Locally produced brands of cat and dog food are linked to an ongoing salmonellosis outbreak, federal and state officials said Tuesday.
Most people sickened nationwide had contact with dry cat and dog foods produced at the Mars Petcare U.S. plant in Everson, but not with the two dog foods recalled last week. The suspect brands have not been identified.
"This is not information that is consistent with our information," said Mars Petcare spokeswoman Alice Nathanson, who declined further comment and refused to say how many brands of pet foods have been produced at the Everson plant.
Last week, the company recalled 5-pound bags of Krasdale Gravy Dry Dog Food and 50-pound bags of Red Flannel Large Breed Adult Formula dry dog food.
In the past 18 months, 66 people nationwide -- including 25 in Pennsylvania -- have been sickened by the Salmonella Schwarzengrund bacteria. Scientists connect victims to the food that causes illness by genetic testing.
Mars Petcare recalled the two brands after the Food and Drug Administration found the same strain of salmonella in those products.
However, none of the people sickened in Pennsylvania and 17 other states had contact with either of the recalled dog foods, said Ian Williams, head of the outbreak team at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Enteric Diseases Epidemiology Branch, and Claudine Battisti, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
"The question is: Is there broader contamination of the foods here?" Williams said.
The source of the Salmonella Schwarzengrund bacteria -- whether an ingredient or something at the plant -- has not been determined, according to Williams and Daniel McChesney, director of the FDA's Office of Surveillance and Compliance in the Center for Veterinary Medicine.
The FDA, which regulates pet food and conducts investigations to determine which products caused an outbreak, has finished its investigation and is not planning to test ingredients of the suspect pet foods unless the agency gets more information suggesting a potential source, McChesney said.
Pet foods contain some of the same ingredients used in human foods. Some of the people sickened in the outbreak have not come in contact with any pet foods, Williams said.
Asked if pet foods that haven't been recalled could be contaminated, he said, "I'm not allowed to make that supposition."
This is the first time human illnesses have been linked to pet food, Williams said. Three outbreaks -- one in the United States and Canada and two just in Canada -- have been linked to pet treats, he said.
The CDC is studying how people become infected from pet food, including where human and pet foods are prepared, hand-washing practices, where pets are fed and whether pets sleep in people's beds, Williams said.
Environmental testing by the Pennsylvania Department of Health found the same unusual strain of salmonella at the plant as the FDA found in lots of two dry dog foods made there, McChesney said.
The FDA previously tested the plant and foods made there and found no salmonella and no problems, he said. The company voluntarily closed the plant for cleaning after salmonella was found there earlier this month, McChesney said, and the FDA will inspect the plant after it reopens.
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