The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has begun a year-long nationwide effort to test pet food for salmonella contamination, but the key concern is not the health of dogs and cats -- it's of their owners.

FDA investigators began in October taking samples of dry pet food, pet treats and diet supplements from distributors, wholesalers and retailers like PetSmart, PetCo, WalMart, Costco, Sam's Club and Target.

People turning to dog food for nourishment is "an urban legend," said Duane Ekedahl, president of the Pet Food Institute, but the FDA said in a memorandum released this week that it is "particularly concerned about salmonella being transmitted to humans through pet foods, pet treats and supplements for pets that are intended to be fed to animals in homes, where they are likely to be directly handled or ingested by humans."

The agency pointed to CDC data that show 70 people got sick from January 2006 through December 2007 in connection with salmonella-tainted dry dog food produced in Pennsylvania.

About $8 billion worth of dry dog food, $2 billion worth of dog treats, $3.7 billion worth of dry cat food and $427 million worth of cat treats were sold in the U.S. last year, according to Euromonitor International, a market research company.

From the achieves: Doug Powell and Randy Phebus talk about salmonella in pet food in 2008.

With an appeal to the simplistic, Barbara Laino says, “We know processed foods are wrong for us. It has to be wrong for them. If you can feed yourself healthily and your children, then you can feed your pets healthily, too. It really isn’t that hard.”

Laino is talking about the standard recipe she uses to feed her Alaskan malamute, another dog and three cats in her house for around 10 days: grind 40 pounds of pasture-raised chicken necks with another 20 pounds of chicken giblets. To this, she adds five pounds of carrots, a whole cabbage and several other fruits, all from the organic fields of Midsummer Farm, Ms. Laino’s farm in Warwick, N.Y. Finally, she blends the mix with herbs and supplements.

She tells the New York Times in a piece of pet food porn that she wants for her pets what she wants for herself: a healthy diet of unprocessed organic foods. And now she teaches others.

Cesar Millan, host of the television show “The Dog Whisperer,” says, “The dog has always been a mirror of the human style of life. Organic has become a new fashion, a new style of living.”

Cesar got the lifestyle bit right, because that is all it is; as for microbiological safety, the cross-contamination risks alone in the food prep sound daunting.

Nancy K. Cook, the vice president at the Pet Food Institute, a trade association for commercial pet food makers, cautions pet owners that it is hard to create a balanced diet at home, since dogs and cats have specific nutritional requirements.

Joseph J. Wakshlag, a clinical nutritionist at the Baker Institute for Animal Health at Cornell University, said that if pets are not fed the correct balance of proteins, fats, minerals and vitamins, they can experience several health disorders, including anemia, broken bones and loss of teeth from lack of calcium.

Korinn Saker, a clinical nutritionist at the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University, who treats animals at the school’s teaching hospital, said she was not against people cooking for their pets, but that if it was not done correctly, the consequences could be harmful.

She has seen several dogs with adverse effects from unbalanced homemade pet food diets, including a German shepherd puppy “who was walking on its elbows because it had no strength in its bones,” she said. The dog, it turned out, was not getting enough calcium.

Dr. Saker, asked to analyze the recipe from Ms. Laino’s workshop, found that it was lacking in a number of nutrients recommended by the Association of American Feed Control Officials.

Ms. Laino said she rejects the standards recommended by the feed association, and suggested that her recipe might be richer in certain nutrients because the ingredients are organic.

Hucksterism is alive and well for Barbara Laino and the N.Y. Times.
 

barfblog is a reasonably OK name for a blog. At the time we didn’t know we’d be going up in Google searches against BARF – the ridiculously inaccurately named biologically appropriate raw food diet for pets.

Salmonella doesn’t discriminate. The Oregonian reports that Nature’s Variety, headquartered in Lincoln, Neb., is pulling its chicken formula raw frozen diet for both dogs and cats. The chicken was sold in retail stores nationwide and online.

The company said it received a customer complaint about a particular batch after its pet developed digestive problems. The call prompted a salmonella test, which turned up positive in another batch of the food.

Maybe the company should have more routine testing of its products rather than waiting for pets to start barfing. And make those results public.
 

Yesterday, a local story in a county newspaper in Texas carried the headline, “Salmonella can come from pets.”

The story reported,

“Three cases of salmonella among children in Lubbock County since December 2008 are likely the result of exposure to reptiles, said Judy Davis, a spokeswoman for the city of Lubbock health department.”

The spokeswoman explained that handwashing is the key to preventing salmonella associated with reptiles and amphibians, such as snakes and turtles.

I just wanted to point out that, although less of a problem, handwashing is also important for preventing salmonella infections from furry pets.

In 1999, the CDC received reports from three state health departments of outbreaks of multidrug-resistant Salmonella serotype Typhimurium infections in employees and clients of small animal veterinary clinics and an animal shelter.

The CDC’s report stated,

“Salmonella infections usually are acquired by eating contaminated food [including produce and peanut butter]; however, direct contact with infected animals, including dogs and cats, also can result in exposure and infection.”

Doug and Phebus, at the end of the lengthy video (from September 2008) below, also recommend washing your hands after handling food and treats for your pets… especially when they’ve been recalled.