Investigation of Salmonella contamination in dry dog foods marketed in Japan

Abstract

Salmonella are important pathogenic bacteria as cause of disease both for human and animal. If dogs fed Salmonella-contaminated food, dogs can shed Salmonella with feces. In 2012, there was an outbreak of human Salmonella enterica serotype Infantis infections related to exposure to dry dog foods in US and Canada. In other countries, surveillance of Salmonella-contaminated dry dog foods were carried out. However there are little reports on surveillance of Salmonella-contaminated dry dog foods in Japan. Therefore, we carried out investigation of Salmonella-contaminated dry dog foods in Japan. We carried out this surveillance following the procedure of procedure of FAMIC in accordance with Pet Food Safety Law. Sixty-three domestic samples and forty-seven imported samples were examined. The countries of origins of imported foods and samples were including the United States of America（n＝14）, the Netherlands（n＝7）, Thailand（n＝6）, Canada （n＝6）, France（n＝6）, Australia（n＝5）, Sweden（n＝2）and Czech（n＝1）. We did not detect Salmonella from any samples. In 2014, Nemser et al. reported one sample was positive for Salmonella in 480 dry and semimoist dog and cat foods in US. Although the risk of salmonellosis is low, adhering to safety recommendations will help to minimize the risk of infections with Salmonella. Therefore, a more in-depth investigation will be needed in Japan. And producers of dry dog foods should reduce the potential for contamination with Salmonella.