Mice Direct FDA Recall

[wolfy-hound]

You really missed all the facts presented, didn't you? There's sooo much wrong with your statements that I'm not going to attempt it, since you obviously aren't interested in anything but ranting and a massive vendetta.

*gives tinfoil for new hat* Have a nice day. I gotta go to work, where I shall attempt to touch all surfaces repeatedly and put my fingers into my mouth.. just to make you cringe.

[kellysballs]

I am going to start by saying I have absolutely no dog in this fight. I feed live. But some of the ignorance(I'm using this word in the nicest possible way) being spewed on this thread is a little more than I can take.

I am not trying to attack but to educate.

man you people are harsh look the other way when somebody goes and poisons over a dozen people in over a dozen states. but jump on the guy who say they need to get stricter rules to operate to make sure they keep people safe. guess everybody can see who could careless about other humans lives kids included.

Really? I mean REALLY????? You honestly think this way?
"somebody" didn't poison 17 people. 17 people did not practice effective hand washing or sanitary techniques when dealing with RAW DEAD ANIMALS.

also think about it how is washing your hands going to get rid of it you before you can wash your hands have to turn on the water then wash your hands then turn the water off so unless somebody figured out a hands free in-home water faucet. just washing your hands does no good cause you got to touch what was contaminated to turn the water on to wash your hands thus getting the virus back on your hands

Again you MUST be kidding, right?!? My 9yr old knows how to properly wash her hands. Please do yourself a favor take just one microbiology course. You'll feel better knowing how to properly wash your hands and sanitize your living area.

There are (according to Bergies Manual 9th edition) 1200 strains of Salmonella that exist. But a quick web search will tell you there are over 2500 species. Wonder which of them these 17 cases contracted?The only effective way to test which species is present is with antigens and that is expensive. You can test fairly inexpensively the type, but that will include MANY different species. Of the different types only certain ones are found in reptiles.

Here is an example: Last semester I was in Microbiology and I took an active air sample for bacteria inside the micro lab. (The micro lab is a very clean environment we sanitized floors, tables and counter tops daily.) Once I grew the bacteria colonies I collected, I tested it to see what I had. One of the bacteria types that grew on the plate was a species of Salmonella (didn't have antigens so I couldn't test it to the species level). And this was floating around in the air! So I really wonder just where these people actually contracted their strain of salmonella from.

Mice Direct seems to be taking the steps to deal with the problem but the fact of the matter is bacteria is every where and even once the rats are treated they will still have bacteria present. Especially when they sit on your counter all day and defrost.

The lesson to be learned here is WASH YOUR HANDS and SANITIZE YOUR AREA! Boycotts are not necessary, government oversight is not necessary. A little bit of personal responsibility is what is necessary here.

For those of you who are yelling about the mice direct facility being dirty, their animals being sick and Mice direct not following proper handling procedures for preparing their product.

I just want to know if you eat meat because I guarantee that the slaughter house your beef, chicken, pork and turkey come from is way nastier. Did you really think your hamburger came from a totally healthy cow ?

In the end it really doesn't matter if the rats are irradiated. You just can't regulate stupid. If people continue to not follow proper sanitation procedures when handling raw meat they will continue to get sick. Raw chicken for human consumption is irradiated, are you going to rub it all over your hands then eat a sandwich? No your probably not.

[jkobylka]

Being close to Mice Direct, I've been speaking with them throughout this process. A few things to remember:

1. FDA is on a hunt right now for salmonella in the pet food industry, because people handle the pet food. They are extremely thorough and I suspect that they would find contamination MANY rodent breeding operations. (On a side note, if salmonella is introduced to a colony at any point, *and there are MANY ways that can happen* there is no way to know you've eliminated it except by replacing the entire colony)
   
2. The rodents are extremely healthy, they are carriers of salmonella. Just like reptiles are.
   
3. The FDA microbiologist has assured them that this type of salmonella has no affect on reptiles, so there is no chance peoples reptiles will be affected
   
4. They have voluntarily began this irradiation process effectively deals with the salmonella. They are irradiating to levels that are even higher than what is required for human consumption. This process doesn't change the look, smell or taste of the rodents.

So in the end...

1. Yes they have a problem, it's a problem that only affects people who handle the rodents and do not wash their hands...
   
2. They are going above and beyond to fix the problem, possibly giving them one of the cleanest final product available.
   
3. They are happy to assist anyone who wishes to replace their recalled product with the new irradiated product.

I hope this is helpful!

Justin

[izoid]

I think the fact that the microbiologist has assured us that our reptiles will not be harmed by this strain is encouraging. My fear all along is not so much for myself but for my reptiles, even though I do lick each and evry rodent prior to feeding....just to ensure it tastes good.

[WingedWolfPsion]

Percentage of supermarket chicken contaminated with salmonella: 15%
Percentage of supermarket chicken contaminated with campylobacter: 80%

Where does salmonella come from?
Salmonella lives in the intestinal tracts of living animals. Some strains of salmonella are pathogenic (they cause disease), while others do not cause disease.

Salmonella contamination in meat occurs when the intestinal contents or feces come into contact with the meat.

Obviously a whole, frozen animal contains the entire gut contents, including the intestinal flora. If the animal is harboring any strain of salmonella, it will be ingested along with the gut contents. This is harmless to a snake, which cannot generally contract the strains of salmonella found in mammals.

In short, unless you are eating whole, raw rodents yourself, or are foolish enough not to wash your hands after handling them, you aren't going to catch salmonella from frozen feeders, and neither are your snakes.

Salmonella cannot be reliably tested for, because if it is present in an animal, it frequently is shed in cycles, and not all at once. A fecal test may come up clean one day, and contaminated the next.

By the way, every single last one of your frozen feeders from any supplier also contains e-coli bacteria. So do you. Tsk tsk.

[Aes_Sidhe]

Ehhh... I just try to be informative and this is why i post That info..
Now I see That we have little war going on here.. and That wasn't my intention at all... *sighs*