Recalled pet food poses health risks to animals and humans
Raw frozen ground pet food is being recalled because it may be contaminated with listeria monocytogenes and may pose a danger to both animals and humans. Thogersen Family Farm, based in Stanwood, Washington, is recalling several varieties of its pet food after samples collected by the Washington State Department of Agriculture revealed the pet food products contained listeria monocytogenes.
Varieties of the Thogersen Family Farm pet food being recalled include coarse ground rabbit, coarse ground mallard duck, ground llama, and ground pork frozen raw pet food. These products were packaged in two-pound packs that did not contain any lot identification, batch codes, or expiration date. The product packages are rectangular-shaped clear plastic with one large white square label containing the company name, product type, and weight. These pet food varieties had been stored frozen and were sold to individual customers as well as two retail establishments.
Consumers who have packages of these pet food varieties should not handle them or feed them to their pets. Listeria monocytogenes can affect animals eating the products and there is risk to humans from handling contaminated pet products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surfaces exposed to these products.
Listeria monocytogenes infections can cause humans to experience symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Pets with Listeria monocytogenes infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever, and abdominal pain. Infected but otherwise healthy pets can be carriers and infect other animals or humans.
