Now dogs and cats occasionally eat nasty things - I know this from experience. So I wondered why the massive recall of more than 140 potentially salmonella-containing peanut products included such animal delicacies as Carolina Prime 2 Pack Peanut Butter Hooves, Happy Tails Multi-Flavored Dog Biscuits and Salix Healthy-Hide-Deli Wrap 5″ Peanut Butter Filled Rawhide. Do they seriously think Fido would get sick? Or are they worried that times are so tough that people are actually eating dog biscuits to stay alive?

Neither is the case. Here’s the FDA’s explanation, taken from its peanut contamination clearinghouse:

Product recalls now include some pet food products that contain peanut paste that was made by PCA. While the risk of animals contracting salmonellosis is minimal, there is risk to humans from handling these products. It is important for people to wash their hands–and make sure children wash their hands–before and, especially, after feeding treats to pets. Further information for consumers is located in the Frequently Asked Questions section located on this web site. The pet food products are also included in the searchable data base of recalled products.

PetSmart, one manufacturer that has recalled products, has this salmonella fact sheet, which notes that the company hasn’t received any reports of sickened pets.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 3:05 pm and is filed under Businesses in hot water, Dangerous products. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.