Human illness has been confirmed linked to the illegal pet food ingredients allowed by FDA into pet food – but the FDA or the CDC isn’t warning anyone.
Multiple cases of human illness have been confirmed – directly linked to bacterial contamination of pet food ingredients, but it’s not a bacteria you’ve heard much about. It’s much more dangerous.
This deadly bacteria is Francisella tularensis, better known as Tularemia. To current day (9/6/2019) multiple individuals have been diagnosed (confirmed through blood testing) with tularemia that either worked for, delivered to, or is a family member (of someone who worked for or delivered to) the closed Mars Petcare pet food plant located in Joplin, MO (closed in July 2013).
It is significant to note – the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Kansas Health Department confirmed to multiple individuals they were exposed to the deadly bacteria at the pet food plant. The CDC also provided information to several individuals the bacteria source has been traced back to the pet food ingredient supplier.
The most recent diagnosis was in August 2019.
Why hasn’t FDA or CDC issued a public warning?
Tularemia is a bacteria, similar to other bacteria that FDA and CDC commonly issues warnings about (such as Salmonella). But tularemia is VERY different from Salmonella in that it is a bacteria classified by U.S. Homeland Security as a “Potential Bioterror Threat Category A” – the highest risk category, the same risk category as Ebola and Anthrax. Tularemia bacteria spreads easily in dust. As few as 5 to 10 bacteria inhaled in dust can infect a person (as compared to more than 1,000 Salmonella bacteria consumed to cause illness).
Tularemia can be spread by sick animals, ticks, mosquito’s – and as it has turned out, pet food ingredients contaminated with tularemia through the diseased animals FDA openly allows to be processed into pet food (“diseased animals and animals that have died otherwise than by slaughter“). Rendered, powdered/dusty pet food ingredients sourced from diseased animals…the perfect storm for tularemia bacteria.
It is unknown why the FDA refuses to acknowledge the facts of human tularemia illnesses confirmed to be linked to the illegal pet food ingredients the agency allows. It is assumed the agency doesn’t want to accept responsibility for confirmed human illnesses. But what is even more concerning, is why the CDC has not notified the 100+ former employees of this Mars Petcare pet food plant AND the employees of the ingredient supplier.
Tularemia – diagnosed and treated promptly – is not a serious health concern. But the same cannot be said for the bacteria that is undiagnosed/untreated for any length of time. Left untreated, infected individuals can suffer a long list of health problems including heart attack and stroke. Thus the serious concern for anyone unknowingly exposed to this bacteria.
Who has been warned they were exposed to tularemia bacteria?
Unfortunately, only a small handful of people have been alerted. And those were contacted by a group of individuals (myself included) across the U.S. that have been working behind the scenes to uncover this deadly bacteria cover-up. Our work to alert people has NOT been a simple or safe task.
Listening devices have been found in homes, 2 dogs have been poisoned, 2 cats have been killed, someone’s windshield was shot out while driving – the bullet grazed the hood, front doors of homes have been shot through, tires slashed, security cameras stolen, some are followed/tailed everywhere they go. One year ago my adult daughter’s life was threatened – ‘they’ called her by name. Do you know my daughter’s name? You probably don’t…but someone that doesn’t want us talking about tularemia does. A few weeks ago, a similar threat was received in graphic detail (so graphic the person who received the phone call wouldn’t share exactly what was said) – this time it was for me and another. Six days ago, another was sharing with me special moments about their cat – how special this once feral cat was to them. Two days later (9/2/2019) the cat was gruesomely decapitated in their backyard. We have repeatedly gone to the proper officials for help, with repeated lack of action.
And we have repeatedly shared everything we learn, positive tularemia diagnosis results with the proper pet food authorities. Missouri Department of Agriculture (state authority the pet food plant was located in), and FDA. We even have provided full details to the Senate Committee for Homeland Security and Government Accountability. But not one government authority has lifted a finger to warn the former employees of the pet food plant, their families, or residents in the area.
Facts Ignored.
Multiple former employees of the Mars Petcare pet food plant in Joplin, MO have been diagnosed with tularemia – confirmed to them by the CDC and/or the Kansas Health Department their exposure was from rendered pet food ingredients (meat and bone meal).
There are more than 100 other former employees that have not been notified they were exposed to tularemia at the plant. An unknown number of delivery drivers, family members, local residents have not been notified of their potential exposure. If they are sick with tularemia, left untreated they will die because of the bacteria.
