Diamond dog food salmonella recall expands

Diamond Pet Foods

(CBS News) The Diamond Pet Foods voluntary recall on some of their pet food brands has been expanded after a salmonella outbreak in one of their plants left 14 people sick in nine states.

The dog food in question was was manufactured in Gaston, S.C. plant. At least five people were hospitalized from handling the food, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the Associated Press.

On the official website for the recall, Diamond Pet Foods added dog food under the Country Value, Diamond, Premium Edge, Professional, 4Health and Taste of the Wild brands with a 2 or 3 in the 9th position of the production code and an X in the 10th or 11th position. The "best before" dates are between December 9, 2012 and April 7, 2013. They were distributed in a variety of eastern, southern, central and Midwest states, as well as parts of Canada, but may appear in other states.

Diamond Naturals (particularly the Lamb & Rice dry dog formula), Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul Adult Light Formula and Diamond Puppy Formula had already been recalled in April 2011 after a random sampling showed that some of their food tested positive for Salmonella.

Some companies that co-manufacture with Diamond Pet Foods have also pulled their products, including Natural Balance, Kirkland Signature/Kirkland Signature Nature's Domain, Apex Pet Foods, Canidae Pet Foods and one type of Wellness Complete Health puppy food. The companies claim it is a precaution because no pet or human illnesses have been reported in association with these brands nor has sample testing shown that any of their bags have Salmonella.

Reuters reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are investigating the outbreak. The infection is possibly from people touching the dog food and then touching their own food, cross-contamination with products that touched the tainted pet food or from direct contact from a dog that had a Salmonella infection.

According to Cornell University, salmonella poisoning in humans can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain/colic or cramps and diarrhea. People may experience moderate fevers and chills. The elderly and young, those with decreased gastric acidity, those with altered gastrointestinal bacteria, those who are immunosuppressed HIV patients and those whose bowel movements are decreased are at higher risk.

Pets with salmonella infections can also experience similar symptoms to infected humans, according to the Diamond Pet Foods press release. They may be lethargic or not want to eat. There is a danger with pets who are infected by do not display symptoms, however, because they may spread the disease to other humans or animals.

If symptoms are noticed, people are urged to call their healthcare providers or veterinarians for their pets.

[RebeccaLex]

There's so many recalls happening in the past few months in the pet industry. I use Pet360 to stay on top of my brands! Check out this video to learn more about it... http://******/TD9XfJ

[AmberSims]

I used to feed Taste of the wild to my dogs which they ate reluctently, but never really did well on. I feed rotations dog food now, which they seem to do much better on and they eat it without any bribing. No issues ever with the rotations and it seems to be from a small company.

[aswearingen0419]

My dogs have been very sick for 2 months. How do I get my money back for vet bill for almost 200.00 dollars? We thought the one dog was going to die. I called the company back in March when my one dog got real sick and they told me there were no recalls. I started feeding the The taste of the wild to my animals back in December and they have been sick since then. I don't know but that Iams dog food is starting to look good again.

[SickDogs]

My 4 dogs got sick in February when I started feeing Taste of the Wild. I called the company and, no, they hadn't received any other complaints. Over $500 in vet bills later, I still have one sick dog. TOTW is not returning my emails. It infuriates me that the news keeps reporting that no dogs have been reported as being sick. Where do they get their info? From the same dog food companies that are denying any reports of sick dogs? If anyone knows where to report a dog being sick from food, please let me know. Because telling the company won't do any good.

[Rhincon]

aswearingen0419 and SickDogs, please report it to the FDA.
http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/ReportaProblem/ucm182403.htm
I'm sorry your dogs were sick. I hope they are doing better.

[ATAT8080]

Whoa, I'm confused.


I thought that was the whole point of having a dog, so we could throw them the scraps.

Oh man, now what am I going to do with all the food in the fridge that may or may not be good?

[2012Morgan]

My scraps and refrigerator leftovers seem to be safer than commercial dog food. Actually - some days I cook up a little
extra and mix it in their kibble. Spoiled? YUP - you bet.

[Rhincon]

More for deanabel82
The FDA did not find it through routine testing - they collected a sample at the plant as part of the CDC investigation. See the CDC report. Michigan Ag dept found the first contaminated bag. Ohio public health and ag found more contaminated bags. The first illness was reported back in October.
http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/dog-food-05-12/index.html

Salmonella can be spread if the equipment is not cleaned adequately or things are stored at the wrong temp or wrong humidity.

[JaysDogBear]

I too have spent almost $3000 in vet bills over the past 2 months because of this. I am going after them so if you would like to team up with me then please email me at jayspadaro at gmail dot com.

[leroybrownsmom]

The list of recalled dog food keeps growing...today Solid Gold recalled two products made in that same plant: http://www.findavet.us/2012/05/solid-gold-recalls-dog-food/

[Lerianis6]

Things like this should never happen. These food manufacturing plants need to be kept to the same standards as vaccine production plants, where no spills/messes are tolerated.

[deanabel82]

Tell me how salmonella can effect a dog or cat? Or even better tell me the biological difference between a wolf and dog? If you know the answers you then would know why no dogs have been affected. The funny thing is the people who feed dogs food with corn, will have higher chance of salmonella in there feces over a dog on a raw diet. Also, everyone should wash their hands after feeding their pets and if your dog eats poop don't let him kiss you.

[deanabel82]

How did a spill or mess affect this? If anything it shows how slow our FDA is at testing food. Plus salmonella won't affect most pets and won't be caused spread by spills. That is why us as omnivores need to cook our raw meat. Plus I hope you know pet vaccines kill animals almost everyday. Not because of their safety factors, but because we are putting a virus in the animal that can kill it. But senior and puppy pets sometimes can't handle it. Especially when their those 4 in 1 shots.