Re: 8-in-1 recalls DINGO CHICKEN JERKY ferret treats

>It was bound to happen! Here is the first FERRET recall:
> <http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070331005008>

These treats have the potential of having salmonella in them. Now,
salmonella has often come up in discussions of raw foods because it is
*one* of a number of infectious bacteria that can be gotten from raw
foods. In fact, it is extremely common in poultry and eggs. On the
other hand -- unlike some of the other bacteria that can be gotten from
raw foods (partial list under signature) -- salmonella does not usually
take off in ferrets. When it does take off, though, it is a horrible
disease, but, again, usually it does not.

So, basically, I'd personally throw the treats because I don't see any
reason to take the chance, and if anyone has a compromised ferret then
I think that tossing the treats away especially makes perfect sense,
but people who are feeding raw poultry or raw eggs probably already
have ferrets whose bodies having been dealing with salmonella and they
might choose a different course, depending on their own decisions.

You may ask why poultry and eggs are not always on recalls given the
extremely high levels of salmonella present.
BEGIN QUOTE
Another study that cultured 10 raw meat diets based on chicken
determined 8 diets (80%) to be contaminated with Salmonella spp.
END QUOTE
from
http://www.fda.gov/cvm/Guidance/Guide122.pdf
and elsewhere similar Salmonella rates are found, but Salmonella is not
the most commonly found food borne pathogen, nor is it the most serious.

The reason you don't see recalls of chickens and eggs for run of the
mill salmonella content is because it is assumed that they will be
cooked for human consumption so they are not recalled, but notice that
people are carefully instructed to do things like not use the same
cutting boards for those and foods that are eaten raw, and to wash the
cutting boards well.

In an already cooked food, though, there is not an assumption that
cooking will later take place. The treats are meant to be given "as is"
so they DO get recalled.

BTW, throwing those treats in the freezers won't work to destroy the
salmonella in them anymore than it does for poultry. The studies where
freezing actually did kill salmonella involved temperatures from -20'C
to -80'C (-4'F to -112'F) depending on the type of food -- with dairy
having the higher temps compared to meats/poultry in the studies I have
seen, and that home freezers and most grocery freezers don't permit
temperatures that low.

Sukie (not a vet)
Current FHL address:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html

* According to _Biology and Diseases of the Ferret_ these diseases
come from raw meat AND are documented in ferrets:
  pages 321-322, actinomycosis
  pages 322-323, botulism
  pages 324-327, campylobacteriosis
  pages 339-342, salmonellosis
  pages 343-347, mycobacteria

Others, including Jerry Murray and some journal abstracts in PubMed,
also mention E. coli, some strains of which are very antibiotic
resistant

There are a range of potential food infections, including some
parasites (not listed here) so if interested in those, please, further
check resources just as you would for any other aspect, pro or con,
about feeding any type of diet.

[Posted in FML 5565]