You know what? THIS IS A GOOD THING. I have been in the industry a long time, and you would be surprised how many pet food companies cover up their problems.
(Hint hint: They're the brands you are most-likely to see on TV or in Grocery stores)
Diamond Pet Foods is a manufacturer of many brands of pet food (including their own) and have many processing plants across the nation. In April, they announced a recall on one brand of food because it tested positive for a rare strain of salmonella.
At that point (and as of the publishing of this article) there have been no confirmed reports of animals getting salmonella because of this product.
Want to know why?
It's almost impossible for dogs to get salmonella. Their digestive tract is too short and their stomach is too acidic. This is why dogs can eat garbage. Cat poop. Lick their butts. Eat raw pet foods. All without getting sick.
So why the recall?
It's a 'people' thing, not a pet thing.
People hand-feed their pets (mainly old ladies with the 'my wittle baby' complex). People handle pet food then don't wash their hands. People being dumb. When I handle pet food, I wash my hands. When I handle raw meats or vegetables, I was my hands. When I handle door knobs, stair railings, or shake hands, I wash my hands.
And of course the media skews things to incite drama.
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| THE NEWS STATION SAYS I AM SUPPOSED TO BE MAD. RAAAAAARR!!! |
MSNBC reported "for every case of salmonella reported, 29.3 go undetected. Using that multiplier, at least 410 people may have been sickened by the contaminated pet food."
Oh geez, shut up already.
The truth? Diamond reacted fast, and tried to pull the product from shelves before any dog (or person) got sick. They informed the public, distributors, and retail stores as quickly as possible. They let the public know it was only one plant (South Carolina) with the issue, and only states in the East were affected. (Idaho, for example, has nothing to worry about).
Diamond then went a step further. Other products weren't testing positive, but they pulled every product of every brand produced around the same time as the tainted bags, just to be safe.
So when you see brands like Canidae, Taste of the Wild, Apex, etc. having recalls, it's all because of this. Did they have tainted bags? Most likely not. But better safe than sorry. BECAUSE THEY CARE.
Diamond doesn't play like that. They don't cover shit up. They care about the public and their consumers, even if it means losing money and shutting down one of their facilities temporarily, in the name of safety.
And for those in the "recalled? I'm never going to buy THAT again" category, I dare you to go to Recalls.gov and look at all the recent recalls. If you stay away from a product that has been recalled, you'll never eat strawberries, ground beef, sausage or spinach, put your baby in a crib, ride a bike, drive a Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, Mazda, Kia, Hyundai, Volkswagen or any other damn car for that matter.
Recalls happen. GOOD companies alert the public and make things right. If you hear about the recall, be happy. Odds are for every recall you hear about, there are 3-4 that should be done and are covered up (speculation of course, but if MSNBC can do it, why can't I?)
9 witty retorts:
I havent heard a damn thing about pet food recall. My poor dogs have been eating tainted food. lol. Oh well, they'll be fine.
Thank goodness I only have cats, because I could NEVER get anything from just them, let alone their food!
I've been meaning to ask you, I jumped in the boat and bought that dog food I blogged about a while back (yea i forgot the name) well our doggie seems to "puke" lately? I am not sure why, he seems fine all the time, but on occasion we find evidence that he hurled. Mr Monkey Butt is blaming the food?! Any thoughts?!! I'm not saying it's salmonella or anything, this just reminded me to ask the doggie genius! :)) Thanks!
@Monkey Butt:
1) Make sure you're adjusting to the new feeding guidelines. You may be feeding too much.
2) If you're switching from a grocery to a premium brand, the food is much richer and nutrient dense. Think like eating cereal regularly, then eating a big helping of bacon and eggs. Transition slowly, and let the dog get used to the food. I'm sure the first time you ate Thai food it tore you up, right? Some foods are like that, especially when you go from 'meh' to good.
Slow and steady. Be patient. Dogs can't get sick from salmonella unless they eat a TON, so I guarantee that isn't the issue.
This is great. Very insightful.
There was a big scare over here a few years ago over the combined Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccinations that was totally unfounded. What the press do is read the medical journal the Lancet, take out a small discussion between doctors where one of them made a theoretical comment over the possibility of the jab causing autism and they blew the whole thing out of proportion to create a scare and sell papers.
AWESOME! Yeah I always figured the majority of recalls were chicken little events. I always figured in a society like ours there is a ton of stuff we don't know even though we probably should know.
Not to mention until we get back to growing our own food and more localized economies it won't get better. and since that won't happen then accept it a let the sky fall.
I applaud any company that polices itself. That's hard to find these days. Some companies think that it's cheaper to pay a wrongful death settlement than it is to pull something off of the market. That's a shame that we think this way in this country.
Wait, I'm confused. Can I go back to eating dog food again?
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