Wash Your Hands

[Ilghaus]

Use common safety measures - wash your hands (and don't eat the dog's breakfast) ....

FDA starts testing pet food for salmonella
Dow Jones Newswires
12:29 p.m. CDT, November 1, 2011

Quote:
The Food and Drug Administration has begun a year-long nationwide effort to test pet food for salmonella contamination, but the key concern is not the health of dogs and cats -- it's of their owners.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-fda-starts-testing-pet-food-for-salmonella-20111101,0,5348276.story

[fledchen]

Personally I'm a little creeped out by the article's disregard for the welfare of pets eating the food.

[Ilghaus]

I don't think the idea is that there is no concern for the pets but that people need to be more aware of what they put into their own mouths or allow their young children to put into their mouths. And they are stressing the need to wash hands after handling their pet's food. I have heard the warning about pig ears etc. especially for pregnant women for years. Even the American Vet. Medical Association has told people to wash hands after handling certain foods including many of the common dog treats.

I think it is good for research like this as if they find any contamination harmful to people they will then look into making sure that food and treats for pets is handled differently thereby making them safer for pets.

There needs to be more thought in food growing, processing, and handling. Look at the recent problems with people food such as some lettuce, strawberries, and melons from one farm in the mid-west. Strict sanitation practices need to be put into place and followed.

[Ilghaus]

I've been thinking about this new checking ever since I read about it so I've done a little more poking around.

The FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) which is under the U.S. Dept of Health & Human Services are the ones behind the checking. So I thought why now? Why not back when all the pet food recalls were going on?

Then I found another clue to the answer while looking over the FDA website.

"The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law by President Obama on January 4th, 2011. It aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus of federal regulators from responding to contamination to preventing it."


" ... shifting the focus of federal regulators from responding to contamination to preventing it."

Preventing something bad from happening vrs. trying to fix a mess after the fact.  What a concept!