Blog the Change: Pet Food Recalls and Radiation

Four times a year, pet bloggers band together to raise awareness
about issues critical to the welfare of the animals we love.

Issues like this one.

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This special Monday Medical post is about the worrisome increase in pet food recalls over the past year.

One of the brands identified by FDA

As of May, 2012, the FDA had received nearly 1,000 reports of illnesses and/or deaths of dogs who had consumed chicken jerky treats made in China.

As of July, 2012, 47 people in 20 U.S. states (plus 2 in Canada) had suffered salmonella poisoning traced back to the handling of dry pet food made in the USA.

I’ve been sitting back and reading about the vast number of pet food and pet treat recalls over the past year, but haven’t really done anything to address it on this blog, mainly because of the vast amount of exposure it's had on other blogs. I didn't feel I could add much to the conversation until now.

But a few weeks ago some information was dropped into my lap by a radiation physicist. Here’s what I was told.

The FDA imposes a limit on the amount of radiation human-grade food items may be given. It also imposes a limit on the amount of radiation given to animal feed – and pet food comes under those guidelines.

In general, the FDA allows a much lower dose of radiation to kill harmful bacteria on human grade food than it does for pet food.

Raw eggs: allowed 5 kGy to protect from salmonella

For example, raw fruits and vegetables are allowed a maximum of 1 kiloGray of radiation to kill bacteria, but the amount increases five-fold for raw eggs. Given that eggs pose a salmonella risk, that’s understandable.

Frozen raw meat is allowed a bit more than eggs - 7 kGy. And again, given that there are between6 and 33 million illnesses a year in the U.S. alone¹ due to microbial pathogens found in raw meats, that completely makes sense.


Yet pet food is allowed 50 kiloGray. That's ten times the FDA limit for raw eggs.

Pet food: allowed 50 kGy to kill pathogens

If you read any label, you’ll see pet food ingredients come from the same sources as ours: meats, grains, vegetables, fruits.

So why would pet food be allowed ten times the radiation as raw eggs and fifty times the radiation for raw vegetables?

These are significantly higher levels. The answer simply is that food is split into two categories: human grade food, and food not fit for human consumption.

The husband of an associate of mine grew up on a ranch in the Midwest U.S., and he tells a story about where their sickly and deceased animals were sent. You guessed it: the pet food plant. He said there would often be days that passed between the time they notified the pet food plant about the dead animal’s carcass and the time workers at the plant arrived to pick it up. During that time, the carcass remained exposed to the elements. That could mean high temperatures, insects – plenty of opportunity for decay and bacteria growth.


Fifty kiloGray. One can understand the need for a higher amount of radiation after hearing the rancher’s tale.

But given the rash of recalls in 2012 alone, even that doesn’t seem to be working so well, does it?

To be fair, yes, animals can handle eating things we can’t, but a cat killing a mouse and then eating it, bones and all – well, that’s a fresh kill. There's little chance for bacteria to become an issue.

After reading all this, I was very glad for the decisions I’d made regarding what our cats eat. Of the three brands of cat food served in our home, one uses human grade ingredients and another requires that its farmers and suppliers provide Letters of Guaranty stating that their meats and produce are fresh and unadulterated. The third brand has very strict protocols in place and rigorously tests for salmonella and E. coli (though to be honest, I am trying to wean a certain kitty – yes, Maxwell, I’m looking at you! – off this third one).

I understand that price can prohibit some from switching over like I have. I only have the three cats, but I know several people who rescue and/or foster animals for whom the premium pet food might be too expensive.

But I have to admit, I was intrigued to see the post by Whisppy showing how they make their own dried chicken jerky treats right in their home. So I did a little research on what it might take to make pet food – and how that might impact our budget. That’s fodder for another post (ouch, kind of a bad pun there, wasn't it?). But I can tell you that when we ran the numbers, the cost of homemade pet food looked pretty promising.

Please…tell us what you think on this issue. Are you concerned about the quality of pet foods in the U.S. and do you think the number of recalls this year is cause for alarm?
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Footnote:
You’ll notice in the table below that there are two human-grade food items that exceed the 5-7 kGy limit, and those are spices and astronaut food. We figure NASA’s got a lot of special reasons for wanting their food to be especially sterile, so we’re counting that out of this discussion.

