I am a little late to the party on the contamination of pet food with Salmonella by a Mars, Inc. plant in Everson, PA. But this may be an ongoing problem, as “71 people who have fallen ill since 2006″. Keep in mind this is dry pet food only. Canning wipes out microorganisms.
I’d like to point out CDC recommendations:
To prevent Salmonella infections, persons should wash their hands for at least 20 seconds with warm water and soap immediately after handling dry pet foods, pet treats, and pet supplements, and especially before preparing and eating food for humans.
These recommendations are the same for handling likely contaminated foodstuffs like raw chicken, even though this is fomes-mediated transmission, not foodborne. The CDC also mentions feces as a source; this strain of Salmonella schwarzen-grunde can pass right through the gut of a pet without the pet showing signs of illness. Animals are definitely not vectors in this.
The CDC states that children should be kept away from “pet feeding areas” and not be allowed to “touch or eat pet food”. This added emphasis on children is because they are disproportionally becoming ill: the median age is 8 months and six of the eight diagnosed are <2 yo. This disparity is probably due to an increased likelihood of reporting. Poor immunity probably also plays a large role. I doubt its level of activity or interaction with the pet food because I’d obviously expect that a greater proportion of adults are feeding their animals. Adults who become ill are unlikely to make the connection with the dog food, and also unlikely to report to a doctor/hospital because of it. Plus, I’d expect that children in the 2-5 yo age range are the most likely to unintentionally eat pet food, not the <2 yo age range. It would be nice to have information on this, though. The route of transmission is probably pet food/feces-to-parent-to-child.
So, wash your hands.
