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Subscribe to RSSAn outbreak of salmonella poisoning linked to contaminated dry dog food has sickened 47 people in 20 U.S. states and two people in Canada, government health officials said late Wednesday.
The outbreak of rare salmonella Infantis that began in early April appears to be over, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among 24 patients with available information, 10 were hospitalized. No deaths were reported.
The illnesses were linked to dry dog food produced by Diamond Pet Food Processors at a single production plant in Gaston, S.C. The contamination was detected during routine surveillance by Michigan health officials.
CDC investigators later took evidence of the rare salmonella Infantis strain -- which is typically reported three or fewer times per month -- and then checked for human cases that matched the genetic fingerprint of the bacteria.
Diamond Pet Foods issued the first of several recalls of pet food on April 6. The recall included Costco Wholesale Corp.'s Kirkland Signature brands of dog and cat food. The pet food was distributed in dozens of U.S. states, mostly in the east and south, several Canadian provinces and Puerto Rico. For details, click here.
Victims could have become ill after handling the contaminated dry food or after contact with animals that had eaten the food. Anyone who became sick after contact with brands produced by Diamond Pet Food should consult a health care provider. Pet owners should wash their hands with soap and warm water after contact with animals or their food.
Illnesses included one each in Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Texas; two each in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey, South Carolina and Virginia; three each in California, Missouri and Ohio and Pennsylvania; four in Illinois and five each in New York and North Carolina. Two people in Canada also became ill.
Consumers should check their homes for recalled pet food and discard them.
Related stories:
- 8-week-old baby sickened by dry dog food, lawsuit claims
- Recalled dog food tied to salmonella outbreak
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don't think this is the first diamond processor pet food problem either
This article doesn't mention what if anything happened to any dogs that ate the contaminated food or is that irrelevant, only people matter?
PS: In good old S.C.? It really doesn't surprise anyone here. We have a Governor who does not care as long as she receives her share of bribe money. Check for this story in our local Newspapers. Sorry, you may not find any as she has a new habit of censoring articles she does not like.
Also she may have developed a new way to rid the Candidacy Slate of those that may oppose her and her ambitions. She simply has someone to issue conflicting views on how to file for Candidacy. About two hundred possible Candidates were eliminated from the ballot recently due to these differing views.
Hey, Big Business! Come to S.C.. We will guarantee to cut you taxes to zero, not make a fuss about the quality of your products, insure that you are never visited by any State Department such as DHEC or the Fire Marshal as long as you pay protection money, and heck we will even spend millions to make your Company comfy by providing and servicing your needs for a mere donation. We are even a Right-to Work State and Anti-Union from head-to-toe. PS: Do you need poorly educated workers? We have plenty available.
Not to make lite of a serious problem, but telling us to wash our hands after touching our pets is ridiculous. I would have to move my couch into my bathroom.
@ Dawn - Haha, me too!
Diamond pet food needs to be shut down. They obviously have the corporate greed so bad they are incapable of fixing their incompetence. They are eaten up with stupid.
So many of these
peoplecorporations suffer from the same disease.It isn't just the imports.
What are people doing eating dog food...I do worry about my dogs although
The sixth paragraph....
Victims could have become ill after handling the contaminated dry food or after contact with animals that had eaten the food. Anyone who became sick after contact with brands produced by Diamond Pet Food should consult a health care provider. Pet owners should wash their hands with soap and warm water after contact with animals or their food.
As for why people might eat pet food - think hard - could be a choice in your future....
Some of those cases could very well be people who ate the dog food and don't want to admit it. I had a friend in high school who enjoyed snacking on dog biscuits. One day he was giving them to his dog, wondered what they tasted like, and then became quite fond of them. I admit I've been curious and sometimes, growing up, I noticed my cat's canned food smelled better than human foods. Especially the ones w/ gravy - the cat preferred them warm. He often ate from our plates as well and would usually shun cat food in favor of whatever we were having, so for him to like the cat foods w/ gravy....
It could also include toddlers who like to stick anything in their mouths. Both my boys have tried dog food in the past. (I did remove it from their mouths when I caught them, but no guarantee they didn't get sneaky and eat a piece or two another time)
onemanvolt: Bribe money,er. Donations, goes a long way in S.C. Been so for decades.
Pet foods are not healthy for the pets. They cause so many diseases like in human being, such as thyroid diseases, tumors, diabetes, etc. Fresh cooked food is much more healthier for the pets. Too much chemical additives in pet foods to give flavors that are poison for their body. We give fresh cooked human food to our pets and they never get sick. Stay away from pet food if you really love your pet.
Good advice but not always possible for everybody out there with very busy lives.
Also not always balanced. Dogs are scavengers and as such can eat nearly anything. Cats are a bit different. If not properly fed they can have a host of issues not the least of which can be blindness.
Most of us are not animal nutritionists. We don't know what we have to add to "human food" to keep our pets healthy. Just feeding them what they will eat isn't always the correct solution.
mj-145, you are so right. According to my Vet there was, in the past, a short period of time when a certain ingredient was left out of cat food and many pets died because of it. I stay with name brand pet foods that have a trusted history for my pets. I wonder if AMedicineGod knows which 'people' foods will make his pet sick and/or die? It doesn't sound like it.
