Is Salmonella-laced peanut stuff making dogs barf?
When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned on Saturday that Americans should "postpone" eating cookies, crackers, candy and ice cream that contain peanut butter or peanut paste, they didn’t mention anything about America’s pets.
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They should have.
Yesterday, PetSmart Inc, the largest U.S. pet-products and services retailer, recalled seven of its Grreat Choice Dog Biscuit products as a precaution against possible salmonella contamination because the peanut paste was produced by the Peanut Corp of America (PCA).
I told Georgia’s Gainesville Times this morning that the latest outbreak shows that food companies need to look closer at the operations of their suppliers.
"It’s where you get your food from. Whether you get it from around the corner or around the globe, you’ve got to know your suppliers. And it seems they supplied to a lot."
As of Jan. 20, 2009, 485 people were sick with Salmonella Typhimurium in 43 states.
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/admin/trackback/105885
Or even if the dogs aren't getting sick, which most exposed to Salmonella don't, they could definitely be shedding Salmonella into their environment. Dogs have been shown to shed Salmonella after consuming food contaminated with the bacteria, so why not with the peanut butter too? This could be another source of the human infection....
In addition to pets, add Canadians to the list.
According to the CDC findings (link in the article above), the outbreak includes Canada.
But!
CFIA has released a notice about the recalled products; however, they boneheadedly state that "There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of these products." The PHAC on the other hand does report one Canadian case, in New Brunswick.
As a Canadian, this (not surprising) lack of inter-agency communication is almost enough to make me barf!
CFIA link: http://tinyurl.com/8noa6h
PHAC link: http://tinyurl.com/9hh9aq
Great blog! I have always been curious how predators and scavengers are able to eat decaying meat without getting sick. I also think more folks would think twice about sharing their living spaces with animals if they knew how many bacteria and parasites they shed.