Pet food recalled in salmonella case

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GASTON, S.C., May 5 (UPI) -- Diamond Pet Foods issued a recall of batches of its dry food in response to a salmonella outbreak the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says sickened 14 people.

The CDC said an investigation of 10 of the people infected with Salmonella Infantis determined seven of them had been in contact with a dog or dog food in the week before becoming ill. Four of those identified Diamond Pet Food as the type of dry pet food with which they had been in contact.

Public health investigators determined the salmonella found in the human cases matched the salmonella found in an unopened bag of Diamond Naturals dog food by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the CDC said in a statement Thursday.

Of the 14 reported cases of Salmonella Infantis, five were hospitalized. No deaths were reported, the CDC said.

The pet food company said the recall affects products distributed from its South Carolina facility to Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Canada. It is possible the products could have been transferred to other states, Diamond Pet Foods said in a statement released Friday.

If a bag of pet food contains the number 2 or 3 in the 9th or 10th digit of the production code or an "X" in the 11th digit, the product should be discarded, the company said.