Salmonella hits the headlines again
Detail:
In the wake of the Iams and Eukanuba pet food recall in the States due to a potential salmonella contamination comes an American report that dry pet food may be linked to salmonella bacterial infections among humans, with young children at higher risk.
The report’s authors had studied a 2006-2008 salmonella outbreak in the USA that made 79 Americans in 21 states ill, and apparently tracked it down to dry cat and dog food.
The report was carried in the September issue of Pediatrics, and one of its researchers, Dr Casey Barton Behravesh of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said feeding pets in the kitchen quadrupled the risk of illness.
Yet – and this part completely befuddles me – the researchers also found that children who put pet food in their mouths appeared to have no added risk.
Furthermore, consider this statistic: 79 – OK, let’s be generous and round it up to 80 – people, almost half of them under-twos, fell ill with salmonella.
Yet according to the American Pet Products Association, 45.6 million American homes have a dog, and 38.2 million homes own a cat. There are thought to be 93.6 million cats in the US, and 77.5 million dogs.
Even if we assume that all 80 salmonella cases came from dog-owning households, that’s 80 incidents out of 45.6 million homes. That is 0.0001754 per cent.
The even crazier thing, to my mind, is that now UK papers are picking up on the story with headlines stating: “Pet food can pose salmonella risk to children”.
Honestly. Don’t these papers (I’m loathe to call them ‘news’papers because this just isn’t news!) have anything better to report on? Apart from anything else, this universal-type heading implies all pet food poses a risk, which obviously means wet and raw food as well!
What’s the potential fall-out? I guess there may be the odd owner who might think about re-positioning his/her pet’s bowl (according to the study, feeding the pet away from the kitchen might help reduce the risk). But I do not for one minute think that people will start dumping their pets because of this. Or at any rate I sincerely hope not!
However, retailers might get asked about precautions to take. The most obvious is to wash hands thoroughly after any contact with a pet. And owners should make sure their pet food is stored properly and out of the reach of toddlers and babies.
The report’s authors had studied a 2006-2008 salmonella outbreak in the USA that made 79 Americans in 21 states ill, and apparently tracked it down to dry cat and dog food.
The report was carried in the September issue of Pediatrics, and one of its researchers, Dr Casey Barton Behravesh of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said feeding pets in the kitchen quadrupled the risk of illness.
Yet – and this part completely befuddles me – the researchers also found that children who put pet food in their mouths appeared to have no added risk.
Furthermore, consider this statistic: 79 – OK, let’s be generous and round it up to 80 – people, almost half of them under-twos, fell ill with salmonella.
Yet according to the American Pet Products Association, 45.6 million American homes have a dog, and 38.2 million homes own a cat. There are thought to be 93.6 million cats in the US, and 77.5 million dogs.
Even if we assume that all 80 salmonella cases came from dog-owning households, that’s 80 incidents out of 45.6 million homes. That is 0.0001754 per cent.
The even crazier thing, to my mind, is that now UK papers are picking up on the story with headlines stating: “Pet food can pose salmonella risk to children”.
Honestly. Don’t these papers (I’m loathe to call them ‘news’papers because this just isn’t news!) have anything better to report on? Apart from anything else, this universal-type heading implies all pet food poses a risk, which obviously means wet and raw food as well!
What’s the potential fall-out? I guess there may be the odd owner who might think about re-positioning his/her pet’s bowl (according to the study, feeding the pet away from the kitchen might help reduce the risk). But I do not for one minute think that people will start dumping their pets because of this. Or at any rate I sincerely hope not!
However, retailers might get asked about precautions to take. The most obvious is to wash hands thoroughly after any contact with a pet. And owners should make sure their pet food is stored properly and out of the reach of toddlers and babies.
By:
Sandra
Date/time :
16/08/2010
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