Gordon wrote:
>But today MSN channel 12 news tonight on our local TV station
>announced some 8 in 1 products for cats, dogs and ferrets has been
>recalled for salmonella poisoning. They advised this could also affect
>humans who may handle it so even humans should not handle it but
>discard it immediately.

The products affected:

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2007/04/03/petfood-recall.html

and other resources given mention only these few specific things:

BEGIN QUOTES

Eight in One Inc. announced Monday that it is pulling all packages of
Dingo Chick'N Jerky, Dingo Kitty Chicken Jerky and Dingo Ferret Chicken
Jerky. The treats were sold in Canada and the U.S. This recall is not
linked to a recall involving contaminated wheat gluten in cat and dog
food.

...

The company has received one report of a dog becoming infected by
salmonella. Consumers should stop feeding the treats to their pets
and contact Eight in One Inc. for a refund at 1-888-232-9889.

END QUOTES

These are important for a different reason:

http://www.oregonvma.org/news/recalledfood.asp

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_cat.html

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_dog.html

http://www.fda.gov/cvm/MenuFoodRecallFAQ.htm

http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html

http://www.avma.org/aa/menufoodsrecall/default.asp

and recent posts in the FHL Archives and saved FMLs.

BEFORE PANICKING AND ASSUMING THE WORST ABOUT ANY FOOD
CHECK
CHECK
CHECK and then CHECK AGAIN
to see ***IF*** THAT FOOD is even in the BRAND and LOT NUMBER lists.

URLS ARE YOUR FRIENDS! CLICK ON THEM AND READ. :-)

Salmonella is a very serious and potentially fatal infection in ferrets
when it takes off, and the rate of antibiotic resistant forms is high
now (See below.), but unlike some other food borne bacteria (some of
which are more serious and at least one of which is more prevalent in
raw flesh foods) Salmonella does not usually take off in ferrets.

It is more of a risk for humans and humans CAN get ill either from
handling infected foods or from handling the feces of infected animals.

Those who go to the CDC site can read publications such as "Human
Salmonellosis Associated with Animal-Derived Pet Treats --- United
States and Canada, 2005" which appeared in the CDC MMWR Weekly June
30, 2006 / 55(25);702-705

from PubMed:

>Vet Microbiol. 2007 Mar 7; [Epub ahead of print] Characterization of
>multidrug resistant Salmonella recovered from diseased animals.
>
>Zhao S, McDermott PF, White DG, Qaiyumi S, Friedman SL, Abbott JW,
>Glenn A, Ayers SL, Post KW, Fales WH, Wilson RB, Reggiardo C, Walker
>RD.
>Office of Research, Center for Veterinary Medicine, U.S. Food & Drug
>Administration, Laurel, MD 20708, United States.
>
>Three hundred and eighty Salmonella isolates recovered from animal
>diagnostic samples obtained from four state veterinary diagnostic
>laboratories (AZ, NC, MO, and TN) between 2002 and 2003 were tested
>for antimicrobial susceptibilities and further characterized for
>bla(CMY) beta-lactamase genes, class 1 integrons and genetic
>relatedness using PFGE. Forty-seven serovars were identified, the most
>common being S. Typhimurium (26%), S. Heidelberg (9%), S, Dublin (8%),
>S. Newport (8%), S. Derby (7%), and S. Choleraesuis (7%). Three
>hundred and thirteen (82%) isolates were resistant to at least one
>antimicrobial, and 265 (70%) to three or more antimicrobials.
>Resistance was most often observed to tetracycline (78%), followed
>by streptomycin (73%), sulfamethoxazole (68%), and ampicillin (54%),
>and to a lesser extent chloramphenicol (37%), kanamycin (37%),
>amoxicillin- clavulanic acid (20%), and ceftiofur (17%). With regards
>to animal of origin, swine Salmonella isolates displayed the highest
>rate of resistance, being resistant to at least one antimicrobial
>(92%), followed by those recovered from turkey (91%), cattle (77%),
>chicken (68%), and equine (20%). Serovars commonly showing multidrug
>resistance (MDR) to >/=9 antimicrobials were S. Uganda (100%), S.
>Agona (79%), and S. Newport (62%), compared to S. Heidelberg (11%)
>and S. Typhimurium (7%). Class-1 integrons were detected in 43% of
>all isolates, and were found to contain aadA, aadB, dhfr, cmlA and
>sat1 gene cassettes alone or in various combinations. All ceftiofur
>resistant isolates (n=66) carried the bla(CMY) beta-lactamase gene.
>A total of 230 PFGE patterns were generated among the 380 isolates
>tested using XbaI, indicating extensive genetic diversity across
>recovered Salmonella serovars, however, several MDR clones were
>repeatedly recovered from different diseased animals.
>
>PMID: 17400409 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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

[Posted in FML 5568]