Salmonella Outbreak Among Humans Linked To Tainted Pet Food, But Not Recalled Dog Food
Last Wednesday, Mars Petcare recalled the 50-pound variety of its Red Flannel-brand Large Breed Adult Formula Dry Dog Food and the 5 pound bag of its Krasdale Gravy dog food. Both were recalled because of salmonella contamination.
The Mars Petcare manufacturing plant in Everson, Pennsylvania was linked to the contamination and was closed for inspection and cleaning.
Not only are pets at risk, but there has been an ongoing salmonellosis outbreak among humans. In the past 18 months, 66 people nationwide (25 of those in Pennsylvania) have been sickened by the Salmonella Schwarzengrund bacteria. Federal and state officials link the outbreak to the tainted pet food.
Mars Petcare recalled their pet foods after that same strain of salmonella was found in their products.
Most people that became ill had contact with dry pet food produced at the Mars Petcare plant in Everson, but they were not the two dog foods that were recalled last week. The brands in question have not been identified.
“This is not information that is consistent with our information,” said Mars Petcare spokeswoman Alice Nathanson. She declined to say how many brands of pet foods have been produced at the Everson plant.
Ian Williams, head of the outbreak team at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Enteric Disease Epidemiology Branch, said none of the people that became ill had contact with either of the recalled dog foods. He wondered if there is more contaminated food out there.
The FDA said the source of the Salmonella Schwarzengrund bacteria has not been determined. The agency has finished its investigation and will not plan to test ingredients of any suspect pet foods unless the FDA obtains more information suggesting a possible source.
A FDA spokesperson said pet foods contain some of the same ingredients used in human foods. He added some of the people that became ill did not come in contact with any pet foods.
When asked if there could still be contaminated pet foods out there that haven’t been recalled, he said: “I’m not allowed to make that supposition.”
He said this is the first time human illnesses have been linked to pet food. There has been one outbreak in the US and Canada and two outbreaks just in Canada that have been linked to pet treats.
The FDA will inspect the Everson plant after it reopens.
Source: Daily Courier
(Thanks Irene)
August 30th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Barb, Thanks again. these are lots of things i’ve been looking for. And the prices are good.
August 30th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
Barb says:
August 30th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
Barb, plenty of people make vegan soap, cosmetics and other products that are not animals tested and are widely available. and also certified organic. i’ve been using plant based products for years.
living a plant based life is fine, as long as you are REALLY true to it. i see so many who are vegetarian/vegan who NEVER question their food when out for lunches etc. if it’s plant based, they eat it. but the reality is, they could be harming the environment and/or eating pesticides/poisoned/gmo veggies. to do it right, the plants would come from sustainable resources more local than not, be certified organic and grown/harvested/produced with fair trade practices ;) that said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with adding meat to that diet if one desires. as long as the meats are humanely raised and slaughtered and raised organically in a sustainable environment ;)
i have meats from that type of environment arriving next week. what parts of the animal i’m not eating is being supplied for my pets (who are carnivores) i’m basically getting everything but the head and hide. my basic thought is try and be responsible with decisions and really know what you are buying. there is no reason to give up meat, poultry, seafood and dairy if you are responsible about your sources. i’ve switched from buy my fresh foods at the grocery stores to all farm sources. my stores do provide a good back up though as they have always had a good selection of organic/local foods. ahead of the curve! but it’s just easier to buy direct from the farms and put food away for when it’s out of season. by the time fall really hits, the only thing i’ll be buying is dairy (eggs and such) which i can get from a local dairy that sells in my hood on saturdays and maybe some winter veggies. good for the environment, the animals, my health. bad for Big AG and all those Brands ;)
August 31st, 2007 at 2:33 am
They still have cattle that only graze in the fields and do not eat by products, etc. You can still eat meat. they also have chickens that are raised without all this crap too. I looked it up on www.americangrassfed.org/ There is also www.organicconsumers.org/purelink.htm/ Read what they say about things.
My mother in law died and had dementia. I personally feel that this is tied in to the mad cow disease. Since dementia has to do with prions in the brain and the wasting of memory. All of these so called mad cow, scapies, etc have to do with the prions in the brain. The only way they can test for this in humans for sure is to wait until their death and of course no one does this. So I agree with everything this man says about the diseases and the animals. They have found this brain wasting in other wild animals too. Not just elk and deer.
It is not a virus and cannot be distroyed by boiling. This is why they have great concern about the use of surgical equipment.
There was a lady in Illinois and her husband that died from the brain wasting disease and one in Kansas. I am sure there have been many others that have not been reported. They have called it dementia or what ever they want to.
Why do you think they did not want that man to test his cattle? The one that was wanting to sell to Japan. They wanted to stop him. why? Because they were scared what he would find! It would be made public and they sure would not want that.