Tularemia can survive for decades in soil and water. It is unknown if the soil around the former pet food plant or water in the area is contaminated. Because all authorities have remained silent – done NOTHING – many more people (and their pets) could be exposed right now.
The FDA’s allowed use of “diseased animals and animals that have died otherwise than by slaughter” in pet food IS the foundation of the confirmed human illnesses and potentially many human illnesses.
What you can do to help.
Below is a map of the area, the red marker in the center is the location of the former Mars Petcare pet food plant.
If you know any former employee of this pet food plant, please notify them they were exposed to the bacteria tularemia. If you know anyone that lives in this area, please notify them to the potential of being exposed to tularemia. If they have any of the following symptoms (or any long lasting, unexplained illness), it should be reported to the local Health Department and they should seek immediate medical attention from an infectious disease specialist.
Symptoms include: unexplained and repeating fever, small lumps/bumps/lesions on arms, legs or back, or large lumps around or on lymph nodes, ongoing flu-like symptoms, unexplained high white blood cell count. Left untreated for several years tularemia can lead to heart attack and stroke.
Any help pet owners can provide to notify individuals of the pet food plant and/or living in this area is greatly appreciated. You could just save someone’s life.
We cannot say more people are sick, we can only assume there are more based on confirmed exposure to the pet food ingredient dust at and around the former Mars Petcare plant. We do not know exactly how dangerous this situation is for people in the Joplin, MO area. We assume, based on the ongoing and increased threats and attacks – it is extremely serious. We also do not know with certainty if a similar risk exists to people working for/living around other pet food plants or the rendering facilities that produce ingredients sourced from diseased animals (allowed by FDA). Again, based on the ongoing and increased threats and attacks, we assume the risk exists.
We will continue to investigate and will share everything we learn with pet owners and with authorities.
By the way, pets can get tularemia too and it will likely go undiagnosed. Before this current situation, it was believed cats and dogs only contracted tularemia through exposure of a sick or dead infected animal. It is currently unknown (not previously studied) if a pet can contract tularemia from an infected pet food, we safely assume the risk exists. Click Here for a 2017 post from Dr. Jean Dodds on the risk of tularemia in our pets (written prior to knowledge of this pet food ingredient exposure).
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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~Pet Owner~
September 6, 2019 at 4:20 pm
This is the most important article you’ve ever written. Long time in coming. Holding very serious implications for all PF consumers.
Maybe the author can’t say it directly. But I will. Quit kibble. And never look back.
Susan, you’ve taken a huge risk. Stay safe.
Jenn Hahn
September 7, 2019 at 3:20 pm
When people stop buying this filthy companies “foods”, this will stop. Wake up people, and listen to those who know and care enough to take the time to share the truth.
Wendy
September 6, 2019 at 4:21 pm
Would it help to take this to mainstream media? They are more apt to expose it than the government who will only cover it up. This is serious! Thank you for all your hard work and passion.
T Allen
September 6, 2019 at 7:23 pm
Absolutely! We need to get this info spread widely ASAP and the media is the one to do it! Too bad we can’t get Dateline or 60 Minutes or similar involved! Maybe Rachel Ray and other pet loving celebrities too.
Cheryl Bond
September 6, 2019 at 8:20 pm
I’m very sorry to inform you, but the MSM is just as corrupt & propagandized as Big Petfood!
Pretty much EVERYTHING you hear in the Fake Stream Mockingbird Media is a manipulated viewpoint. We’re told what they want us to know, & how they want us to believe! Literally 6 major corporations own ALL of the media outlets here in the U.S.
My suggestion to you, if you want to help spread this to as many people as possible, is to contact a plethora of independent journalists. Some well known, other’s, not “mass” known, but have a far reach with their large audiences on YouTube. Here are some that I suggest you contact.
**I’d do it myself, but I have one of my cats dying, & 8 new rescue kittens I have to socialize, & not ANY time to do anything else.
**Sharyl Attkisson
**Liz Crokin
**Ben Swan~ (Truth in Media)
**Jon Rapopport
**The HighWire w/ Del Bigtree
**The SGT REPORT
**Sarah Westall
**Victurus Libertas
**Dana Ashlie
Cheryl Bond
September 6, 2019 at 5:04 pm
This obviously is a very serious situation! People & their beloved pets lives wouldn’t be being threatened, assaulted, & murdered! if this wasn’t BIG!
