Archive for October, 2007

Food and Feed Safety – Waiting for the FDA

October 23, 2007 at 8:41 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

The FDA will be announcing its new Food and Feed Safety procedures/program in December. Speaking with pet food manufacturers, there is a great deal of interest in what will be said, as well as a fair amount of apprehension.

Depending on who you talk to, the system works well or not at all. Recently, at a Manhattan news conference, Senator Charles Schumer demanded “immediate action” of the USDA to change its procedures in dealing with meat and poultry products. Prompted by the recent massive recall of Topps hamburger patties, Schumer is just one voice calling for improvements in our food safety system.

The FDA will be offering guidelines that apply not only to human food, but also to pet food. Will we be done with recalls? Hardly. But, there may be more coordination in the regulation of pet food and human food. Pet food manufacturers will still be responsible for the bulk of the regulation through self-regulation because there are just not enough people in the government to police every last ingredient or food.

Congress has required the FDA by laws that have passed to expand its programs and its role in food and feed safety. There is not any funding include in the bills that mandate this expansion. Pet food manufacturers are right to believe that they will continue to be on the front lines, protecting their brands and protecting the pets that eat the food they manufacture.

It will be interesting to see what comes in December. Pet food manufacturers are waiting, maybe holding their breath a bit, to see what will happen.

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Raw food, Salmonella and other bad bugs

October 10, 2007 at 2:18 pm · Filed under Pet Food ·Tagged , , ,

A while back, I gathered some scientific articles about raw foods and some potential risks. Raw meats contain certain pathogenic bacteria. Most pets have an ability to eat foods that contain these organisms with little to no ill effects. However, people in the home that are exposed to the food or the feces of the pet may become infected with these bacteria. Young children are particularly at risk. It has been reported by veterinary experts that death loss in young puppies has occurred associated with a mother eating a raw food diet. If you choose to feed raw foods, as more and more people are doing since the massive recalls of spring 2007, take care in handling and preparing the food and thoroughly clean all dishes immediately after mealtime. Many people feed raw diets and rave about the great results, but be mindful that it is more complicated than simply throwing your dog a turkey neck once a day. Care must be taken to balance the diet to ensure that your pet receives all the necessary nutrients. Below are summaries and excerpts from various scientific articles that discuss enteric pathogens (bad bugs in the gut) and their impact on pet health as well as risk factors for their presence

Canine Infectious Diarrhoea
AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE OF VETERINARY SCIENTISTS SCIENCE WEEK 2003
Jane E. Sykes, BVSc(Hons), PhD, DipACVIM
VM: Medicine & Epidemiology, University of California, Davis
Davis, CA, USA
SALMONELLOSIS
Because Salmonella can survive for relatively long periods of time in the environment, transmission through food, water, or fomites that have been contaminated by fecal material is important. Dogs and cats can acquire infections when they ingest uncooked foods, and this has become an important concern recently with the trend of feeding dogs raw food diets.(4) There is increasing popularity of reptiles as pets, and reptile-associated salmonellosis is emerging as a problem in humans (5); reptile exposure may also be a risk factor for dogs.
The prevalence of Salmonella in canine fecal samples has ranged from 1 to 36%. Young dogs are more susceptible to infection and signs. Factors increasing susceptibility include poor nutrition, anesthesia, overcrowding, concurrent disease, and drug therapy. The severity of signs varies from no signs to death. Fever, lethargy, and anorexia are followed by abdominal pain, vomiting and often hemorrhagic diarrhoea, and dehydration. Severely affected dogs develop septic shock. CNS signs, polyarthritis, and pneumonia may be seen.
The best way to confirm infection is with isolation. However, a positive isolation from the feces does not mean that Salmonella is the cause of disease, because it can be isolated from healthy animals. Negative culture results do not rule out infection.
Aggressive therapy with IV fluids is important for severe cases. Affected animals should be placed in isolation. Parenteral antimicrobials are required for septicemic dogs. Quinolones are probably the drug of choice.

