Like the other one this one has some useful information for ferret
safety as well as human safety:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100812/ap_on_he_me/us_med_food_poisoning
includes
>Chicken, turkey and other poultry accounted for 17 percent of the
>food-borne illness outbreaks reported to the government. Beef and
>leafy vegetables were close behind, at 16 percent and 14 percent. The
>report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention covers
>outbreaks in 2007. Poultry was also the No. 1 source of outbreaks in
>2006. Salmonella and other kinds of bacteria caused about half of the
>outbreaks, the CDC said. Viruses -- like norovirus -- caused about 40
>percent, mushroom toxin or other chemical agents were blamed for 7
>percent. Parasites accounted for 1 percent. ... Several things can
>cause an outbreak. For example, an infected person might contaminate
>the food while handling it. A contaminated food may be left out a
>room temperature for hours, allowing bacteria to multiply. It may not
>be cooked enough to kill the bacteria.

And of course, there are times when the slaughter houses mess up,
releasing large amounts of E. coli from cattle intestines, for example.
Mess ups can happen at the farm level, at slaughter, in processing, and
in later handling.

Note that the percentages given for illnesses from poultry are below
the 20% with salmonella which a recent FDA study found in Pennsylvania
(segments of which were recently sent to the FML).

It does not have pet disease figures from such situations but has human
ones:
>An estimated 87 million cases of food-borne illness occur in the
>United States each year, including 371,000 hospitalizations and 5,700
>deaths, according to an Associated Press calculation that combines a
>CDC formula with recent population estimates... Outbreaks involving
>multiple ingredients -- like chicken salad -- were not part of that
>accounting.

So, assume that the food has a high probability of being diseased and
act accordingly, taking precautions which minimize risk.

Sukie (not a vet)

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/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html
"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)

[Posted in FML 6788]