Abstract
A substantial percentage of dog owners add water to dry dog food to increase its palatability. The recent association of Salmonella contamination of dry pet foods with salmonellosis cases in both dogs and their owners has generated a need to determine the ability of Salmonella to grow in eight commercial brands of rehydrated dry dog food. Eight brands of commercial dry dog food were rehydrated to 20, 35 and 50% added moisture, inoculated with two S. enterica strains (~105 CFU/g) and incubated for 72 h at 18 °C, 22 °C, or 28 °C. Dog food brand, moisture content, and temperature affected pathogen growth/survival patterns. Rehydration to 20% moisture did not support growth of S. enterica, and in general there was a 0.5–2.0 Log decline. At 35% moisture and 28 °C, 4 of 8 brands supported up to 3.4 Log(CFU/g) of growth, while Salmonella levels declined in three brands, and remained unchanged in one. Rehydration to 50% moisture at 28 °C supported increases of up to 4.6 Log(CFU/g) in 5 of 8 brands. Growth kinetics determinations with two of the brands that supported growth had calculated lag times, generation times, and maximum population densities of 4.4 and 2.2 h, 1.4 and 10.8 h, and 7.3 and 6.9 Log(CFU/g) when rehydrated to 35% moisture and held at 30 °C. Results of this study establish that the rehydration of dry dog food with sufficient amounts of water may support the growth of S. enterica. Based on the most rapid observed lag times, growth of Salmonella, if present, in rehydrated dog food could be avoided by discarding or refrigerating uneaten portions within 2–3 h of rehydration. These data allow accidental or intentional rehydration of dry dog food to be factored into predictive microbiology models and exposure assessments.
Highlights
A substantial percentage of dog owners add water to dry dog food to increase its palatability
Oni et al International Journal of Food Contamination (2016) 3:20 development of “what-if” scenarios for an exposure assessment for S. enterica in dry dog food (Lambertini et al 2016c), the purposeful or incidental wetting of the product was evaluated as a potential factor affecting the levels of Salmonella in the product in the home environment, and potential human and pet exposure
The current study clearly demonstrates that rehydration of dry dog food may support the growth of S. enterica if present
Summary
A substantial percentage of dog owners add water to dry dog food to increase its palatability. The recent association of Salmonella contamination of dry pet foods with salmonellosis cases in both dogs and their owners has generated a need to determine the ability of Salmonella to grow in eight commercial brands of rehydrated dry dog food. Investigations of two related, multi-state outbreaks of human salmonellosis in 2006 and 2008 identified dry dog food as the source of infection (CDC U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2008). Oni et al International Journal of Food Contamination (2016) 3:20 development of “what-if” scenarios for an exposure assessment for S. enterica in dry dog food (Lambertini et al 2016c), the purposeful or incidental wetting of the product was evaluated as a potential factor affecting the levels of Salmonella in the product in the home environment, and potential human and pet exposure. No data were available to quantify the degree and extent of S. enterica growth under such circumstances
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