Salmonella in pet food?
November 7, 2008
If I learned one thing from my research on the 2007 pet food recalls it is surely that the food supplies for pets, people, and farm animals cannot be separated; they are one and the same. This is because pets eat the parts of animals that we don’t and surplus pet food is fed to pigs, chicken, and fish, which we do eat. Now we have further reason to be concerned about how pet food is made; pet food contaminated with Salmonella can cause infections in people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has just published its epidemiological investigation, of infections caused by dry dog food produced at a plant in Everson, PA owned by Mars Petcare. Scientific American even thinks that this is worth writing about. Me too, obviously, particularly because cases are still cropping up even though Mars issued recalls.
Update, November 10: the New York Times reports on this.
[…] If I learned one thing from my research on the 2007 pet food recalls it is surely that the food supplies for pets , people, and farm animals cannot be separated; they are one and the same. This is because pets eat the parts of animals .. Original post […]
Pingback by » Salmonella in pet food? — November 7, 2008 @ 10:30 am
As soon as we have a new Administration in place, I think we need to ask frequently and often about ensuring that we have food safety provisions in effect for animal feed and to be certain that imported foodstuffs meet our safety standards.
Comment by elfling — November 8, 2008 @ 1:50 am
A voluntary pet food recall was just done by the makers of Pedigree because of suspected Salmonella contamination.
And a recent peanut butter recall was because of Salmonella contamination as well.
Comment by Dr Cousino — November 25, 2008 @ 11:58 pm