More than three dozen people in 18 states have been struck by salmonella after handling frozen rodents traced back to a Florida company. Five of the patients were hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Reptile Industries Inc., a family-run business in Naples, sells frozen mice and rats on its own website and through PetSmart as food for pet snakes and other large reptiles. The products bear the brand name "Arctic Mice."
The company says it is cooperating with the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration investigations, and has issued a recall notice for one batch of frozen mice sent out in April. The CDC and FDA want recalls all the way back to January, when the first report of salmonella came in, reports Craig Pittman of the Tampa Bay Times (paywall alert).
Pittman offers an entertaining explanation of how complicated it is to feed a snake (spoiler alert: Do Not Microwave).
