Much of the discussion around low-moisture food safety has traditionally focused on foods intended for people—cereals, nut butters, powdered dairy, spices, and snacks. These products have repeatedly challenged the assumption that "dry means safe." Yet, one major category of low-moisture food remains underrepresented in these conversations: pet food.

That gap is striking given how closely pet food safety mirrors human food safety. Earlier this year, during a technical workshop on cleaning and sanitation for low-moisture foods, I found myself in conversation with a representative from a large pet food manufacturer. As we discussed why we were both there, it became clear that the issues he raised—environmental persistence, dry sanitation, post-process contamination—were not unique to pet food. They were the same challenges long recognized in human low-moisture food manufacturing.

This kind of cross-sector overlap has become increasingly apparent through multi-stakeholder scientific discussions. When experts from human food, animal food, academia, and government sit at the same table, the common ground is often larger than expected.

A Widely Handled, Low-Moisture Product

Pet food is not a niche commodity. Roughly two-thirds of U.S. households own at least one pet, meaning tens of millions of households handle pet food every day. Dry pet food—typically containing just 5–12 percent moisture—is the most common format. Semi-dry products contain more moisture, while canned foods are high-moisture. Dry kibble and treats most closely resemble human low-moisture foods from a microbiological perspective.

Like human low-moisture foods, dry pet foods rely on low water activity for shelf stability. This prevents microbial growth, but it does not eliminate pathogens. Pathogens like Salmonella can persist for long periods in dry products and processing environments, remaining infectious even in a dormant state.

Since dry pet foods are consumed without further processing, the margin for error is narrow. Once contamination occurs, it can be difficult to detect and even harder to eliminate.

Shared Pathways for Contamination

The contamination pathways in pet food manufacturing will sound familiar to anyone working with low-moisture human foods. Incoming ingredients—including grains, rendered animal proteins, and poultry byproducts—can introduce pathogens if control measures upstream are insufficient. Within facilities, dry environments can support long-term persistence in harborage sites such as cracks, crevices, and poorly designed equipment. Dust movement, pest activity, and cross-contamination between raw and finished areas all contribute to risk.

One area of particular concern in pet food is post-process application. Flavorings, fats, and palatability enhancers are often applied after extrusion and drying, at a point where no additional kill step exists. If these materials or application systems are contaminated, then finished product can be directly exposed.

Storage and transportation further extend the risk window. Once product leaves the facility, environmental contamination can still occur if controls break down.

Why Pet Food Safety Matters Beyond Pets

Pet food contamination is not solely an animal health issue. It is also a human health concern.

As pets have become increasingly integrated into households, opportunities for human exposure have expanded. Handling pet food, exposure to pet saliva, contact with pet feces, and proximity to food bowls and storage containers all create potential pathways for pathogen transmission—particularly in homes with young children or immunocompromised individuals.

Outbreak investigations have repeatedly demonstrated that contaminated pet food can sicken both animals and people. From a microbiological standpoint, the distinction between human food and animal food becomes less meaningful once products enter shared living spaces.

Applying Shared Science to Shared Risk

The good news is that the scientific principles needed to manage these risks are already well understood—and largely shared across sectors.

Validated thermal treatments remain foundational, but they must be designed for dry conditions, where pathogens such as Salmonella exhibit increased heat resistance. Dry cleaning and sanitation strategies, which limit water use and emphasize rapid drying, are essential. In low-moisture facilities, water is often treated as a controlled hazard, capable of reactivating dormant pathogens and undermining zoning and sanitation controls.

Facility design and environmental monitoring also play a critical role. Zoning, air handling, hygienic equipment design, and targeted environmental monitoring programs—long used in human food facilities—are increasingly being adopted in pet food manufacturing.

Emerging technologies—including non-thermal surface treatments, chemical controls, and biological interventions—continue to be explored. While no single tool is sufficient on its own, a layered scientific approach grounded in sound validation offers meaningful risk reduction.

The Value of Cross-Sector Dialogue

One of the clearest lessons from recent scientific discussions is the value of shared learning. When representatives from the human food and pet food sectors engage in the same conversations about sanitation, validation, environmental monitoring, and facility design, the science advances more quickly and blind spots are reduced.

Organizations that convene experts across sectors play an important role in enabling these discussions—not by prescribing solutions, but by creating space for data-sharing, critical evaluation, and alignment around best practices. This collaborative model reflects the reality that microbial hazards in low-moisture foods are not consumer-specific; they are environment- and process-specific.

Raising the Bar Across the Food System

Pathogens do not distinguish between crackers and kibble, peanut butter and pet treats. What matters is how food is made, handled, and controlled.

If there is one takeaway, it is this: low-moisture foods—whether intended for humans or pets—require a proactive, prevention-focused mindset. Assumptions about safety based on dryness alone are insufficient. The overlap between pet food and human low-moisture food safety is not incidental; it is a call to apply shared science more deliberately and consistently.

Ultimately, food safety does not stop at the dinner plate. It extends to the pet bowl, the treat jar, and the shared spaces where food for every member of the household is handled and consumed.