Most recall headlines arrive after the damage: sick pets, worried owners, a scramble to trace the source. The Gaines Family Farmstead Chicken Chips recall in November 2024 is worth remembering because it went the other way. A contaminated batch was flagged and pulled before it ever made a dog or a person sick, which is precisely how a food-safety system is supposed to behave when it works.
What was recalled
On November 22, 2024, Gaines Pet Treats LLC of Birmingham, Alabama voluntarily recalled its Gaines Family Farmstead Chicken Chips for dogs over the possible presence of Salmonella. The action covered 204 five-ounce bags carrying lot number 20061124 and an expiration date of December 11, 2025, printed on the back of the package. The treats had reached buyers through online retailers and a handful of small independent pet stores across Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. No illnesses were ever linked to the product.
A second, separate recall landed in the same window. Carolina Prime Pet, Inc., of Lenoir, North Carolina, pulled roughly 400 sixteen-ounce bags of “Hollywood Feed Carolina Made Chicken Chips” on November 23, also over potential Salmonella contamination.
The detail that makes this a good-news story
Here is the part worth underlining. Gaines didn’t act because dogs were falling ill. The company issued the recall after an outside lab tested a sibling batch that had not yet shipped and turned up contamination in it. In other words, the problem was caught in a batch that never even shipped, and the company then pulled the sibling lot that had, out of caution, before anyone reported a single case. That is testing catching a problem upstream instead of a hospital catching it downstream.
Why Salmonella in a dog treat is a people problem too
It’s tempting to assume a dog-treat recall only concerns dogs. It doesn’t. Salmonella can make both pets and the humans who handle contaminated food sick, and people are often exposed simply by scooping treats, refilling a bowl, or touching a surface the product sat on.
“With a Salmonella recall, the risk doesn’t stop at your dog’s bowl, it’s on your hands the second you handle the bag,” says Dr. Priya Nair. “If you find a recalled lot in your pantry, seal it, toss it, and wash everything it touched, then wash your hands like you’d handled raw chicken, because functionally you have.”
In dogs, watch for vomiting, diarrhea that may be bloody, fever, and low energy; some dogs carry the bacteria without looking sick and can still shed it. In people, the classic signs are fever, cramping, and diarrhea. If you suspect anyone in the household, two-legged or four-legged, got sick from a recalled product, call your veterinarian or doctor.
What to do if you have a recalled bag
Check the lot number and expiration date against the package in your cupboard. If they match, don’t feed it. Seal the bag, discard it where your dog can’t reach it, and clean any bowls, scoops, or counters it contacted. Because no illnesses were reported and the affected lots are specific, this is a stop-feeding-and-clean situation, not a cause for panic.
What’s new since this was written
The chicken-chip category has kept surfacing in recall notices, which is the more useful takeaway than any single lot number. In 2025 the FDA posted another voluntary recall of a Chicken Chips product over Salmonella, from a different maker, again as a precaution. The pattern isn’t a reason to swear off the treats, but it is a reason to build a simple habit: know where to check. Search the FDA’s recalls and safety alerts page for your dog’s treats and food by brand now and then, and sign up for its alerts, so you learn about a recall from the source rather than from a sick pet.
References
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Gaines Pet Treats LLC Voluntarily Recalls “Gaines Family Farmstead Chicken Chips for Dogs” Due to Possible Salmonella Contamination.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Carolina Prime Pet, Inc. Recalls Hollywood Feed Carolina Made Chicken Chips Because of Possible Salmonella.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Recalls, Market Withdrawals and Safety Alerts (Animal & Veterinary).