It would stop the trade from over seas totally.
Our government is full of greed and corruption and our food is going down hill fast!
I like what the one lady said about going back to the old ways of just feeding our pets food off the table and all. WEll this certainly would not help this day and age.
IF you buy meats from your local store that you may eat yourself then they could possibly have melamine in them or even worse mad cow. Most of your food additives come from China so there is always a possibility of them being tainted. Most of the vitamines come from China too. If you do not believe me then look it up and you will see the truth.
There was a test done on a mad cow. They took a capule and lunged it through his brain into his organs to see if the disease could get into the meat. It did.
This goes to prove that when they are cutting up carcasses that the disease could get into the other meats and that it would not just stay in the brain in spinal cord area.
Of course you will not hear a lot about this test because they do not want it to get out to the public.
These prions can lay dormant for years and some of us may already have them.
Yes even our cats and dogs can get it.
WE have to stop all of this bad animal practice and what we feed them. They were not suppose to eat blood, bones, wastes, etc. Cattle are vegetarians! They also should not be giving them hormones like they do. I feel this is part of he reason that America’s children are getting so fat. Hormones for growth! This all has to stop!
People there comes a time when just talk does not cut it. It is getting very close to where the public is really going to have to stand up and fight for what is right for our future and our children and our pets! If we don’t we may not have one.
September 1st, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Illinois - The total number of CWD-infected deer found in Illinois now numbers 189.
August 31, 2007
State and Provincial Updates
Illinois:
Paul Shelton, Illinois Department of Natural Resources provides the
following: During July, IDNR identified a CWD-positive deer in LaSalle County after testing an animal showing classic signs of the illness. This was the first instance of the disease in this county. The deer was a 3
year old doe collected by a Conservation Police Officer after someone
reported a sick, emaciated deer. The location was south of I-80, about 2 miles west of Grundy County, near the town of Seneca. This represents about a 25 mile distance from the previous southernmost positive in
DeKalb County. Staff from the Division of Wildlife Resources are assessing
the implications of the finding.
The total number of CWD-infected deer found in Illinois now numbers
189. Prior to this, the disease had been confined to Winnebago, Boone, McHenry, Ogle, and DeKalb counties. More than 28,000 deer have been tested in Illinois during the past 5 years.
Illinois DNR CWD information is available at: http://dnr.state.il.us/cwd.
Editor’s note: This finding in LaSalle County is a significant departure
from the previously known distribution in Illinois. The new location is the first deer detected in the Illinois River basin, which winds southwest through Illinois towards St. Louis.
February 6th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
FDA News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 6, 2008
Media Inquiries:
Brad A. Swezey, 301-827-6242
Consumer Inquiries:
888-INFO-FDA
FDA Investigation Leads to Several Indictments for Importing Contaminated Ingredients Used in Pet Food
Contaminated pet food caused pet illnesses and deaths last year
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Office of Criminal Investigations announced that two Chinese nationals and the businesses they operate, along with a U.S. company and its president and chief executive officer, were indicted by a federal grand jury today in separate but related cases. The indictments are for their roles in a scheme to import products purported to be wheat gluten into the United States that were contaminated with melamine. These products were used to make pet food.
Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co., LTD. (XAC), a Chinese firm that processes and exports plant proteins to the United States; Mao Linzhun, a Chinese national who is the owner and manager of XAC; Suzhou Textiles, Silk, Light Industrial Products, Arts and Crafts I/E Co. LTD. (SSC), a Chinese export broker that exports products from China to the United States; and Chen Zhen Hao, president of SSC and a Chinese national were charged in a 26-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury today in Kansas City, Mo.
Also indicted were ChemNutra, Inc., a Las Vegas, Nevada corporation that buys food and food components from China to sell to U.S. companies in the food industry, along with ChemNutra owners Sally Qing Miller and her husband, Stephen S. Miller, who were charged in a separate, but related, 27-count indictment. Sally Qing Miller, a Chinese national, is the controlling owner and president of ChemNutra; Stephen Miller is an owner and CEO of ChemNutra. The indictments charge all seven defendants with delivering adulterated food that contained melamine, a substance which may render the food injurious to health, into interstate commerce; introduction of a misbranded food into interstate commerce; and other charges.
The indictments allege that more than 800 tons of purported wheat gluten, totaling nearly $850,000, was imported into the United States between Nov. 6, 2006, and Feb. 21, 2007. According to the indictments, SSC falsely declared to the Chinese government that those shipments were not subject to mandatory inspection by the Chinese government prior to export.
Melamine can be used to create products such as plastics, cleaning products, glues, inks, and fertilizers. Under certain conditions, melamine mixed with wheat gluten can make the product appear to have a higher protein level than is actually present. Melamine has no approved use as an ingredient in human or animal food in the United States. Wheat gluten is a natural protein derived from wheat or wheat flour, which is extracted to yield a powder with high protein content. Pet food manufacturers often use wheat gluten as a thickener or binding agent in the manufacture of certain types of pet food.
