Salmonella Exposure from Pet Food

There are a lot of eggs being recalled right now due to possible salmonella contamination. I never thought there would come a day when my son's egg allergy would be something I'd look at as a blessing, but here is that day. I'm pretty vigilant about that stuff anyway. You know, always cooking my food to the proper temperatures and not leaving them in the danger zone. We've modified our family diet to be nearly meatless over the last year, however, so I've been a lot less worried about things like cross contamination. Now I just focus mainly on washing my veggies thoroughly.

There is one area of our lives that still has a boatload of meat in it: It's the food we feed our pets. A couple of years ago there were some pet food recalls due to salmonella contamination and I thought it was kind of strange. I mean, dogs eat everything, right? Do they respond the same way to salmonella as humans do? (Yes, they can get salmonella infections.) And then, I read about how those food recalls were linked to illnesses in humans. More specifically, almost 80 people got sick, 32 of those being babies or toddlers.

There's been another recall of pet food recently. Iams and Eukanuba this time. Stop using this pet food for the health of your pet, but also for the safety of your child, who may manage to snag some kibble or play with a food bowl under average life-with-a-toddler supervisory conditions. Even when there hasn't been a recall, be sure you're washing your hands after you've handled pet food or treats to avoid getting sick yourself or passing it on to family members.