Dietary indiscretion – Ten tips to avoid holiday poisoning in pets and people

The following story by Phyllis Entis first appeared in Food Safety News and is reposted here with permission

Some animals are scavengers, eating anything from poultry to poinsettias, and paying for their impulsive behavior with diarrhea, vomiting, or worse. Veterinarians call it “dietary indiscretion.”

The most dangerous time of year for pets in the United States is right now: the period leading up to, and including, the Christmas and New Year holidays. This is the time of year that presents both pets and people with a plethora of opportunities to be “indiscreet” eaters.

It is tempting to offer a pet a special holiday treat: an unfamiliar food, a chance to lick raw cake batter from a mixing bowl, or a dish of leftovers from the banquet table. It is easy to overlook the risks posed by Christmas decorations, snack foods, candies, and candles.

Some of these temptations are equally hazardous to the humans in our households. Both flour and raw eggs are potential sources of Salmonella, and raw flour may contain E. coli bacteria.

Leftover food that sits out for hours at room temperature during and after holiday meals are breeding grounds for toxin-producing bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus (staph) and Clostridium perfringens. Both of these pathogens can make pets and people sick with acute nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Cats, especially, are sensitive to staph toxins. In fact, the earliest test for the presence of this toxin in a food sample was the aptly named Kitten Test, in which a portion of the food was fed to kittens. An episode of vomiting within a few hours confirmed the presence of the toxin.

Clostridium perfringens can be deadly for dogs. A 2012 article published in the Canadian Veterinary Journal reported on the death due to acute bloody diarrhea, of a two-year old Pomeranian show dog that had appeared perfectly healthy the day before. Large numbers of Clostridium perfringens were found in the dog’s intestinal tract on necropsy.

Following these tips will help you to keep your pets and family members safe during the holidays.

DO refrigerate leftovers promptly.

DO handle raw meat and poultry as though contains Salmonella and Campylobacter, because it probably is contaminated with one or both of these pathogens.

DO place all chocolate, candies and plants out of reach of pets.

DO brush up on practices for the safe handling of foods.

DO visit the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center website to familiarize yourself with foods, plants and household products that may be toxic to your pets.

DON’T allow your pets or children to sample raw cake batter, raw cookie dough, raw pie crust or any other raw baked goods.

DON’T offer unusual food to your pets. This is not the time of year to experiment.

DON’T feed your pets raw poultry.

DON’T offer cooked bones of any type to your dog. Cooking makes bones more brittle and they may splinter and injure your pet.

DON’T set aside safe food handling practices in your hurry to prepare for the deluge of holiday guests.

Jerky pet treats: Anatomy of an investigation and lingering concerns

This story by Phyllis Entis first appeared in Food Safety News and is reposted here with permission.

More than 10 years after the first reports of pet and people illnesses linked to jerky treats from China, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is no closer to finding the root cause of the problem.

From August 2007 through Dec. 31, 2015, the number of illness complaints linked to jerky pet treats included more than 6,200 dogs, 26 cats, and three people. More than 1,140 of the dogs died.

In a Grand Rounds webinar in recent days, Dr. Lee Anne Palmer of FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) summarized the outcome of the agency’s decade-long investigation.

The first hint of trouble appeared in August 2007, when bloggers reported the removal of chicken jerky pet treats from the shelves of a major retailer due to traces of melamine in the treats.

In September 2007, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) alerted its members to reports of an acquired form of Fanconi syndrome in dogs. Fanconi syndrome is a potentially fatal disorder of the urinary tract.

Later that same month, FDA advised pet owners of a “… potential association between development of illness in dogs and the consumption of chicken jerky products…” The agency reported having received in excess of 70 complaints involving more than 95 dogs. In addition, FDA received information from Banfield, The Pet Hospital suggesting an association between exposure to chicken jerky products and signs of gastrointestinal illness in dogs, including vomiting and diarrhea.

FDA investigated the reports, but was unsuccessful in finding the cause of the illnesses.

In late 2013, FDA issued a comprehensive update on its investigation, including a fact sheet for pet owners and a “Dear Veterinarian” letter requesting specific clinical data. The update triggered an immediate, massive increase in illness reports.

In 2014, FDA enlisted the help of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to design and run a case control study. Scientists from CVM and CDC enrolled 95 affected dogs from 31 states for the study, matching them with 261 controls.

The case control study, first of its kind for a pet illness investigation, determined that the illnesses were highly associated with consumption of pet jerky treats from China. There was also some association with jerky treats from the United States.

Ill dogs were more likely to be female, and small breeds were more likely to be affected than larger breeds. No other exposures were associated with the pet illnesses.

Since 2007, FDA has received reports of pet illness related to jerky treats from all 50 U.S. states, most Canadian provinces, and several other countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, and Singapore, according to Palmer.

In 2007, the only way for consumers or veterinarians to report pet illnesses to FDA was by contacting a Consumer Complaint Coordinator by telephone. There was no system in place to coordinate or collate the reports. Even today, as Palmer observed, there is no CDC for pets.