ChemNutra contracted with SSC, a Chinese registered export broker, to purchase food grade wheat gluten, according to the indictment. SSC then entered into a separate contract with XAC to supply the wheat gluten it needed to fulfill its contract with ChemNutra.
The indictments allege that the products purported to be wheat gluten were misbranded because the labels incorrectly represented that the purported wheat gluten had a minimum protein level of 75%.
On March 15, 2007, a pet food manufacturer alerted FDA to the deaths of 14 cats and dogs, several reported by consumers and several that died during routine taste trials conducted by the company. The animals were reported to have developed kidney failure after eating pet food that had been manufactured with the purported wheat gluten.
#
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/.....01792.html
Finally, the FDA takes action. but how effective is FDA ;
Feb. 5, 2008, 8:14PM
ANOTHER VOICE
Fallout of FDA neglect
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
snip…
The Government Accountability Office reported that at its current staffing levels, the FDA would need 13 years to inspect every foreign drug plant that sends products into this country; 27 years to inspect all foreign medical device makers; and 1,900 years to check every foreign food processor.
snip…
http://www.chron.com/disp/stor.....16254.html
DER SPIEGEL (9/2001) - 24.02.2001 (9397 Zeichen)
USA: Loch in der Mauer
Die BSE-Angst erreicht Amerika: Trotz strikter Auflagen gelangte in Texas
verbotenes Tiermehl ins Rinderfutter - die Kontrollen der Aufsichtsbehörden
sind lax.
Link auf diesen Artikel im Archiv:
http://service.spiegel.de/digas/find?DID=18578755
“Its as full of holes as Swiss Cheese” says Terry Singeltary of the FDA
regulations. …
http://service.spiegel.de/diga.....D=18578755
Thu Dec 6, 2007 11:38
FDA IN CRISIS MODE, AMERICAN LIVES AT RISK
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidr.....07fda.html
FDA SCIENCE AND MISSION AT RISK
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/docke.....nology.pdf
Article Posted: 04/15/2007 9:16:48 PM
Human and Animal Food Poisoning with Mad Cow a Slow Death
an editorial by Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
HUMAN AND ANIMAL FOOD POISONING WITH MAD COW DISEASEs A SLOW DEATH
WITH all the pet food deaths mounting from tainted pet food, all the
suffering not only the animals are going through, but there owners as well,
why are owners of these precious animals not crying about the mad cow
tainted animal carcasses they poison there animals with everyday, and have
been for decades, why not an uproar about that? well, let me tell you why,
they don’t drop dead immediately, it’s a slow death, they simply call it
FELINE and or CANINE ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE, DEMENTIA OR MAD CAT/DOG DISEASE
i.e. FSE and they refuse to document CSE i.e.Canine Spongiform
Encephalopathy, but it’s there and there is some strange pathological
findings on that topic that was convientantly swept under the rug. Sadly,
this happens everyday with humans, once again confidently swept under the
rug as Alzheimer’s and or dementia i.e. fast Alzheimer’s. Who wants to spend
money on an autopsy on an old dog or cat? Sadly, it’s the same with humans,
you get old and demented your either die or your family puts you in an old
folks home and forgets about you, then you die, and again, no autopsy in
most cases. Imagine 4.5 annually with Alzheimer’s, with and estimated 20+
million dieing a slow death by 2050, and in reality it will most likely be
much higher than that now that the blood supply has been infiltrated with
the TSE agent, and we now know that blood is another route and source for
this hideous disease. It’s hell getting old now a days.
NOW, for the ones that don’t believe me, well mad cow has been in the USA
for decades undetected officially, but the late Richard Marsh documented way
back, again, swept under the rug. Then in 2003 in December, the first case
of BSE was finally documented, by accident. Then you had the next two cases
that were documented in Texas and Alabama, but it took an act of Congress,
literally, to get those finally documented, and when they were finally
documented, they were atypical BSE or Bovine Amyloid Spongiform
Encephalopathy (BASE), which when transmitted to humans is not vCJD or
nvCJD, but SPORADIC CJD. Now you might ask yourself what about that mad cow
feed ban of August 4, 1997, the year my mother died from the Heidenhain
Variant of Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (confirmed), well that ruminant to
ruminant was merely a regulation on paper that nobody enforced. Just last
month there was 10+ PLUS MILLION POUNDS OF BANNED BLOOD TAINTED MBM
DISPERSED INTO COMMERCE, and there is no way the FDA will ever recover it.
It will be fed out again. 2006 was a banner year for FDA mad cow protein fed
out into commerce. Looks like 2007 will be also.