Cooking the food takes the nutrients out of the food. Same with kibble, it is cooked at high temps which is why it can sit out for a long time. Feed RAW! It's easy!
You have GOT to be joking.
what brands are contamanated?????
Most in one way or another. However, it may not be by bacteria, but by the ingredients included.
Um, obvious question .... what about the dogs who ate the dog food? Are they sick? Did any of them die? Have any veterinarians reported illnesses due to the contaminated food to the CDC?
My mom's dog became ill with what the vet suspected was salmonella. The dog was eating a Diamond brand food. She quit eating, drinking and started to have bloody diarrhea. My mom took the dog to the vet and she had to be placed on IV fluids and meds. Luckily she came out of it OK.
siilver-594739, to find the brands actually recalled (since the article failed to mention anything but Kirkland!) go to diamondpetrecall dot com
The Feds can't even get human food safe for consumption. I sure as hell don't have faith that my dogs food will be any safer.
I was lucky enough to use a Vet for my Malamutes that was a highly respected Purdue trained Dr. consulted by zoos all over the midwest on nutrition needs of big cats. His advice was to avoid "store brands" altogether for dog food. What is confusing people now is that brands people think are ok, actual store brands, Alpo, Purina, Kibbles & Bits etc. are now being sold alongside the brands that have much higher standards, Iams, Eukanuba etc, ones he considered acceptable that are worth the extra money. There is a big difference between them and people tend to look at price and consider them rip offs.
He had visited the plants of several manufacturers from high end and low end and said that the difference in cleanliness and standards between the just the low end and middle of the road ones are striking. He maintained that if you just avoid the low end stuff you are completely safe and the dog is getting what he needs.
He said the high end stuff like Blue is playing on emotion for profit (Dog owners love their dogs right?) and is really not giving the dog something he would not get with even the middle of the road stuff like Iams etc, and the make your own dog food thing is problematic in that these foods can be just as risky as low grade food on rare occasion because you will not consiostantly prevent the risk of food born illnesses due to the temps dogs eat their food at and rate of consumption which is a primary concern in the manufacture of dog food, it only takes one mistake.
High end and homemade food also poses the risk of severe reactions due to the content being different that what most dogs have become accustomed to. If you ever had a big dog like me and changed foods, you know it can mean vet visits and stanley steamer bills. All for nothing.
I went with Iams 15 years and 4 dogs ago and judging by the health of them over the years his advice is sound.
Some anecdotal and professional advice food for thought anyway, pardon the pun. Take it or leave it.
I don't feed my dogs Blue, but I recognize that it's a good brand. Especially Blue Wilderness. We're feeding our dogs a similar but (slightly) cheaper brand, called Taste of the Wild. It's grain free, high protein, with natural ingredients and all the extra vitamins and minerals dogs need. If you compare ingredients, there's really no contest. When I wanted to switch, I looked at dogfoodadvisor dot com. It compares just about every dog food out there and I found it extremely helpful. Those "middle of the road" brands may not be bad, but they're full of fillers that don't do your dog any good.
Allielcea Guess who makes Call of the Wild? Diamond does. I wouldn't feed a Diamond product to my canines if it were free based on the inspection reports on their processing facility. I don't need a common or an exotic strain of samonella here.
Grain is not bad for a dog, they are not omnivores you know. A little filler balances out bulk with nutrition and that bulk reducing overeating.
Diamond Brand foods I think are questionable. I was in a pinch and bought a bag of Diamond cat food and put it out for the outdoor cats. They wouldn't eat it. Even the raccoons wouldn't eat it. That's scary.
Have researched and considered making my own food for the dogs and cats, adding the necessary nutrients, but the cost becomes overwhelming when you have more that two pets. I've been quite pleased with Purina products for the dogs; Purina and Friskies for the cats. I spend a little more to get the higher end of their foods to eliminate more of the filler junk in them.
Got bless our pets!!
I hope that you are not living within proximity of an animal hater. I live next door to one who wheezes at the sight of dogs and cats, even if they are twenty yards away, while remaining perfectly normal even when a pet is within a few feet of her but hidden from sight.
Shame on Costco for not demanding stricter standards of producing pet food from its suppliers.
Another thing that makes me consider getting rid of my membership. It holds less and less value.
That may be applied to human food stuffs also.
I'd bet that if they were to conduct a check of the employees at the plant they would find a high percentage of the workers are illegal, I mean "UNDOCUMENTED", immigrants. Here in the Peoples Democratic Republic of Kalifornia, almost all rare strains of disease can be traced to illegals. My wife retired as a school teacher 3 years ago and a media ignored report from the state warns of signs of TB, whooping cough and other diseases the US had virtually wiped out were showing up in alarming numbers in our schools. The report stressed looking for the symptoms giving extra scrutiny to recent "immigrants". Since you can only enter the US legally with a clean bill of health the implication was clear. Thanks again to George W. Bush and Barack "It's Bush's fault" Obama.
Don't leave out those who don't believe in vaccinations.
folks need to stop eating dog food. and they definitely need to stop open-mouth kissing their pets.
Who do you hang around with?
A Pet-a-phile!