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Webcast | Virtual

Event Title
Jerky Pet Treats and illness in dogs: a collaborative approach to investigating a mysterious outbreak
December 13, 2018

Date:
December 13, 2018
Organized By:

Prior FDA Grand Rounds presentation

Presented by

Lee Anne M. Palmer, VMD, MPH
Supervisory Veterinary Medical Officer
Div. of Veterinary Product Safety
Office of Surveillance and Compliance
FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine

Webcast Lecture

Jerky Pet Treats and illness in dogs:  a collaborative approach to investigating a mysterious outbreak

About the Presentation

In 2007, FDA experienced one of the biggest recalls in its history – the recall of melamine-contaminated pet foods.  Although the expert and concerted efforts of many in and outside of FDA led to massive pet food recalls in record time, the outbreak revealed a gap in FDA’s ability to detect pet food-related adverse events early. There is no CDC for animals, and apart from USDA’s monitoring of foreign and food animal diseases, there is no national system for monitoring of disease in dogs and cats.  The need for FDA--which regulates pet food in the US--to have an early warning and surveillance system for pet food-related adverse events became apparent.  FDA’s new Pet Food Early Warning and Surveillance system was developed and put to the test over the next several years with the Jerky Pet Treat outbreak.

FDA developed centralized complaint review and analysis systems and collaborated with scientists from industry and academia along with international and national government agencies like the CDC, to investigate this mysterious outbreak.  Major shifts in the jerky pet treat market occurred because of this investigation, leading to more domestic sourcing and greater controls on the ingredient supply chain, after which complaint numbers fell sharply.

This presentation describes the investigation’s findings, including the collaborative approach developed that has helped FDA with new outbreaks of pet food-related illnesses.  Due to an increasingly globalized food and ingredient supply chain and the typically limited diet pets eat, pet food can be a significant early indicator of major food quality issues.

About the Presenter

Dr. Palmer leads the Adverse Event Review Team in FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine. She helped develop the Center's Pet Food Early Warning and Surveillance System, the Pet Event Tracking Network (PETNet) and the PV-Analyser tool CVM uses for adverse drug event analysis. In her 15-year career at FDA, Dr. Palmer's work has encompassed the Jerky Pet Treat investigation, among other pet food issues . She is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, obtaining her MPH from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She is a member of the Phi Zeta Veterinary Honor Society, the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, and the Delta Omega Honor Society for Public Health.

 
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