Bought my original 5 pound cast aluminium stuffer (vertical hand crank model) from the Sausage Maker. The newer one holds 15 pounds and is all stainless except the piston. It was bought through Weston Supply and was a second choice, due to the original horizontal model not being suitable for stuffing very narrow 1/2 inch casings. They were quite accomodating when it came to the point where I knew what I needed and they were able to give me options until I found the right one. The cost of the 15 pound vertical model I have now. They also supplied me with the parts to make the custom stuffing tube. Kielbasa is basically just coursly ground pork with 30-40% fat, and lots of garlic and marjorum. Also black pepper can be used. I freeze mine and when cooking, place in a covered corning ware casserole dish with glass cover. Its baked with some water added to the corning up to about half the height of the sauages, and after about half an hour the sausage is flipped over to lightly brown the surface of the meat. I use fresh hog casings for this, and they are usually a bit larger than that used for italian. I make about a 12 to 16 inch length, and coil it for freezing. Many suppliers of sausage seasongs are fairly cheap, but thats usually because they are loaded with salt. Salt is really cheap and added to a spice mix can be more than 70% of the sausage seasoining mix. I like to buy mixes that have no added salt, or just use freshly ground spices and herbs, and add the necessary salt to taste. After mixing, spoon out a tablespoon or two and cook in a small frying pan until done, taste, and adjust seasoning as needed. On a side note, the Cabelas meat grinder is listed as a 400 watt unit, while the NT model is listed as being 600 watts, or up to 1000 watts peak. With a lower wattage for the Cabela, I am not sure if it could handle tough meats, or the skin of pork. My 600 watt NT model does labor on that skin part of the cut, and will sometimes stop and trip the built in breaker. I just reverse a second and switch back to grinding again, and it will continue without a problem. Earl, Nice sources for spices and casings, and the stainless stuffer. My cast aluminium model stuffer looks similar, but is quite heavy. My stainless steel 15 pound model also looks similar to the one from Grizzly. The 15 pound stuffer I have has two gear ratios, slow, for stuffing and fast for retracting the piston nack up to the top. I plan to sell my old 5 pound stuffer for about $30 or so, provided we get decent weather during the late spring early summer garage sales.

A friend of a friend had a little dog that died of kidney failure shortly before this whole story broke. He wasn't old at all and was always very healthy. He went downhill very quickly. One day he seemed fine and the next day he was in kidney failure and after an unsuccessful intervention he died. His regular food was one of the recalled brands. His mom called the company after the story broke and they told her she could take her unused food back to the store for a refund. She explained that she didn't have any more food because after her dog died she threw it all away. The lady at the hotline basically told her that without the food there was really no way to prove that her little dog had actually died as a result of the food. All this woman wanted really was acknowledgement of and an apology for the death of her sweet little dog and instead she got zilch. So like silvergold said, we will never know how many animals were really affected because the company will only admit to cases that can be 100% proven.

I have called that number probably in excess of 200 times since yesterday morning. The number is busy, busy, busy. Why is it so hard to put out a list of the affected foods, numbers, etc.? I have also found that the IAMS site that I am directed won't load, I guess it is overloaded???? If the food recalled were manufactured for human consumption, you can bet there would be more information available to stem the tide of lawsuits. Because it is confined to pet food/animals, these manufacturers don't think it is as important because they don't face lawsuits. However, they would think it important if their foods were boycotted because of their ignorance and inattention. Has anyone been able to get through on the number QQ posted? Just ridiculous and very frustrating.

FWIW, I don't wash meats, unless I drop something on the floor, or maybe if there are bone chips as mentioned above, and then it's just a rinse. I also scour my sink & clean counters every day, using proven germicides like chlorine bleach and 70% isopropyl alcohol. Not everyone does that, IMPE. I tend to go by USDA recommendations. https://www.fns.usda.gov/ofs/food-safety And Barfblog.com is a good resource for latest news on food-borne illness, etc. http://www.barfblog.com/