Enteric Zoonoses I
Source: Proceedings, WVC2003
Author(s): Leonard C. Marcus, VMD, MD

KEY POINTS
Feline feces can be a source of human infection with Salmonella, Campylobacter, toxoplasmosis, and, possibly, Cryptosporidium and Giardia.
Except for Toxoplasma, these agents are infectious in freshly passed stool.
Prevention of infection in cats includes feeding cooked, canned or dry food and reducing their contact with infected animals.
Prevention of human infection largely depends on sanitation.
Except for Toxoplasma, these agents cause diarrhea in people.
Extraintestinal complications can occur with Campylobacter, Salmonella, Cryptosporidium and toxoplasmosis.
Details of the life cycle and immune response in cats are key to understanding veterinary public health aspects of toxoplasmosis.

Salmonellosis
Source: Library, ISUFAD
Author(s): Iowa State University, Institute for International Cooperation in Animal Biologics
Salmonellosis is relatively rare in dogs and cats. In these species, acute diarrhea is typical, either with or without septicemia. Pneumonia or abortion may be seen and cats sometimes develop conjunctivitis.

Preliminary assessment of the risk of Salmonella infection in dogs fed raw chicken diets.
Source: JOURNALS ABSTRACT (Can Vet J 43[6]:441-2 2002 Jun)
Author(s): Joffe DJ, Schlesinger DP
This preliminary study assessed the presence of Salmonella spp. in a bones and raw food (BARF) diet and in the stools of dogs consuming it. Salmonella was isolated from 80% of the BARF diet samples (P < 0.001) and from 30% of the stool samples from dogs fed the diet (P = 0.105). Dogs fed raw chicken may therefore be a source of environmental contamination.

Prevalence of Enteric Pathogens in Dogs of North-Central Colorado
Source: JOURNALS ABSTRACT (J Am Anim Hosp Assoc 39[1]:52-56 Jan-Feb’03 Original Article 31 Refs)
Author(s): Tim Hackett, DVM, MS & Michael R. Lappin, DVM, PhD, DACVIM;; Dept of Clinical Sciences, CVM & BS, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523

Many gastrointestinal bacterial, viral, and parasitic infections are important to practicing veterinarians, owing to disease-producing potential in dogs and zoonotic risk for humans. While many immunosuppressed humans are told not to own pets, the incidence of enteric zoonoses in client-owned dogs is essentially unknown. The purpose of this study was to define the prevalence of select infectious agents in the gastrointestinal tracts of dogs with and without diarrhea that were evaluated at a university clinic in north-central Colorado.
Fecal samples were obtained from 71 client-owned dogs that presented for evaluation of acute small-bowel, large-bowel, or mixed-bowel diarrhea as well as from 59 age-matched, client-owned, healthy dogs. Infectious agents potentially associated with gastrointestinal disease were detected in 34 (26%) of 130 fecal samples. Agents with zoonotic potential were detected in feces from 21 (16.2%) of 130 dogs and included Giardia spp. (5.4%), Cryptosporidium parvum (3.8%), Toxocara canis (3.1%), Salmonella spp. (2.3%), Ancylostoma caninum (0.8%), and Campylobacter jejuni (0.8%). Positive test results occurred in dogs with or without clinical signs of gastrointestinal disease.
The authors conclude that the results of this study reaffirm the validity of regular fecal analyses in dogs as part of a comprehensive preventative health-care plan. These fecal analyses should be broadened to include a wider range of enteric zoonotic pathogens in dogs living in homes with immunocompromised individuals. [Summary]

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Good news for pet food, bad news for human food!

