Smith Says | Columnists | Summerville Journal Scene

Printer friendly version |

E-mail to a friend

Smith Says

Published Tuesday, August 17, 2010 2:25 PM

By Julie R. Smith
Summerville Journal Scene ®

Kids are—or were--getting sick from pet food.

I believe it; I’ve sampled a Milk-Bone or two in my time.

In my experience, children will eat anything that isn’t hissing at them. When I was a kid, there were very few things I didn’t bite or taste. Frogs, celery, stewed okra… that’s about it.

I used to eat raw potatoes as fast as Mama could peel ‘em, and drank Carnation cream straight from the can. (I also once licked an electrical outlet, which probably explains a lot right there.)

My beloved brother, T-Bob, was hooked on raw, diced turnips and black licorice. One day he also ate a nickel and was trundled off to the emergency room by our parents. (You’d think at 45, he’d have known better. Just kidding!)

The ER doc informed the ‘rents that the coin would emerge in due time. A week later Dad got a bill for $40. He sent a check for $39.95 plus a shiny new nickel, displaying a sense of humor few people knew he had. He was a serious dude, Dad was.

My cousin Tammy Marie loved boiled peanuts, shell and all. From the time she was 3 years old, Uncle Husted would boil green peanuts just for her, until the shells were about as limp as rope. Then she gobbled them whole. She was eating fiber before fiber was cool.

Cousin Iggy—that’s his real name, I swear—liked to suck the sulphur out of match heads.

None of us ate grass or dirt or laundry starch (that I know of). That’s called pica: the overwhelming craving for things not regarded as food in polite society. I did once date a boy who came from a family of clay-eaters in Georgia.

Back to the pet food: According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control, dry pet food was linked to a salmonella outbreak that made 79 people sick between 2006 and 2008. Roughly 50 percent of the sufferers were 2 or younger. Thankfully, all 79 recovered.

The Mars Petcare US plant in Pennsylvania, which produced the bad food, closed in 2008 after inspectors couldn’t determine how the contamination occurred.

Here’s the kicker: Researchers insist there’s no solid evidence the victims got sick from eating pet food, but come on! I’ll bet the kiddoes were crawling around nibbling kibble like nobody’s business.

Officials say they became infected by touching pets who ate the contaminated food, or by touching dirty pet dishes and then touching their mouths. For the adult patients, okay, I’ll buy that. For the little ‘uns, not so much. (Ironically, there were no reports of pets getting sick.)

It’s tough to keep everything out of the mouths of babes. Those little suckers are fast, and they’re a lot closer to the floor than we are.

One day mama walked through the den and saw my brother, Bubba, 6 years old, gnawing on a Nylabone she’d bought for Bella, his little terrier.

“Onnit she wha whyka sneeze mo such,” Bubba explained. (Which apparently translated to, “I wanted to see why she likes these so much.”)

Mama didn’t miss a beat. “No drooling in the house, son,” she said. “Take it outside.” Which, of course, he did. Gnawing all the way.

Julie R. Smith, who once accidentally ate Elmer’s glue, can be reached at widdleswife@aol.com.

Comments

Notice about comments:

Journalscene.com ® is pleased to offer readers the enhanced ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. Journalscene.com ® does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not Journalscene.com ®. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website.

Users can now build user-to-user connections, follow friends' recent posts, add an avatar that fits their personality, and more. If you have posted here before you'll need to sign up again, or if you've never posted before, start now by reading our terms and conditions, and then signing up below!

Full terms and conditions can be read here.

Poll Question

For entertainment, I mainly go out in...

Most Viewed
Most Commented

104 East Doty Avenue | Summerville, SC 29483 | 843-873-9424 office | 843-873-9432 fax