march 3rd 2021 the fda released an announcement.
bravo raw pet food is recalling two products because of potential
salmonella and listeria bacteria contamination.
but i still advocate feeding raw. let me explain!
hey friends it's jess and jericho here with a pet food recall update.
yes i still advocate feeding raw
even though raw cat foods are recalled for listeria and salmonella bacteria.
here's why.
so the fda says that no human or animal illnesses have been reported.
and before we talk about bacteria i want to go back to a
pet food recall that happened earlier this year.
except that pet food recall was for kibble.
in december 2020 a company called midwestern
pet foods recalled a bunch of products because of the contamination of aflatoxin mold.
and they issued this recall after dogs were being reported seriously ill and dying.
so the initial recall started with i believe it was
six different products across two different brands manufactured by midwestern pet foods.
and then a month later january 2021 they expanded that recall to 19 different
products across six different brands and again this is one manufacturing company.
lots of lot numbers were included in this recall
so that could potentially mean thousands of tons of pet food.
these recalls happened because dogs were already seriously ill and dying.
in the case of this bravo raw pet food it's being recalled because the fda was inspecting
the facility, tested a sample of the product, and it tested positive for salmonella and listeria.
the point that i want to make here is that cat food recalls due to aflatoxin mold
happened because pets were already sick and dying.
but raw food is typically recalled because the fda tests a sample and a test positive.
but typically no human or animal illnesses are reported.
so why doesn't the fda test kibble?
i mean if they tested the kibble during an inspection and found the aflatoxin mold
they could have recalled the products.
and not as many pets had to die or become sick.
as of january 2021 the fda is aware of over 200 illnesses and over 100
deaths because of this kibble recall due to aflatoxin mold.
so just based on these two recalls alone
the kibble recall is much more dangerous than the raw pet food recall.
and what's interesting to me is that the fda, the cdc, the avma, the aafco,
all of these organizations advise against raw feeding due to bacterial contamination risks.
but they don't advise against kibble feeding even though aflatoxin mold is absolutely deadly.
so now i want to get a little deeper into salmonella and listeria.
so the cdc says that there's over
500 strains of salmonella and less than 100 of these serotypes actually cause human illnesses.
so over 2500 different strains less than 100 actually cause illness.
that is equal to not point not four percent. very small amount.
that's not to say that it isn't serious. but it's very very small.
and salmonellosis kills around 400 people per year in the us.
but most of those outbreaks are linked directly to human foods not pet foods.
things like poultry products, dairy products, egg products.
but even stuff you wouldn't think cereals, fruits and vegetables,
legumes, wheat stuff, and even ice cream.
all of these different types of human food products have been recalled due to salmonella.
because they're linked directly to salmonellosis outbreaks.
and the problem here is that the fda doesn't tell us which stereotype
of salmonella we're dealing with.
they just say salmonella.
listeria on the other hand they do tell us the strain listeria monocytogenes.
so listeria monocytogenes kills around 200 people per year according to the cdc.
so that's about half the amount of salmonellosis deaths.
but most of those outbreaks again are linked to human food products not raw pet food.
additionally the fda even says that salmonellosis is rare in cats and dogs.
symptoms include fever, diarrhea, vomiting,
and your pet might not have as much energy, and he might lose his appetite.
the fda even says that listeriolosis is rare in cats and dogs.
same symptoms as salmonellosis except in severe cases it can cause death.
so listeria is more dangerous than salmonella.
but again even the fda says that it's rare in cats and dogs.
the problem here is that salmonella and listeria are shed in the feces so your pet may not be sick.
but if he carries the bacteria, sheds it through his feces, you clean up after him,
and then you don't wash her hands, you're likely to get sick from it.
but we should be washing our hands anyway.
so going back to the aflatoxin mold kibble recall
that affected over 300 pets within a two-month period.
but salmonella kills around 400 people over an entire 12-month period.
and listeria kills around 200 people over a 12-month period.
so based on these numbers that the cdc and the fda provides,
aflatoxin mold in kibble is way more dangerous than salmonella and listeria in raw pet food.
now again i'm not saying that bacteria isn't harmful.
i'm not saying that cats and dogs are completely immune to it.
but they have a much greater chance of survival with bacteria than they do aflatoxin mold.
and again the fda says that salmonella listeria disease in cats and dogs is rare.
not to mention kibble's been recalled hundreds of thousands of times for the same exact bacteria.
additionally toxic or deficient levels of vitamins and minerals,
plastic choking hazards, again this deadly mold aflatoxin, and euthanasia drugs.
so here are some questions i'd like to leave you with.
why does the fda crack down on raw pet foods for bacteria?
and then they advise against feeding it but they don't do the same for kibble.
why doesn't the fda crack down on kibble for aflatoxin mold contamination?
why doesn't the fda, cdc, avma, and aafco warn against kibble feeding?
when they warn against raw feeding.
kibble has the same if not more serious risks.
let me know your thoughts in the comments below. thanks for watching!