Firstly, heart goes out to the person whose beloved cat was GRUESOMELY & HEINOUSLY decapitated! OMG! I cannot even imagine the pain of having to go through that! There are no words! ?? I’m Sending prayers for the healing of your heart. ?
I pray that the other pets that were CRUELY poisoned are recovering, & will be ok! ?
It’s DISPICABLE that authorities have done NOTHING! to investigate these violent attrocities, & blatant threats! It SICKENS me, the endemic deceitful corruption at the highest levels!
I hope that the information in this post will be able to be spread far & wide!, so that many lives can be saved! Thank you, Susan.
May ALL of you out there, that are working to uncover these poisonings, stay safe & protected! ?
Laurie Raymond
September 6, 2019 at 5:09 pm
You want to force the issue into the open. I suggest contacting reps for the products that were made at this plant during the period when the first known cases were revealed. Reps for the pet food companies “reward” retailers who promote those brands by giving them tours of the manufacturing facility. I strongly suspect these reps and their retailer-customers would be outraged by these facts, and you would instantly have a very large, savvy and articulate base of interested parties demanding a public investigation. You never can predict where the spark that ignites the fire comes from in cases like this. You just have to keep striking sparks. Something will catch. And your safety and those working with you is obviously at risk until this sees the light of day.
Sandor
September 6, 2019 at 5:19 pm
What an absolutely horrifying story. And God bless you for bringing it out into the open and risking your own well being in the process. (Not to mention your family) I have noticed your articles appearing in the Google news app so maybe this will be picked up by the mainstream media. In fact, I think I will forward this to a news agency. Thank you for the selfless work you do.
Anne
September 6, 2019 at 5:21 pm
OMG. I am horrified but not really surprised….. please be careful
Caroline Snyder, West Virgimian Duck Farmer
September 6, 2019 at 6:54 pm
Thank You Susan! I would like to add that I started my Facebook group (LINK BELOW) in early 2013, several months before the Mars Petcare plant was closed, after reports of hundreds of dogs dying after the owners fed them Beneful. The MAIN protein source at that time, and since changed, was “Meat and Bonemeal”. One wonders about whether this came from the same supplier as the one used by Mars?
Certainly, other factors at that time that I considered in 2013 were contaminated “Oils” – Propylene Glycol was used at that time in several Purina dry dog foods and there is STILL the FDA loophole enabling the feeding of Industrial grade product (PG, Glycerin, Sorbitol) to dogs. Also, the possibility of Jatropha toxins from oils derived from that substrate. ALSO, Endotoxins from the use of 4-D products and meals was another consideration, but I am wondering now just how widespread this could be.
I wrote a description, but it looks like it needs to be amended with this new bacterial contamination issue.
By the way, I have also been harassed and intimidated., from nasty emails and telephone threats, to having my house put up for sale on Craigslist by auction… they even got aerial photos that had been taken not long before we started getting calls from potential buyers.. at that point we got the police involved, and Craigslist were forced to remove the listing!
This is my original description of Meat and Bone Meal:
MEAT AND BONE MEAL, 1 Star – Meat and Bonemeal is NOT “Meat” in ANY sense! It is a By-product of the rendering process (high temperature cooking of carcases and sundry animal remains). It is (species) non-descriptive. This can indicate 4-D Animals.. Dead, Dying, Disease, Dying and Disabled. It can legally include tumorous or diseased tissues plus bone meal can NOT be digested and assimilated well for calcium! It is BANNED for use in animal feedstuffs in most European countries due to its link with Spongiform Encephalopathies (think BSE or “MadCow Disease”). It IS banned in the US as a ruminant feeed (your cows etc) Meat and bone meal is now utilized in Europe as a fossil-fuel replacement, and is commonly used as a fuel in cement kilns, landfilling and in incinerators. It was previously used as a fertiliser until the BSE outbreak when it was banned. In the US it is principally used as a low-cost protein source in dog food and cat food. There is NO testing on Meat and Bonemeal.. it is not required. The euthanising drug Pentobarbitol has been found in Meat and Bonemeal. It will also contain insecticides used as parasite control on animals as well as the drugs used to treat sickness that are present
in a dead animal. From the EPA themselves: “Meat rendering plants process animal by-product materials for the production of tallow, grease, and high-protein meat and bone meal. Plants that operate in conjunction with animal slaughterhouses or poultry processing plants are called integrated rendering plants. Plants that collect their raw materials from a variety of offsite sources are called independent rendering plants. Independent plants obtain animal by-product materials, including rancid cooking grease, blood, feathers, offal, and entire animal carcasses, from the following sources: butcher shops, supermarkets, restaurants, zoos, fast-food chains, poultry processors, slaughterhouses, farms, ranches, feedlots, and animal shelters.” Much of Big Petfood’s Meat and Bonemeal comes from China these days where it can be purchased at a ridiculously low $400 per ton. Over there, it could easily contain metal, plastics, cats and dogs, and have a very high heavy metal content. NOT good! WILL most likely contain Endotoxins (produced by Gram Negative Bacteria such as E. Coli) and these are NOT destroyed by high temperature rendering; severe sickness and organ failure can result!)
