Human

  • Concern with humans; FDA starts testing pet food for salmonella

    Posted: November 1st, 2011 - 8:03pm by Doug Powell

    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.

     

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    human, Illness, Pet Food, salmonella, test
  • Poop in playgrounds: E. coli scare shuts Redwood City Park sandboxes

    Posted: December 2nd, 2010 - 9:00pm by Doug Powell

    Two years ago, Christopher Beth, director of the Redwood City Parks, Recreation and Community Services department, received an anonymous tip about a couple of children getting sick after playing in the sandbox at Stafford Park. He decided to order tests.

    “We’d never tested the sand before,” Beth said. “Other cities say they don’t test either. There’s no requirement.”

    The results showed high levels of E. coli bacteria. Since then, a similar problem was discovered at Maddux Park. The sand play areas at both parks are being replaced with water features, officials said, and the renovations should be done by mid-January.

    The sand features at all the other Redwood City parks were tested, and just Maddux came up with an E. coli problem. The source of contamination was feline feces in one case and human feces in the other.

     

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    cat, human, Playground, Poop, redwood, Sandbox
  • Feeding lizards: Salmonella sickens in 17 states, linked to frozen mice, rats, chicks

    Posted: July 28th, 2010 - 6:27am by Doug Powell

    Mice Direct is an on-line provider of reptile food including frozen rats, mice and chicks with the motto, ‘direct to your door, cheaper than the store.’

    Mice Direct may have to modify its other motto, ‘Frozen means added animal safety’ because the human lizard owners are possibly getting sick from handling the frozen critters, like mice hoppers, left, at $28 a bag.

    The company announced a recall of the frozen rats, mice and chicks Tuesday, saying that human illnesses possibly related to the frozen reptile feed have been reported in 17 states.

    The company says the recall is based on Food and Drug Administration sampling of the frozen mice.

    Check out the Mice Direct experience through the video below.
     

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    direct mice, frozen, human, lizards, salmonella
  • Sadie, Salmonella and humans eating pet food

    Posted: March 23rd, 2010 - 3:14pm by Doug Powell

    Sadie saved my marriage.

    That’s dramatic but I have a flair for drama.

    Sadie was about 10 weeks old when I found her one Saturday morning under our vehicle.

    Amy and I had recently moved into our Kansas compound, we had some people over, things didn’t go well, we had a, uh, dispute, and the next morning things were still festering. I packed my knapsack, which always has everything important, and was headed out the door for a long, long walk.

    I found this pup under the truck.

    I’d seen her running around in our yard about 5 a.m. but didn’t think much of it.

    Now, the whimpering pup was glued to my heel.

    Sadie had been well-cared for but ultimately abandoned, a not-uncommon occurrence in a student and military town. We took her in and realized our quarrels weren’t all that terminal.

    Former Kansas State president Jon Wefald loved the story of Sadie. I would often see him around campus, walking our two dogs after accompanying Amy to her office, and he would always ask about the story of Sadie.

    One time, there was an outbreak of Salmonella in pet food going on and a bunch of humans had gotten ill as well. The Pres asked how humans could get sick from pet food, and I explained about cross-contamination, and that some people ate pet food.

    He didn’t believe me.

    So here is a video of Jessica Pilot sampling human grade dog food. Some people do eat pet food.
     

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    Salmonella  |  4 Comments
    human, Pet Food, Sadie, salmonella