Our federal Government has failed us at every corner when it comes to food
safety. maybe your dog, your cat, your mom, your dad, your aunt, or your
uncle, but again, who cares, there old and demented, just put them down, or
put them away. It’s hell getting old. …END
http://www.swnebr.net/newspape......pl?160273
FELINE AND CANINE ALZHEIMER’S OR MAD CAT/DOG DISEASE AND PET FOOD …
…TSS Name: Terry S. Singeltary Sr. Date: Jan 26, 2007 Dear Terry S.
Singeltary Sr. … specifically dry dog food, some of which was reported to
have been …
[url]www.kxmb.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=113652[/url] - 107k -
http://www.kxmb.com/getForumPo.....eId=113652
Crushed heads (which inevitably involve brain and spinal cord material)
are used to a limited extent but will also form one of the constituent
raw materials of meat and bone meal, which is used extensively in
pet food manufacturer…
http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/f.....004001.pdf
QUESTION, IS U.S.A. FOOD PRODUCTION SYSTEM POISONING US ?
What Do We Feed to Food-Production Animals? A Review of Animal Feed
Ingredients and Their Potential Impacts on Human Health
Amy R. Sapkota,1,2 Lisa Y. Lefferts,1,3 Shawn McKenzie,1 and Polly Walker1
1Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Bloomberg School of Public
Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; 2Maryland Institute for
Applied Environmental Health, College of Health and Human Performance,
University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA;
3Lisa Y. Lefferts Consulting, Nellysford, Virginia, USA
snip…
Table 1. Animal feed ingredients that are legally used in U.S. animal feeds
Animal
Rendered animal protein from Meat meal, meat meal tankage, meat and bone
meal, poultry meal, animal the slaughter of food by-product meal, dried
animal blood, blood meal, feather meal, egg-shell production animals and
other meal, hydrolyzed whole poultry, hydrolyzed hair, bone marrow, and
animal animals digest from dead, dying, diseased, or disabled animals
including deer and elk Animal waste Dried ruminant waste, dried swine waste,
dried poultry litter, and undried processed animal waste products
snip…
Conclusions
Food-animal production in the United States has changed markedly in the past
century, and these changes have paralleled major changes in animal feed
formulations. While this industrialized system of food-animal production may
result in increased production efficiencies, some of the changes in animal
feeding practices may result in unintended adverse health consequences for
consumers of animal-based food products. Currently, the use of animal feed
ingredients,
including rendered animal products, animal waste, antibiotics, metals, and
fats, could result in higher levels of bacteria, antibioticresistant
bacteria, prions, arsenic, and dioxinlike compounds in animals and resulting
animal-based food products intended for human consumption. Subsequent human
health effects among consumers could include increases in bacterial
infections (antibioticresistant and nonresistant) and increases in the risk
of developing chronic (often fatal) diseases
such as vCJD. Nevertheless, in spite of the wide range of potential human
health impacts that could result from animal feeding practices, there are
little data collected at the federal or state level concerning the amounts
of specific ingredients that are intentionally included in U.S. animal feed.
In addition, almost no biological or chemical testing is conducted on
complete U.S. animal feeds; insufficient testing is performed on retail meat
products; and human health effects data are not appropriately linked to this
information. These surveillance inadequacies make it difficult to conduct
rigorous epidemiologic studies and risk assessments
that could identify the extent to which specific human health risks are
ultimately associated with animal feeding practices. For example, as noted
above, there are insufficient data to determine whether other human
foodborne bacterial illnesses besides those caused by S. enterica serotype
Agona are associated with animal feeding practices. Likewise, there are
insufficient data to determine the percentage of antibiotic-resistant human
bacterial infections that are attributed to the nontherapeutic use of
antibiotics in animal feed. Moreover, little research has been conducted to
determine whether the use of organoarsenicals in animal feed, which can lead
to elevated levels of arsenic in meat products (Lasky et al. 2004),
contributes to increases in cancer risk. In order to address these research
gaps, the following principal actions are necessary within the United
States: a) implementation of a nationwide reporting system of the specific
amounts and types of feed ingredients of concern to public health that are
incorporated into animal feed, including antibiotics, arsenicals, rendered
animal products, fats, and animal waste; b) funding and development of
robust surveillance systems that monitor biological, chemical, and other
etiologic agents throughout the animal-based food-production chain “from
farm to fork†to human health outcomes; and c) increased communication and
collaboration among feed professionals, food-animal producers, and
veterinary and public health officials.
REFERENCES…snip…end
Sapkota et al.
668 VOLUME 115 | NUMBER 5 | May 2007 • Environmental Health Perspectives
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.g.....obtype=pdf
USDA CERTIFIED H-BASE MAD COW SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM
Monday, February 4, 2008
http://cjdmadcowbaseoct2007.bl.....chool.html
TSS