|
Tuesday, March 27, 2007 |
|
|
PET POISONING -- DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN by Robert Jay Russell, Ph.D., CTCA President |
|
I
feel the title says is all. Remember in 1995, Nature's Recipe recalled
tons of their dog food after dogs became ill from eating it. The food was
found to contain vomitoxin, a mycotoxin. in 2005 - 2006, Diamond Pet Foods
had to recall food due to aflatoxin contamination. Now Beneful and all the
Menu manufactured diets. |
|
March 26th, 2007.
As that great zen master
of the diamond, Yogi Berra, is wont to say: "it's deja vu all over
again"... In late 2005 through early 2006, Diamond foods distributed dog food under several brand names in more than 30 countries that sickened and killed dogs. At least 120 dogs died in the US, and potentially tens of thousands suffered life-shortening liver disease. The agent of damage was corn and corn gluten that had been contaminated by the mold poison aflatoxin in storage. Sadly, the bags of contaminated dog foods remained on store shelves for many months--some may still be on shelves to be sold today!--so the exact dimensions of this mass poisoning incident may never be known. |
|
I append here a small
part of a detailed report published on the web by a concerned distributor
of pet foods. It is a report that I think will open many eyes to the
dangers of commercial pet foods. While it details problems at Diamond
Foods, it must be remembered that Diamond is marketed as a premium food
company and that its corporate behavior should be considered "average" for
the industry. Like Menu Foods, Diamond manufactures food at several plants
in the US and supplies a number of different brand names with product. The
full report may be seen at: (http://www.aplus- . Below is a small section of the report: The FDA's Report on the Diamond Pet Foods Recall An investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was launched after Dec. 20, 2005, when Diamond Pet Foods recalled about 1 million pounds of dried pet food made Sept. 1 through Dec. 7 (bearing use-by dates of March 1, 2007, through June 7, 2007). The FDA recently released a report of its findings on the Diamond Pet Food case, wherein Federal regulators found widespread failure to test corn and other ingredients that went into the dog food made in the fall of 2005 at Diamond Pet Foods' plant in Gaston, South Carolina. Following the report's release, Diamond Pet Foods admitted that it failed to follow its own testing guidelines. In the report, U.S. FDA investigators determined: Tests could not be verified for more than half the corn samples arriving at the plant during the critical periods of September and October because the samples were missing. The samples were either lost or never taken, according to the FDA. Without them, the FDA was unable to determine exactly how much aflatoxin (if any) wound up in the dog food that used these batches of corn . Among the samples that were kept, FDA tests found aflatoxin ranging from 90 parts per billion to 1,851 ppb — four to 90 times the FDA's limit of 20 parts per billion for human and pet foods. Those samples represented four truckloads of corn the company tested and cleared and used to make dog food In 16 samples of batches of dried dog food, aflatoxin was found at levels beyond the government's limit The S.C. Department of Agriculture has provided aflatoxin testing to farmers, food manufacturers, and others free of charge as a public service; however, the test is not required by state or federal law. Diamond Pet Foods did not take advantage of the department's free aflatoxin testing service. The inspection also found that Diamond accepted shipments of wheat flour, rice bran, and chicken byproduct meal between Jan. 3 and 17, despite testing that found most of the ingredients did not meet the company's own content specifications for protein, moisture, fat, ash, and fiber. Of 21 shipments of wheat flour accepted during the two-week period, 17 failed testing of three or more of the five specifications. All five accepted shipments of rice bran failed on four of five specifications, and six of seven accepted shipments of chicken byproduct meal failed four specifications tested. The FDA's findings did not carry any penalties. Diamond Pet Foods reports it has taken the necessary actions to prevent these oversights from happening in the future. Dr.. Russell continues: The Diamond poisonings of 2005/2006 pale in view of the present Menu Foods disaster. Nonetheless, the reasons for the poisonings-- penalties, therefore gross malfeasance can actually yield profits. Apparently, the US government and the pet food industry hasn't learned that Finally, let me conclude here with a comment from a former commodities market trader regarding the purchase of Chinese wheat by the pet food industry: Think about it. China imports much more food than most nations... one of their biggest problems is keeping a food surplus. Why would Chinese wheat suddenly go on the global market and not be picked up for in-border consumption? Answer: The wheat was "dumped" after the contamination was spotted by Chinese inspectors.. Pet food is routinely made with low grade or below standard protein products... meats and even dairy products of some really nasty origins in particular.. |