But we find it interesting that the FDA allows 30 kGy for spices, due to the extremely high incidence of molds and other bacteria found in them – especially those coming from countries known to have a higher level of contaminants.

In fact, spices are so easily contaminated that doctors will tell patients who are undergoing stem cell transplants to avoid all spices before, during and for a period after treatment, to protect them while their immune systems are weakened.
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Sources:
http://www.fda.gov/food/foodingredientspackaging/irradiatedfoodpackaging/ucm081399.htm

Table 6.2. Foods Permitted to be Irradiated Under FDA's Regulations (21 CFR 179.26). 

Food	Purpose	Dose
Fresh, non-heated processed pork	Control of Trichinella spiralis	0.3 kGy min. to 1 kGy max.
Fresh foods	Growth and maturation inhibition	1 kGy max.
Foods	Arthropod disinfection	1 kGy max.
Dry or dehydrated spices/seasonings	Microbial disinfection	30 kGy max.
Fresh or frozen, uncooked poultry products	Pathogen control	3 kGy max.
Frozen packaged meats (solely NASA)	Sterilization	44 kGy min.
Refrigerated, uncooked meat products	Pathogen control	4.5 kGy max.
Frozen uncooked meat products	Pathogen control	7 kGy max.
Fresh shell eggs	Control of Salmonella	3.0 kGy max.
Fresh or frozen molluscan shellfish1	Control of Vibrio species and other foodborne pathogens	5.5 kGy max.

http://www.fda.gov/food/foodingredientspackaging/irradiatedfoodpackaging/ucm081399.htm

Food for irradiation	Limitations	Use
Bagged complete diets, packaged feeds, feed ingredients, bulk feeds, animal treats and chews	Absorbed dose: Not to exceed 50 kiloGrays. Feeds and feed ingredients treated by irradiation should be formulated to account for nutritional loss.	Microbial disinfection, control or elimination

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=579.22

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7483863

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¹ Ahn, D. U., Jo, C., Olson, D.G. “Analysis of volatile components and the sensory characteristics of irradiated raw pork.”p. 209-215.

A Vacation is NO Excuse to Abandon Your Pet! (Blog the Change)

Today we're participating in Blog the Change for Animals, a quarterly event hosted by the fantastic peeps behind the website Be the Change for Animals.

(Among them are Kim Clune, Amy Burkert, Peggy Frezon and our very own Vicki Cook of Bunny's Blog, to name a few!)

This year, there is a collective push to promote a worldwide event on July 23, rallying bloggers around the need for dog rescue.

Why is there such a great need for dog - and cat! - rescue? A recent story on NPR revealed that the abandonment of the family pet has become almost epidemic in Europe during the summer months.  This is the time when many families leave their homes for a summer break that often lasts a month or longer.

Everyone looks forward to a vacation, right? Not European animal advocate groups. These people have learned the hard way that vacation time is no friend to family pets.

NPR reported than an estimated 100,000 pets are abandoned each summer in France alone, by people who either won't take their pet with them or refuse to arrange for proper care while the pets remain back home.

Claire Brissard, who runs a shelter in Chamarande, France (45 minutes outside of Paris) told NPR, "Too many people think a pet is like a stuffed animal that can be thrown away when they're tired of it."

Bringing a pet into a shelter, though, is at least less cruel than abandoning the family pet to a life of outdoor survival.


Ask Amy of Sebastian the Sensitive Soul, who years ago, found herself the horrified witness to a neighbor who heartlessly dumped their cat outside, emptied an entire bag of kibble onto the driveway, loaded up the kids and drive off for vacation.  They were gone over a week.

People who consider this type of behavior to be acceptable need to be re-educated. And local legislation needs to be passed that will allow citations for animal cruelty upon abandonment.

photo courtesy Mink (flickr) via Creative Commons

So today, we unite to blog for change, both in the U.S. and abroad. The family pet is not a stuffed animal to be discarded when inconvenient.

Be the change in your neighborhood.

If you see such behavior occur, call your local animal welfare agencies and ask about legal policies in your area - and if your neighbor can be ticketed for abandonment.

At the very least, look out for this poor abandoned animal.


If it has indeed been abandoned, perhaps you can find it in your heart to take him into your own home.

Or find a rescue group or no-kill shelter in your area that will find the abandoned pet a new loving, caring forever family.

