Salmonella – keeping up to date with the latest research relating to Salmonella and pet food.
A report in the June 2011 Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association offers tips for pet owners on avoiding salmonella in pet food.
The report, written by Kate S. KuKanich, DVM, Ph.D., details the circumstances under which Salmonella organisms are most often ingested and includes a history of Salmonella outbreaks associated with petfood and treats.
In addition, the report offers recommendations on how pet owners can minimize the risk of infection for both their pets and families.
Ref – Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association June1, 2011, Vol. 238, No.11 pg 1430-1434
The full report is only available online to AVMA members.
The stated intent of the report is summarized as follows:
Recently, there have been several recalls of commercial pet foods and treats in the United States because of contamination with Salmonella spp. This contamination creates a risk that pets ingesting these food items can become clinically ill or may become carriers of Salmonella organisms, but it is also a public health concern for pet owners who handle the food products and interact with these pets.
So the purpose of the report is clearly to discuss contamination of commercial pet foods and treats, which makes a lot of sense considering the number of pet food recalls in recent years.
The report has been widely commented on within the pet food industry -http://www.petfoodindustry.com/News/AVMA_publishes_report_on_Salmonella_in_petfood.html
What is striking about the report is that the first tip offered is – Do not feed a raw diet to your pet.
Here at Raw Essentials we would like to cut through the confusion generated by the report and give you some sound guidance on how to safely feed your pet a raw meaty bones diet.
Salmonella and Raw Feeding
Salmonella infection is a common concern among raw feeders and pet owners who are thinking of switching to a raw diet.
The potential for contamination by salmonella or other pathogenic bacteria is a fact of life. The word salmonella actually describes over 1,800 species of bacteria that live in many species of mammals. The type of bacteria most often found in dogs and cats is Salmonella typhimurium.
Dogs and cats naturally have salmonella in their digestive tracts much of the time. Their bodies are familiar with it.
According to the new AVMA report, most studies find from 1 percent to 5 percent prevalence of salmonella organisms in the feces of healthy dogs, and from 1 percent to 18 percent in healthy cats. A large study in Florida of over 1,600 healthy dogs found a prevalence of 15 percent.
Whether or not a pet develops disease from the presence of salmonella in the digestive tract depends on a variety of factors. According to Rhea V. Morgan, DVM:
"Factors that increase the likelihood of clinical disease from Salmonella include the age of the animal, poor nutrition, the presence of cancer or neoplasia, and other concurrent diseases and stress, as well as the administration of antibiotics, chemotherapy or glucocorticoids."
Healthy companion animals can handle significant bacterial loads from food. Your dog's or cat's body is designed by nature to deal with considerable amounts of both familiar and foreign bacteria – the type of bacteria he or she would encounter by eating wild prey.
There are two reasons your dog or cat can handle a heavy bacterial load: stomach acid and bile.
Your pet's stomach is naturally so highly acidic there aren't many organisms that can survive it. Dogs and cats also produce a tremendous amount of bile, which is both anti-parasitic and anti-pathogenic. If the stomach acid doesn't kill a pathogen, chances are the bile will.
How to Keep Your Pet Safe from a Salmonella Infection
If you feed raw, I recommend freezing fresh bought meat for at least three days before feeding to your pet. All of our Raw Essentials products are frozen for at least ten days before they are sold in our shops. Defrost in refrigerator overnight.
Use safe food handling techniques. Clean all utensils, bowls, surfaces and equipment with warm soapy water after each use.
Discard any uneaten raw food that your pet leaves after the meal. We find that there is usually nothing left to discard !
Steps you can take to keep your pet's digestive system in good shape include:
Minimise stress on the digestive system by feeding only a raw meaty bones diet. Don’t expect your pets digestive system to cope with a starch/carbohydrate laden commercial pet food and a raw diet.
Make use of a good probiotic if your pet has had a recent course of antibiotics. Making sure the gut flora is healthy is an important part of controlling the over growth of salmonella organisms.
The Reality of Human Salmonella Infections from petfoods
According to the report - Salmonella is the most common food-borne bacteria. Around 1.4 million people in the U.S. contract salmonella each year. About 1,000 people die in the U.S. each year of salmonella infections.
About half of all salmonella infections occur in restaurants. Infections linked to individual eating establishments are often traced to infected but asymptomatic food handlers. Fecal testing indicates significant numbers of us have salmonella in our systems and feel no ill effects.
· The meat, poultry, eggs, milk, fruits and vegetables we eat can be contaminated with salmonella.
· A contaminated food manufacturing facility can put the bacteria in virtually every processed food imaginable. Recent food recalls for salmonella have involved nuts, chocolate bars, peppers grown in Mexico, and peanut butter.
In America in 2006, 79 people contracted salmonella from handling commercial pet food. Mars Petcare recalled over 20,000 tons of contaminated dry dog and cat food crossing 105 different brands. Recent salmonella contaminations have also resulted in the recall of peanut butter-based dog treats, beef treats, cow hooves and pig ears.
These cases have nothing to do with feeding a raw diet to pets.
How to Keep Your Human Family Safe
Wash your hands thoroughly after handling any pet food.
Wash utensils in warm soapy water, and wipe down benches and food handling surfaces.
Do not allow pets on countertops or other areas where human food is prepared.
Once you have defrosted your pets raw food, keep raw pet food refrigerated and discard after three days.
So it really is simple to feed your dog or cat a raw meaty bones diet without the risk of a salmonella infection.