Last year, the Animal and Plant Health Agency found out that 8.1 per cent of all bacteria contaminations existed in raw pet food. The bacteria types Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Infantis belonged to the most indentified ones.
With an amount of 295 cases, the researchers have determined 8.1% more cases than in 2020 (273) and 20.4% more than in 2019 (245).
“Contaminated raw meat pet food, which does not undergo any heat treatment to deactivate pathogens, may therefore represent a potential source of infection to both the dogs consuming it and people who handle it, especially if insufficient hygiene measures are adopted,” the agency stated.
Contaminations in the USA:
After the US Food and Drug Administration has discovered Salmonella in some sampling which made three kittens sick, the FDA published a warning in August last year, pet owners should “not to feed their pets” with specific raw cat food of Darwin’s Natural Pet Product.
Regarding that alert, Darwin’s Natural Pet Products said: “We believe the FDA’s request is wholly unnecessary; there are no pet health risks to address. We also believe the FDA’s request is based on flawed regulatory decision-making and have taken steps to make our position clear with the agency.”
Pursuant to the FDA, Salmonella in pet food is a severe health issue since they can cause sickness of pets but also of humans if their pets transmit the bacteria on themselves.
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