Breaking News: Pet food concerns expand to salmonella

[PhilipShore]

The Oregonian
April 02, 2007

http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/04/the_pet_food_recall_expanded.html">Link


The pet food recall expanded into new territory today -- this time over salmonella concerns that could affect people.

Eight In One, Inc. said its Dingo chicken jerky treats could be contaminated with salmonella, posing a threat to pets and people. The company, a division of United Pet Group, Inc., is recalling all lots of its Dingo Chick'n Jerky
for dogs, Dingo Kitty Chicken Jerky for cats and Dingo Ferret Chicken Jerky for ferrets.

The Dingo treats were sold at Target, PetSmart and other retailers.

People handling the pet treats could potentially become infected, the company said, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands. Symptoms in people can include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping, fever or more serious symptoms. For more information, go http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/salmonellainfections.html">here.

[tblue]

1. I'm getting the sense that the FDA has been falling down on the job

It wouldn't surprise me if there's a little crony problem going on there, too. Am I the only one who thinks so?

[PhilipShore]

2. I agree, my guess is all they are doing is copying and pasting....

the polluting companies press releases on FDA letterhead.

[kestrel91316]

14. FDA and USDA work VERY hard to ensure the safety of this

nation's food supply. These recalls are evidence that they do REAL WORK over there.

Bushco's buddies at the top would like to see an end to the work of FDA and USDA, so they are trying to monkeywrench from the top down. But they can't stop dedicated workers down in the t renches from doing their level best.

When I semi-retire I want to go work for the USDA in food safety. I have read a lot about the work and their training materials already. Every one of their employees takes an oath to protect and defend the Constitution as the FIRST act of their employment - amazing, huh? Most of them REALLY WANT TO BE ABLE TO DO THEIR JOBS. It's a noble calling and thankless work for the most part.

Without them it would be like what Upton Sinclair wrote about in "The Jungle", or more likely a hundred times worse.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

3. Perhaps

I also imagine that funding cuts play a part in all this.

[KoKo]

4. Putting Partisan Repugs who are without experience in place along with cutting funds

stripping budgets and making government regulatory agencies small enough to "drown in a bathtub" (i.e. Grover Norquist) is the REAL TRUTH OF IT!

:-(

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. That about sums up what's been taking place all around under this admin

You'll get no argument from me. Sadly, I agree 100%.

[tblue]

8. Exactly! Protecting Big Agra & Big Pharma, installing cronies who don't care about consumers

This kinda crap never happened under any other Admin, I mean, like one thing after another and another and then another. So why is this being reported as if 'Oh my! Look what's happened!' with no context, no history, no connecting any dots. It's just a new, new thing, not related to anything else. Spinach and lettuce and dog food and cat food and beef jerky.. I mean, come on! What's next? Baby food? If we had a gov't that I knew generally was in good order, and proven that it was on the J-O-B, I wouldn't make this leap. But it's getting pretty hard to sit in the dark when red lights are flashing.

[valerief]

7. The FDA is as bad as the FCC and FAA and EPA and, hell, everything Bush has touched. nt

[magellan]

5. Man, I thought this was a private brand till I saw this on their page:

"Dingo was purchased by the Rayovac Corporation, now Spectrum Brands, in January 2005."

http://www.dingobrand.com/About/AboutUs.aspx

Rayovac is the BATTERY MAKER. But included in their holdings is United Pet Group!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayovac

:banghead:

[magellan]

10. More on the manufacturer, UPG (a holding of Rayovac Corp)

Check out their About Us page: http://www.unitedpetgroup.com/contents/overview.html

Now I ask you, if you were looking into Dingo as a treat for your dog, would you trust that UPG's top priority was the quality of the product after reading that? Of course you'd have to be curious enough to look into United Pet Group first, which most people aren't. They just trust if it's on the shelf, someone's taken the utmost interest in making it a safe product.

Gone are the good old days when quality and focus trumped marketing position and diversification for the global market.

[tblue]

11. And don't forget the FDA, or is food inspection already privatized???

[kestrel91316]

15. Hm, check these out and then you tell me:

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/list.html

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/

USDA alone employs 8000+ inspectors and veterinarians - and that's just meat/poultry/dairy.

I'm still not entirely clear, but I think FDA regulates animal feed and non-animal derived human food; and USDA regulates animal-derived people food.

[Rex]

9. Reagan RIP - EPA -1984. Bush Jr. RIP - FDA - 2004.

This was predicted to happen by many on DU years ago.

[tblue]

12. Never thought I'd miss Nixon, who at least started the EPA.

[kestrel91316]

13. Salmonella contamination of various pet foods is an ongoing issue,

nothing new.

I have been posting this sort of thing on the Pets Forum lately in part because there is an appalling level of denial by some folks over there that foodborne diseases even exist in animals.

This is not a part of the Menu Foods thing. This is the ordinary day-in and day-out garden variety bacterial contamination you find with ANY meat product.

[Gloria]

16. Walmart markets a whole load of CRAP treats made in China....

no info on them at all, in terms of ingredients or nutritional analysis. How do they get away with it??? Oh, yeah, they're no too great on keeping up with "unit pricing" info either....