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We at FDA have responsibilities for
making sure that pet food is safe and nutritious for
your pet.
We also offer advice for safe handling of pet food
and treats in the home.
For safe handling, no one plays a more important
role than you do!
Hello.
My name is Dr. April Hodges.
I'm a nutritional scientist at the Food and
Drug Administration.
Most pet food is safe, but sometimes pet food and
treats can become contaminated with bacteria
that can not only make your pet sick, but you
sick.
Salmonella is perhaps the best known bacteria that
may be found in pet food or on pet treats, but it's
not the only one.
Contamination by Salmonella and other types
of bacteria may not be frequent, but it happens.
On average, 60 pet food or pet treat products are
recalled each year due to Salmonella contamination.
Human illness can be caused by contact with
contaminated pet food or treats.
In one recent outbreak, more than 20 cases of
human illness were linked to dog food made at one
plant and contaminated with Salmonella.
The initial symptoms of illness caused by
Salmonella - nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting -
are the same as with other types of food-borne
illness.
For most adults, the problem is an unpleasant
nuisance or a few days in bed.
But for young children, older adults, or
individuals with suppressed or compromised
immune systems, the illness caused by these
food-borne bacteria can be very serious, or even
deadly.
No matter whether you give your pet a commercially
prepared diet, or raw meat, you can avoid
problems if you follow some basic, commonsense,
food safety guidelines.
Avoid buying pet food in dented cans or pet foods
or treats with torn packaging.
Damaged packaging potentially allows pet
food or treats to be exposed to harmful
bacteria.
Wherever you feed your pet, try to select a
location that can be easily cleaned and
sanitized to eliminate possible pathways for food
contamination.
Be sure to wash the counters, floors, and any
contact surfaces with soap and warm water whenever
pet food or treats come in contact with them.
Wash your hands after handling pet food.
Wash bowls and utensils used for pet food with
soap and warm water to remove harmful bacteria
that may be present.
Using utensils strictly for pet food is an extra
precaution against the possible transfer of
bacteria from pet food to human food.
After opening a can of moist or semi-moist pet
food, seal it and properly store any unused portion
in the refrigerator.
Keep dry pet foods in a cool, dry place and sealed
in a container to prevent spoilage.
No matter how you store your pet food, be sure to
keep the original packaging.
Product information contained on the bag,
including the manufacturer's
information, lot code, UPC number, and expiration
date is helpful in an investigation if pet food
is suspected as the source of an illness.
If you are handling raw pet food, including frozen
meat, take the same precautions as you would
with any other raw meat product.
Teach family, including your children, about these
important safety steps so they can help protect
themselves and others from illness.
Bacterial contamination is one potential problem with
pet food, but there are others, like contamination
with chemicals or toxins, or including too much, or
too little, of certain ingredients during
manufacturing.
While these contaminants might not harm humans,
they can present a serious risk to your pet.
What should you do if you suspect a problem with pet
food or treats?
You know, of course, to get medical attention if
someone in your family gets sick.
The same should be true for your pet.
If your pet shows signs of illness, your veterinarian
is the person who can help the most.
She or he will be able to decide on a course of
treatment by examining your pet.
FDA can't help you treat your pet.
The company that manufactured the food
can't deliver the needed treatment, and neither can
the store that sold you the product.
So please, call your veterinarian.
And even though the manufacturer can't help
treat your pet, you should still notify the company.
You can find the manufacturer's contact
information on the product packaging.
And if you think pet food or treats have made your
pet sick, someone else's pet sick, or made someone
in your family sick, report it to FDA!
We review all complaints we receive.
Your report can help us protect the health of who
knows how many people and pets.
It will be compared with other complaints we've
received to help us determine where there are
problems.
Reporting the problem is easy.
You or your veterinarian should contact FDA and
give us as much information as you can
about the product and what happened.
You can do this in one of two ways.
You can make a call to your state's FDA Consumer
Complaint Coordinator.
You'll find the phone number on the FDA web site
- www.FDA.gov/pet food complaints - or you can
file a report online through FDA's Safety
Reporting Portal.
Whether you report the problem to FDA by phone or
the internet, we'll need some specific information.
We need to know the type of pet food or treat, and
whether it was for dogs, cats, or other pets.
We also need to know the brand and the
manufacturer, where and when it was purchased, as
well as any information found on the packaging,
like lot numbers and when it was manufactured.
All this information will help us determine if
there's a problem with the pet food.
If there is, this information will make it
easier for us and the manufacturer to get the
affected products off of the market, and begin to
identify what went wrong.
And just like many of you, we, too, are pet owners,
who think of our pets as members of our families.
This makes our work of protecting the safety of
their food especially important to us.
We look forward to working with you to keep all of
our pets safe and healthy.
Thank you!