Blog The Change: Jammies' Story

Thanks for stopping by as we participate in today’s Blog the Change for Animals Blog-a-thon! The folks over at the site Be The Change For Animals sponsor a quarterly Blog The Change day – and today’s the first in 2012.  Animal lovers everywhere are joining forces today to talk about causes near and dear to their hearts. 

Our first entry in the Be The Change Blogosphere this year is Jammies' Story.

photo courtesy HELP Humane, Belton, MO

Jammies is gorgeously golden – all buff with a cream muzzle and big golden eyes that stare sadly out at you.

Jammies was dropped off anonymously at HELP, a no-kill animal shelter here in the KC metro area. When staff arrived for work that day, they saw this lunging, screaming, biting ball of fury trapped in a carrier. Once inside the shelter, Jammies was so aggressive that no one was willing to open the carrier door.  They noticed something odd about the paws that were attempting to strike out at anyone who dared approach, and an abnormal tendency to shift from paw to paw, indicating discomfort.

When they couldn’t get close enough to Jammies to even determine if this kitty was a boy or girl, they decided to visit their vet.  Poor Jammies was so aggressive, so agitated, that the vet had to anesthetize him to even determine it was a “him”!

By this time, everyone involved suspected that Jammies was suffering from being declawed.  Everyone had heard of “bad declaws” (as if there are good ones?!?) but this one…wow.  As one shelter worker put it, “some vets are really butchers when it comes to this.”

They asked the vet to x-ray Jammies' paws. What those pictures revealed was horrendous: Jammies had shards of bone – remnants of the declawing procedure and possibly even regrowth of the claw – inside his paws. Imagine the pain poor Jammies was in.  What would your disposition be like if you were forced to stand on or walk barefoot over broken glass...day in and day out? 

It’s no wonder he became aggressive and struck out at all who came near.

The International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management and other schools of Veterinary Clinical Sciences have published studies that indicate that fifty percent of cats undergoing a declaw will have one or more complications from it that include lameness, pain, hemorrhage, infection and even internal regrowth of the claw.

Is it any wonder that over 20 nations have declared this practice illegal? Indeed, just this past November, Israel added its name to the ranks with an impressive penalty for those caught in the act: a fine of up to 20,000 shekels and one year in jail.


Normally those of us who live in the U.S. like to think we're a nation that is forward-thinking with regard to the welfare of animals. The fact that declawing is not against the law here is sad but unfortunately not surprising. The number of cat owners who are informed on this issue is shockingly low. And that is why we've chosen to focus on this issue as our Blog the Change entry by telling Jammies' story.

Fortunately, Jammies’ story has a happy ending. He’s on his way to a pain-free existence thanks to the surgical attentions of a responsible vet who removed the bone shards from inside his paws. He’s in the caring hands of staff and volunteers at the HELP shelter – all of whom are teaching him that some humans can be trusted. And he’s well on his way to exchanging aggression for cuddles.

When Jammies was picked up at the vet to go “home” to the shelter a few days ago, the tears flowed as this golden boy – finally on his way to being pain-free – greeted his caretaker with a head butt and a purr for the very first time.

photo courtesy HELP Humane, Belton, MO

Please…pass the word.  There is no such thing as a good declaw.

Puppy Mills: how one Missouri shelter is fighting back, part 2

Yesterday, we participated in the national Blog the Change for Animals event focused on puppy mills in America. Specifically, the goal is to bring enough pressure to bear on PetLand USA that they agree to stop selling puppy mill animals in their stores.

A petition, hosted by Change.org, is available for you to sign, and all bloggers participating in the event were given media coverage in Change.org's media announcement promoting the event.

To date, response to puppy mills has been lackluster - in part, we think because of a lack of education on the horrors surrounding the issue.

So we decided to profile one agency that has partnered with the ASPCA and state government offices to be a rescue resource when puppy mills are raided or breeders are cited with regulation infractions.

Yesterday, we talked with Sarah Little, Manager of Admissions and Animal Healthcare at Wayside Waifs in Kansas City. She spoke about the medical issues often seen in puppy mill animals.

Today, we feature an interview with Kathy Basset, Wayside Waif's Canine Advocate. Kathy talks about the emotional trauma inflicted by puppy mills. The interview is  four and a half minutes long - and we hope you find it as educational as we did:

 

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Tell PetLand you don't want them to sell Puppy Mill dogs! SIGN the petition!
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