Why can’t FDA confirm the number of animals affected?
Unlike with human food, there is no surveillance network for FDA to rely on to confirm cases of illness or death. When there is an outbreak of illness from human food, FDA receives assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state departments of health to trace the illness and determine the cause. FDA’s complaint system is designed to identify emerging problems and does not provide data on the patterns and causes of disease (epidemiologic data) that would enable FDA to conclusively link illness or death with a specific product. FDA’s primary concern in this type of situation is making sure the recall is effective, providing information to the public, and preventing additional contaminated products from being imported and getting into pet food, animal feed, or human food.
