[jocoyn]

Certainly there are dog foods with no recalls but most recalls are voluntarily initiated by a manufacturer and may not necessarily be indicitive of a systemic problem.

The big ones are usually "forced" because consumer complaints about an issue surface and can't be swept under the carpet. A good company would issue a recall if a processing error was discovered, and no harm was done if the product did not meet specifications.

Also big companies who make thousands upon thousands of bags of foods are just more likely to have a recall because a small percent of a massive number of products may produce more defect bags total than a large percent of a small number of products from a botique manufacturer....it *could* be the big manufacturer actually has more control over their production line, better equipment etc but the sheer volume of what they produce can result in something here or there.

I think where I get scared with some of the big ones is the amount of time something goes undiscovered!