connecticut, all of which returned positive results for dangerous pathogenic bacteria. More recently, additional state testing also uncovered four separate positive samples from the designated timeframes.
While Raaw Energy acknowledged that not every single batch manufactured during the July-to-December window was tested, the company chose to issue the blanket recall out of caution, as untested batches could harbor the same bacterial presence, officials say.
Since the initial, less expansive warning was issued earlier this year, the FDA has received additional consumer complaints detailing illnesses in pets that consumed the designated food. In response to the escalating situation, Raaw Energy implemented a total halt to its pet food manufacturing operations. The suspension is intended to allow the small business to systematically evaluate its facility, overhaul sanitary protocols, and execute critical corrective actions.
In an official public statement, company representatives announced they will be resurfacing key areas of the production facility to make them smoother and significantly easier to clean, while treating and sanitizing all facility drains, sewer lines and evaporators.
To prevent future safety lapses, the company says that it has also committed to “purchasing an advanced, dedicated pathogen detection system” to test every single batch of product before it leaves the facility moving forward.
Public health officials are strongly warning the public about the dual-threat nature of Listeria monocytogenes, which can cause severe foodborne illness in both pets and the humans who handle their food. While listeriosis is relatively rare in domestic animals, infected pets can experience mild to severe diarrhea, fever, loss of appetite, lethargy, respiratory issues and miscarriages.
Pets can also remain completely asymptomatic while serving as active carriers, shedding the bacteria through their saliva and feces and transferring it to human family members. In humans, exposure to the pathogen can manifest as nausea, fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. However, severe infections can migrate into the bloodstream and nervous system, leading to potentially fatal conditions like meningitis.
Since the bacteria can easily migrate onto hands, food bowls, utensils, and countertops, the FDA urges consumers holding any recalled Raaw Energy products to double-bag and discard them immediately in a secure outdoor trash container, followed by a rigorous sanitization of all contact surfaces using a mild bleach solution.
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