Diamond Pinpoints Aflatoxin Pet Food Contamination
Date: 12-Jan-06
Country: USA
Last month, the privately held company recalled pet food distributed in 23 US states because of aflatoxin, which is produced by a fungus found on corn and other crops.
The company, which makes premium pet foods under labels that include Diamond, Country Value and Professional, said testing of more than 2,700 samples found that only its Diamond Maintenance Dog and Diamond Premium Adult Dog foods with "best by" dates of April 3-5 and 11, 2007, are potentially toxic.
Diamond had originally recalled all pet food made at its Gaston, South Carolina, plant from Sept. 1 through Dec. 10 while it waited for the test results.
Diamond spokeswoman Carol Anderson said 76 dogs have been confirmed dead from aflatoxin after eating the company's pet food.
Aflatoxin develops on crops during hot weather and drought, and was detected in several key growing states including Iowa and Illinois in 2005. Large quantities can cause cancer in humans and can be deadly to animals.