Mars Petcare recalled some cans of its Pedigree dog food that it said had been sold to consumers even though they were flagged to be destroyed after failing quality-control tests.
The company said that the food may contain sharp metal and plastic fragments that could cause choking or internal lacerations for dogs, according to a statement from Mars dated July 2.
The company said that no customers had reported injuries to their pets from eating the wet dog food, a chicken-and-duck flavor mix.
It did not provide much detail about the quantity of food in the recall, describing it as two lots, a manufacturing measurement that can refer to from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of cans.
The company urged pet owners who purchased cans with the affected lot numbers — 613C3KKCFC and 613C1KKCFC — to stop feeding the product to their dogs immediately.
Mars said that the defect had been flagged before the food went into distribution and that the cans had been given to a third-party vendor to be destroyed.
The lots instead appeared to have been “fraudulently diverted and sold into the marketplace in the United States,” it said.
Mars added that it was working with the authorities to find out how the food came to be sold, without giving further details.
Mars Petcare did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment early on Wednesday.
Mars Petcare is a subsidiary of Mars Inc., one of the world’s largest food manufacturers. It makes Pedigree, a pet food brand that began in Britain, as well as major consumer brands like Orbit gum, Snickers, and M&M’s.
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