Fromm Recalled Two Wet Foods for Metal. The Lot Code Is on the Can, Not the Label.

On August 21, Fromm Family Foods voluntarily recalled two canned wet dog foods for "potential metal contamination" — 3,852 cases of Turkey Pâté and 1,973 cases of Diner Classics Milo's Meatloaf, 5,825 cases in all.[1] The company acted after it "received complaints of metal in the product," and as of the recall date "there have been no reports of illness or injury related to the recalled products."[2][3]

That last part is the good news. The awkward part is that a metal recall behaves differently from the salmonella recalls most pet owners have learned to read, and the difference changes what you should be looking for at home.

The two lots

Only two lot codes are involved. The brand is not recalled; these cans are.

• Fromm Turkey Pâté Wet Dog Food, 12.2 oz — UPC 072705118700 — Lot EP2A3306 551006 — Best By 032029[1]
• Fromm Diner Classics Milo's Meatloaf Pâté Wet Dog Food, 12.5 oz — UPC 072705132324 — Lot EP2A3306 551029 — Best By 032029[1]

Both share the same Best By date, 032029, which makes it the fastest thing to check first. The cans went to "neighborhood pet stores and online retailers in the United States and Canada," and the company has not said which states or provinces received the affected lots — so location does not rule your cans in or out.[2]

FDA's instruction is simply to return them: consumers who bought either product with Best By 032029 "are urged to return the product to your retailer."[1] Fromm's line for questions is 1-800-325-6331.[1]

Why this one reads differently than a salmonella recall

With a bacterial recall, the hazard is biological and it is distributed — the whole lot is suspect, the risk extends to the humans scooping the food, and the response is largely about hygiene and watching for GI illness over the following days.

Metal is mechanical, and it is scattered. Nothing about an affected can looks or smells wrong. A dog can eat most of one uneventfully and hit a fragment on the last bite, or eat the whole can and never encounter anything at all. Fromm's own list of what a dog might experience covers "choking, vomiting, loss of appetite, lethargy, or stomach discomfort," along with possible lacerations to the mouth and gastrointestinal tract.[2]

So the useful question at home is not "did my dog eat this food" but "has my dog shown anything since."

The signs, roughly in the order they appear

In the mouth, within minutes. A fragment large enough to injure usually announces itself before it is swallowed: dropping food back into the bowl, chewing on one side, pawing at the mouth, sudden drooling, or blood streaked in the saliva or the leftover food. A dog who abruptly walks away from a bowl they were enthusiastic about thirty seconds earlier is telling you something.

Lower down, over hours to days. Veterinary guidance on gastrointestinal foreign bodies lists "vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal tenderness or pain, decreased appetite" and lethargy, plus straining to defecate and flinching when the belly is handled.[4]

The timing is the part worth taking seriously. An obstruction "often compromise[s] the blood supply to these vital tissues," and if that blood flow is interrupted for more than several hours, intestinal tissue begins to die.[4] A wait-and-see approach that would be reasonable for a mild stomach upset may not be the right call here.

What to do this week

1. Check the can, not the brand. The lot code and Best By are stamped on the can itself. If you have already emptied and tossed the packaging, the purchase record from the store or online order will usually tell you the product and date range.
2. Stop feeding the affected lots and return them to where you bought them.[1] Keep a photo of the lot code before the can leaves the house.
3. Hold on to any remaining food from an open affected can, sealed, in case your veterinarian or the company wants to see it.
4. If your dog ate from one of these lots and is acting normally, they very likely encountered nothing. Watch eating behavior and stools for a few days rather than assuming the worst.
5. If anything on the list above shows up, go in the same day, and say the word "metal." It changes what the visit looks like. Imaging is the standard way to confirm or rule out an obstruction,[4] and metal is among the easier materials to see on a radiograph — far easier than fabric or plastic. Framing it as "possible metal from a recalled food" gets you an X-ray; framing it as "he threw up twice" may get you an anti-nausea injection and a follow-up call.

A small habit that makes the next one easier

Recalls are lot-specific, and lot codes are the one part of the package nobody photographs. Two things make future recalls a two-minute check instead of an afternoon:

• Photograph the code when you open a new case. One picture of the can end covers every can in the box.
• Bookmark FDA's recalls and withdrawals page for animal products and skim it once a month.[5] Pet food recalls rarely make the evening news, and by the time one reaches a social feed it has usually lost the lot numbers along the way.

Neither takes real effort, and both mean the answer to "is this our food?" is something you can settle from your phone in the kitchen rather than by guessing.

Sources

1. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, "Fromm Family Foods Voluntarily Recalls Turkey Pâté Wet Food For Dogs and Diner Classic Milo's Meatloaf Pâté Wet Food For Dogs Due to Potential Metal Contamination," August 21, 2026. https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/fromm-family-foods-voluntarily-recalls-turkey-pate-wet-food-dogs-and-diner-classic-milos-meatloaf
2. dvm360, "Fromm Family Foods recalls two wet dog food pâtés over potential metal contamination." https://www.dvm360.com/view/fromm-family-foods-recalls-two-wet-dog-food-pates-over-potential-metal-contamination
3. Dog Food Advisor, "Fromm Family Foods Issues a Voluntary Recall of Two Products Over Potential Metal Contamination." https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recalls/fromm-family-foods-issues-a-voluntary-recall-of-two-products-over-potential-metal-contamination/
4. VCA Animal Hospitals, "Ingestion of Foreign Bodies in Dogs." https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/ingestion-of-foreign-bodies-in-dogs
5. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, "Recalls & Withdrawals" (Animal & Veterinary). https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/safety-health/recalls-withdrawals