Pet Food and Treats in Your Home
We will provide our readers with tips for the safe handling of pet food and treats at home. For safe handling, no one plays a more important role than you do! Most pet food is safe, but sometimes pet food and treats can become contaminated with bacteria that can not only make your pet sick, but you sick.
What is Salmonella ?
Salmonella is perhaps the best known bacteria that may be found in pet food or on pet treats, but it's not the only one. Contamination by Salmonella and other types of bacteria may not be frequent, but it happens.
On average, 60 pet food or pet treat products are recalled each year due to Salmonella contamination. Human illness can be caused by contact with contaminated pet food or treats. In one recent outbreak, more than 20 cases of human illness were linked to dog food made at one plant and contaminated with Salmonella.
The initial symptoms of illness caused by Salmonella - nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting - are the same as with other types of food-borne illness.
For most adults, the problem is an unpleasant nuisance or a few days in bed. But for young children, older adults, or individuals with suppressed or compromised immune systems, the illness caused by these food-borne bacteria can be very serious, or even deadly.
No matter whether you give your pet a commercially prepared diet, or raw meat, you can avoid problems if you follow some basic, commonsense, food safety guidelines.
Avoid buying pet food in dented cans or pet foods or treats with torn packaging. Damaged packaging potentially allows pet food or treats to be exposed to harmful bacteria. Wherever you feed your pet, try to select a location that can be easily cleaned and sanitized to eliminate possible pathways for food contamination.
Be sure to wash the counters, floors, and any contact surfaces with soap and warm water whenever pet food or treats come in contact with them. Wash your hands after handling pet food. Wash bowls and utensils used for pet food with soap and warm water to remove harmful bacteria that may be present. Using utensils strictly for pet food is an extra precaution against the possible transfer of bacteria from pet food to human food. After opening a can of moist or semi-moist pet food, seal it and properly store any unused portion in the refrigerator.
Keep dry pet nourishments in a cool, dry spot and fixed in a compartment to forestall deterioration.
Regardless of how you store your pet food, make certain to keep the first bundling.
Product information contained on the bag, including the manufacturer's information, lot code, UPC number, and expiration date is helpful in an investigation if pet food is suspected as the source of an illness.
If you are handling raw pet food, including frozen meat, take the same precautions as you would with any other raw meat product. Teach family, including your children, about these important safety steps so they can help protect themselves and others from illness.
Bacterial contamination is one potential problem with pet food, but there are others, like contamination with chemicals or toxins, or including too much, or too little, of certain ingredients during manufacturing. While these contaminants might not harm humans, they can present a serious risk to your pet.
What should you do if you suspect a problem with pet food or treats?
You know, of course, to get medical attention if someone in your family gets sick. The same should be true for your pet. If your pet shows signs of illness, your veterinarian is the person who can help the most. She or he will be able to decide on a course of treatment by examining your pet. No one can help you care for your pet.
The company that manufactured the food can't deliver the needed treatment, and neither can the store that sold you the product. So please, call your veterinarian. And even though the manufacturer can't help treat your pet, you should still notify the company. You can find the manufacturer's contact information on the product packaging.And if you think pet food or treats have made your pet, someone else's pet or a family member sick, report it to the people in charge! They will investigate any complaints they receive. Your report can help them protect the health of who knows how many people and pets. It will be compared to other complaints they have received to help them figure out where the problems are. Reporting the problem is easy. You or your veterinarian should contact them and give them as much information as you can about the product and what happened. You can do this in one of two ways.
You can call the consumer complaints coordinator in your state. They should be told what type of pet food or treats are being offered and whether they are for dogs, cats or other pets. They also need to know the brand and manufacturer, where and when it was purchased, and any information on the package, such as lot numbers and date of manufacture. All of this information will help them determine if there is a problem with the pet food. If there is, this information will make it easier for them and the manufacturer to remove the affected products from the market and begin to identify what went wrong. And like many of you, we too are pet owners who consider our pets as members of our family. That's why our work to protect the safety of their food is particularly important to us. They look forward to working with you to ensure the safety and health of all our pets.