October 10, 2007 at 2:05 pm · Filed under Pet Food

It seems that the past few weeks have been full of recalls or alarming announcements from the human food industry, mainly on meat products for bacterial contamination. The largest hamburger patty recall in history has led to the closing of Topps, the country’s largest producer of these patties. Approximately 21 million pounds of patties were recalled for E. coli contamination. This contamination and its link to illnesses, primarily in the northeast, are still being investigated by the FDA. Now in the news is the shut down of a ConAgra plant in Missouri because of possible Salmonella contamination in pot pies. Proper handling and cooking should destroy the bacteria and the product is not being recalled, pending an investigation.

It is good not to hear any new recall or product concern announcements from the pet food industry for more than one or two days. This break gives manufacturers time to focus on their products, future projects, and future plans for quality and safety assurance programs. We’ll discuss some pet health issues until something else arises in the news that impacts the pet food industry.

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Got amino acids? – Why we need confidence in the Chinese amino acid industry.

October 4, 2007 at 2:31 am · Filed under Pet Food

Thanks again to David Primrose, for another contribution to our Pet Supply Verified weblog.

As highlighted in another blog entry, taurine is an essential amino acid in cat nutrition. Without it “Tigger”, “Max” “Smokey” and friends would suffer from cardiac failure and blindness.

However, the role of amino acids in pet food is much wider than this. They play crucial roles in the development of flavor and color. Flavor systems are a key part of the palatability and acceptance of prepared pet foods and color plays an important role in customer acceptance.

An example of this is the generation of “meaty” flavours and golden / brown colors by the Maillard reactions that take place between amino acids and reducing sugars, for example glycine and xylose.

Without amino acids, pet food producers would need to look at alternatives to help make their products palatable and acceptable to the customer buying the products. This all takes resources in the form of time, money and people.

Whilst working for one of the biggest global pet food producers, I worked on development and approval of amino acid suppliers in China. As is often the case, the driver was to reduce costs by buying from a region where energy, raw material and labor costs were lower.

Although I don’t know the statistics, over recent years China has grown to become a significant exporter of amino acids to all external markets around the globe where pet food is manufactured.

I was very interested therefore, to read in the latest edition of “Petfood Industry” (September 2007) that some major pet food makers are reducing their ingredient buying in China or even stopping completely. In the current climate of people questioning the safety of many different types Chinese products this might seem a logical step.

Whilst there is no evidence that Chinese amino acids are not “safe” on the basis of their country of origin, they could be caught up by the general lack of faith in the “Made in China” label.

However, unless the pet food producers have complete “faith” in Chinese amino acids, have alternatives up their sleeves, or “safe” amino acid plants can instantly be opened up outside China, there will be an on-going dependency on exports from China.

Instead of the knee-jerk reaction to stop buying from China, an alternative strategy for the pet food makers is to rebuild faith and confidence in the quality of Chinese raw materials, in their own minds and those of the regulatory authorities, retailers and customers buying their pet food products.

This is where the Pet Supply Verified (PSV) program can play a role. Based on the proven USDA verification platform and with audit systems carried out by independent auditors PSV tools can be used to help rebuild faith in a verified ingredient supply for the 21st century.

The Chinese ingredient manufacturers or their trade associations could of course help this healing process and demonstrate their commitment to rebuilding confidence in the “Made in China” label by taking on board the PSV program themselves.

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No news about Chinese jerky treats…

October 4, 2007 at 2:23 am · Filed under Pet Food

Apparently the FDA has not found any contaminants in the jerky treats that were under investigation for a possible link to illness in some pet dogs. It is still possible that something may be found, but not highly probable. It may be that there is nothing to find or could be that we don’t know what to look for. The good news is that the Bravo! recall of jerky treats is the (knock on wood) last pet related recall that is on the FDA website.

We are in a new era of food safety and really safety in general. The food that we feed to our pets is not exempt from the same risks and concerns that our foods are subject to. The pet food manufacturers are just as aware and concerned about these issues as you and I. The additional screenings, new quality programs (like Pet Supply Verified), and extreme vigilance on the part of pet owners and veterinarians will help quickly identify any future issues that may arise.

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