View report page

(22)
PET FOODS.
Some concern was felt in neighbouring districts following the incidence of
food poisoning cases when the suspected medium was pet meat or other pet foods.
In following this up the Department were asked by the Public Health Laboratory
Service if arrangements could be made for sampling to be carried out at a local
pet meat cold store.
The meat is stored under refrigeration, as received from the London docks,
in polythene bags within a sack. The meat was admitted to this Country under
licence, as fit for human consumption, but when received locally it is intended
only for pet food and is sold only to pet food shops.
Over a period of three months, some two hundred and twenty-six samples of
horse meat and beef from various countries were taken, and sixty-four samples
showed contamination by ten types of salmonellae organisms; some samples had two
types on them. Concurrently more detailed bacteriological sampling of this
type of meat was instituted at the London docks by the Port Health Authority.
The danger to public health in allowing into this country such contaminated
meat, even though not intended for human consumption, lies in the possibility of
contamination of the shopkeepers equipment which may then be used on meat etc.
for human consumption thus spreading the contamination. There is likely also
to be contamination of household equipment used for preparing the pet food,
draining boards, cutting boards, knives, etc. , and last but by no means least, it
has been shown that these organisms can be found in pet animals, probably through
feeding them with the raw meat.
It would therefore appear most desirable that good hygiene practices
including handwashing, should be even more particularly observed in households
where raw pet meat is used.
As a further matter of interest, the survey also included garden fertilisers
and it was found that 33% of the hoof and horn meal samples taken were similarly
infected. The risk of infection from this source is considered small, since
the person in the home normally handling it does not usually prepare food for
the family, and the meal is not usually kept close to food.