I’m supposed to be in Rome for an antimicrobial resistance (AMR) meeting but a positive COVID test but a kink in my travel plans. So, I’ll take some unexpected time to catch up on some blog material. We’ll start with a pair of pet-food-linked Salmonella outbreaks, starting with a Canadian outbreak.
raw meat
Human Multidrug-Resistant Salmonella Linked to Raw Pet Diets
Avian flu caused an uptick in discussion about health risks associated with feeding dogs and cats raw meat, based on the possible (and still pretty tenuous) link between raw poultry and a large number of H5N1 infections in cats in Poland.
The link between raw diets and flu infections is new, and something…
Update: H5N1 Avian Flu in Cats in Poland (July 4), Possible Food Link?
The H5N1 avian flu outbreak in cats in Poland seems to be slowing down but the cause is still under investigation. While outbreaks often die out on their own (sometimes because of what we do, sometimes despite what we do), it’s still important to figure out what happened, to help understand the disease and ideally…
Raw Diets and Shedding of Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria in Dogs
Raw Pet Diets and Human E. coli O157 Infections
I’ve written a lot about raw pet food in the past. Initially, the concerns were about Salmonella, since raw-fed dogs and cats have high rates of shedding Salmonella, and both pets and owners can get sick from it (owners can be infected directly by the pet or from handling or cross-contamination from the pet…
Freeze Dried vs Fresh vs Frozen Raw Pet Foods
I got a question about an old post on this topic, so I decided to add a bit of information and re-post it. Not much has changed since it was written in 2018, apart from more reports of people and pets getting sick from raw pet food and raw treats.
E. coli O157 Outbreak From Raw Pet Food: Canada
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has announced an outbreak of E. coli O157 infections in people linked to Carnivora brand raw pet food, and Health Canada has issued a recall of a number of Carnivora products due to potential contamination with E. coli O157. Illnesses have been reported in four individuals in…
Raw diet risks…Study results vs headlines
A recent study looked at human illness associated with raw pet food and has led to headlines such as “It is safe to feed raw pet foods.”
Did the study say that? No, it did not.
If you asked 100 people if they had a foodborne disease in the past year, I assume…
Update: US Salmonella/dog treat outbreak
The multi-state outbreak of salmonellosis linked to pig ear treats continues in the US. In the latest CDC report on the outbreak, 48 new infections have been added to the investigation since July 3, and 3 new Salmonella types are now involved (Salmonella Infantis, London and Newport). This brings them to a total…
High pressure pasteurization of raw pet food diets
Raw diets have been in the news a lot lately because of Salmonella contamination. It’s not surprising at all since bacteria like Salmonella, E. coli, Campylobacter and Listeria are expected to be found in raw meat (that’s why we cook it). We know that dogs and cats fed raw meat are at increased risk of…