What is Salmonella ?
Salmonella is perhaps the best known bacteria that may be found in pet food or on pet treats, but it's not the only one. Contamination by Salmonella and other types of bacteria may not be frequent, but it happens.
On average, 60 pet food or pet treat products are recalled each year due to Salmonella contamination. Human illness can be caused by contact with contaminated pet food or treats. In one recent outbreak, more than 20 cases of human illness were linked to dog food made at one plant and contaminated with Salmonella.
The initial symptoms of illness caused by Salmonella - nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting - are the same as with other types of food-borne illness.
For most adults, the problem is an unpleasant nuisance or a few days in bed. But for young children, older adults, or individuals with suppressed or compromised immune systems, the illness caused by these food-borne bacteria can be very serious, or even deadly.
No matter whether you give your pet a commercially prepared diet, or raw meat, you can avoid problems if you follow some basic, commonsense, food safety guidelines.
Avoid buying pet food in dented cans or pet foods or treats with torn packaging. Damaged packaging potentially allows pet food or treats to be exposed to harmful bacteria. Wherever you feed your pet, try to select a location that can be easily cleaned and sanitized to eliminate possible pathways for food contamination.
Be sure to wash the counters, floors, and any contact surfaces with soap and warm water whenever pet food or treats come in contact with them. Wash your hands after handling pet food. Wash bowls and utensils used for pet food with soap and warm water to remove harmful bacteria that may be present. Using utensils strictly for pet food is an extra precaution against the possible transfer of bacteria from pet food to human food. After opening a can of moist or semi-moist pet food, seal it and properly store any unused portion in the refrigerator.
Keep dry pet nourishments in a cool, dry spot and fixed in a compartment to forestall deterioration.
Regardless of how you store your pet food, make certain to keep the first bundling.
Product information contained on the bag, including the manufacturer's information, lot code, UPC number, and expiration date is helpful in an investigation if pet food is suspected as the source of an illness.
If you are handling raw pet food, including frozen meat, take the same precautions as you would with any other raw meat product. Teach family, including your children, about these important safety steps so they can help protect themselves and others from illness.
Bacterial contamination is one potential problem with pet food, but there are others, like contamination with chemicals or toxins, or including too much, or too little, of certain ingredients during manufacturing. While these contaminants might not harm humans, they can present a serious risk to your pet.
What should you do if you suspect a problem with pet food or treats?
You know, of course, to get medical attention if someone in your family gets sick. The same should be true for your pet. If your pet shows signs of illness, your veterinarian is the person who can help the most. She or he will be able to decide on a course of treatment by examining your pet. No one can help you care for your pet.
The company that manufactured the food can't deliver the needed treatment, and neither can the store that sold you the product. So please, call your veterinarian. And even though the manufacturer can't help treat your pet, you should still notify the company. You can find the manufacturer's contact information on the product packaging.And if you think pet food or treats have made your pet, someone else's pet or a family member sick, report it to the people in charge! They will investigate any complaints they receive. Your report can help them protect the health of who knows how many people and pets. It will be compared to other complaints they have received to help them figure out where the problems are. Reporting the problem is easy. You or your veterinarian should contact them and give them as much information as you can about the product and what happened. You can do this in one of two ways.
You can call the consumer complaints coordinator in your state. They should be told what type of pet food or treats are being offered and whether they are for dogs, cats or other pets. They also need to know the brand and manufacturer, where and when it was purchased, and any information on the package, such as lot numbers and date of manufacture. All of this information will help them determine if there is a problem with the pet food. If there is, this information will make it easier for them and the manufacturer to remove the affected products from the market and begin to identify what went wrong. And like many of you, we too are pet owners who consider our pets as members of our family. That's why our work to protect the safety of their food is particularly important to us. They look forward to working with you to ensure the safety and health of all our pets.
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