Salmonella can affect animals eating contaminated products as well as the humans who handled the sickened animals or the infected product. In people, the salmonella infection causes symptoms including nausea, vomiting, bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever; in rare cases, it can cause more serious ailments. Affected pets may become lethargic and have diarrhea, fever and vomiting.
"Testing by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development revealed that aging bulk pig-ear product in one of our stores tested positive for salmonella," Pet Supplies said. "We have pulled bulk pig-ear product from the shelves of all of our stores and have stopped shipping bulk pig ears from our distribution center."
Bulk pig ears were distributed to Pet Supplies Plus stores in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and West Virginia.
To read more about the outbreak, go here.