Preventing Pet Food Poisoning: One More Way to Safeguard the People in Your Family
If you are like my family, your dogs/cats are one of the family. But did you know, pet food can also be contaminated with potential foodborne illness causing pathogens? Pet food, either raw, dry, or canned, can harbor bacteria like Listeria and Salmonella. Pets can become ill from contaminated pet food, but people can also get sick from handling contaminated pet food.
When feeding your pet, here are some tips to stay healthy:
- Handwashing is key. Always wash your hands after handling pet food to prevent cross-contamination.
- Store your pet food away from human food. By separating your pet’s food from your food, you reduce the risk of cross-contamination.
- Use a clean scoop, not their bowl, to scoop pet food. If you use your pets used bowl, you risk transferring and contaminating the rest of the stored pet food.
- Follow storage instructions on the pet food labels.
- If you decide to feed your pet raw food, make sure to wash all surfaces after handling raw pet food, and don’t forget to wash your hands!
The CDC does not recommend feeding your pet raw food, but if you decide it’s best for your pet, here are some additional tips to keep you both safe:
- Keep your pet’s raw food frozen until its ready to be consumed
- Keep your pet’s food separated from your food in the freezer
- Thaw your pet’s food away from where you prepare your own food. To reduce the risk of cross contamination, avoid leaving their food on you counter tops.
Just like our food, microbes grow on contaminated pet food. When your pet is finished eating, do not leave the uneaten food sitting in their bowl. Discard uneaten food to prevent spoilage!
For more information about how to safety handle pet food, visit this like CDC’s webpage here: https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/publications/pet-food-safety.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Ffeatures%2Fpet-food-safety%2Findex.html