Andi
September 6, 2019 at 7:13 pm
Thank you for letting us know about the dangers associated with Dry Pet Food. I wish that people would really consider cooking for their dogs and cats and actually KNOW what the quality REALLY is in the food we feed to all the ones we love!
Marilyn kopp
September 6, 2019 at 7:23 pm
Keep up the good work. It is horrific that you and your family are being threatened for exposing this and for warning people at risk.
Lynn
September 6, 2019 at 9:25 pm
Are any of the feeds still on the market? Can a dog get sick from it? What brands? I haven’t fed kibble for 9 years but I have friend that do.
Susan Thixton
September 6, 2019 at 9:31 pm
Any ingredient sourced from diseased animals could be at risk to be tularemia contaminated (these are the ingredients allowed by FDA). Unfortunately, we have no idea what pet foods that could be. And yes, dogs and cats can get tularemia.
Amy
September 7, 2019 at 9:27 am
Have you ever had a dog get sick with a liver infection that couldn’t be explained? Have you ever known someone who’s cat went into fatty liver for no reason? How about enlarged spleen? Unexplained fever? The list of possible symptoms is long. These animals get sick, they get antibiotics, no one is any wiser. Some of them recover. Some do not. The repercussions of this are huge!!
Faith Jones
September 6, 2019 at 10:39 pm
Susan, you are so diligent in researching and pointing out the dangers in the pet food industry. I commend your intellect and advocacy. Please be careful for you and your family. It is sad when you can’t state facts without horrible threats!
~Reader~
September 7, 2019 at 4:03 am
To all TAPF followers: You think about what you’ve read here. And then ask yourself where else have you ever read anything like it. I doubt that you have.
This isn’t just one more PFI issue (bad enough as all of it is). But about much more. Meaning, a battle between corruption and the truth. Susan can only be protected to the degree that TAPF followers continue to spread the message. And refuse to accept the products that the criminal behavior of the PFI have generated.
This is about people’s lives! As well as pets.
K. Ryan
September 7, 2019 at 10:22 am
Mars corporation should be out of business. If they allow this sort of thing in one area of the company they will allow it in others. Obviously the only thing they care about is the money.
Also the cat that was killed by these monsters should not have been outside on the first place.
This doesn’t say much for the state of Missouri. The state government needs to get involved.
Catherine Janke
September 7, 2019 at 6:37 pm
How do you know what brands are involved?
Susan Thixton
September 7, 2019 at 10:26 pm
Pedigree and brands for Walmart was made at the Joplin plant.
Pamela Goldie
September 9, 2019 at 3:46 am
I’m British, I saw and read this as I do all of Susan’s posts and obviously am horrified, but no longer shocked, the ‘land of the free’ is owned by a few billion dollar corporations, and until someone can think of a suitable disposal method for the billions of animal carcasses left over by the human food industry this won’t change. My thoughts on this are… Top levels of your government are instructing the FDA in the policies due to this one reason. What do you do with billions of kilos/tons of cows, pigs, sheep, chicken etc etc bones and cartilage and veins once the human food industry has taken their cut? You can’t burn it, it would be a health issue to humans, you can’t bury it, that much decomposing remains would eventually leak into the water table and contaminate the water, you can’t grind up and use as fertilizer as you have made cow disease and probably loads of others to worry about. So… What do you do with it all, it’s a monstrous amount of waste you aren’t able to dispose of, animal food/feed. Solve that problem and you’ll start getting governments on your side. This is only my opinion, I don’t know nearly enough as Susan but this is how I see it all. ? P.s. I’m a tiny raw dog food manufacturer in Great Britain. If I can help I will. Pam X Stay strong Susan and her supporters.