In May 2010, CVM introduced the Safety Reporting Portal, an on-line form that can be used by consumers and veterinarians to report illnesses linked to pet foods, treats or medications.

In January 2011, CVM combined the two parallel information streams into a single database and initiated a weekly review of the data to identify trends.

FDA obtained funding in 2010 to establish the Veterinary Laboratory Response Network (Vet-LIRN), a collaborative network of government and university laboratories that form the backbone of FDA’s ability to document, investigate, and diagnose animal feed, pet food, and animal drug-related illnesses. This powerful resource was activated in August 2011 and has now grown to include 43 participating laboratories.

While FDA’s efforts did not establish a single root cause of pet illnesses linked to jerky pet treats, the investigations revealed a number of issues resulting in recalls or import alerts for various problems, including:

Salmonella contamination
Residues of antibiotic and antiviral agents
Mislabelling
Melamine traces
Excessive levels of glycerin

The cumulative effect of these recalls and import alerts produced, over time, a significant reduction in the number pet illnesses associated with pet jerky treats.

According to a spokesperson for FDA, the number of reported illnesses associated with jerky pet treats has waned in recent years and returned to baseline levels. The agency is dialing back its use of investigative resources on jerky pet treats to focus on other types of pet food product complaints.

FDA expects to publish a final update on its website summarizing the investigation at a future date.

Although a single root cause of the treat-related illnesses was never found, the analytical and tracking tools developed during the treat investigation have helped CVM to more quickly identify and respond to several other pet food issues in recent years. These include:

Pentobarbital contamination in canned dog foods
Thiamine deficiency in cat food
Vitamin D excess in dog food
Thyroid gland contamination of canned dog food and domestic jerky treats
Salmonella contamination of dry dog foods
Listeria and Salmonella in raw pet foods
Dilated cardiomyopathy and grain-free dog foods

Consumers and veterinarians who are concerned about a pet illness that appears to be linked to a pet food or pet treat should report the incident using FDA’s Safety Reporting Portal or by contacting the Consumer Complaint Coordinator for their district.

Pentobarbital continues to ‘dog’ pet food industry; beef tallow blamed

This story by Phyllis Entis first appeared in Food Safety News and is reposted here with permission.

On May 8 Champion Petfoods USA Inc. was informed that three shipments of beef tallow delivered by their supplier were contaminated with pentobarbital, a tranquilizer often used to euthanize sick or fatally injured animals.

Ingestion of the barbiturate can cause drowsiness, dizziness, excitement, loss of balance, or nausea, or in extreme cases, possibly death of dogs and cats. Beef tallow is promoted as an inexpensive, palatable, and stable source of energy, with a nutritional profile “sufficient for safe use as a pet food ingredient,” according to an industry website, BeefTallow.com.

Champion, a Canadian pet food company whose U.S. production facility is in Auburn, KY, manufactures Acana and Orijen brands of dry dog food.

The company ceased manufacturing products that require beef tallow, and quarantined the three pentobarbital-contaminated lots of tallow. However, by the time the company learned of the problem, some of the tallow already had been used.

Champion initiated pentobarbital testing on the retained samples from the beginning, middle and end of the affected production lots, and retrieved finished product from its third-party distributors.

The retained samples tested for pentobarbital were found to be negative. Some of the finished products containing contaminated tallow were distributed to the store/consumer level, but no retail-level product recall was initiated.

On May 16 the Food and Drug Administration initiated an inspection of Champion’s facility, according to information contained in the agency’s Establishment Inspection Report (EIR), which was obtained by Food Safety News in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

During the inspection, the company informed FDA that Champion was no longer doing business with the Pennsylvania supplier of beef tallow and consulted with the agency on how to properly dispose of the pentobarbital-contaminated tallow.

The name of Champion’s tallow supplier was blacked out in the EIR.

Champion advised FDA inspectors that it will require its new supplier of tallow to include test results for pentobarbital on Certificates of Analysis accompanying all shipments of the ingredient. FDA investigators appeared satisfied with Champion’s response to the contaminated tallow episode, classifying the outcome of the investigation as “No Action Indicated.”

Since the beginning of 2017, pentobarbital contamination has triggered the recall of canned pet foods manufactured by Evanger’s Dog and Cat Food Co. and Big Heart Brands.

The source of pentobarbital contamination in the Evanger’s products was never established.

Beef tallow was the apparent source of pentobarbital contamination in Big Heart Brands’ canned pet foods. According to information contained in a class action complaint filed against the manufacturer of Gravy Train and other canned dog foods, Big Heart’s tallow supplier was MOPAC, a Pennsylvania rendering facility belonging to JBS USA Holding Inc.

Big Heart Brands packs several popular brands of pet food that are distributed nationwide. Those brands include Gravy Train, Kibbles ’N Bits, Skippy and Ol’ Roy brands. Big Heart Pet Brands distributed the Gravy Train, Kibbles ’N Bits and Skippy dog food to retailers nationwide. Walmart Stores Inc. distributed the Ol’ Roy dog food.