Reuters reports high levels of
aflatoxins have been discovered in bags of dog food in grocery stores in Iowa.
And according to Michael Wright, the CEO of Pro-Pet, a pet food company in Ohio
that recently learned some of its product was contaminated with aflatoxins, “Last
year’s corn crop – it’s a huge issue. We test every load coming in. And we
reject a lot of loads.”
The last week of February, the
Hy-Vee Inc. grocery chain recalled five different products in its private dog
food line due to high levels of aflatoxins in the corn used in the formulas.
The dog food was produced at a Kansas City Pro-Pet plant and distributed across
eight Midwestern states.
The behavior of the A. flavus
and A. parasiticus molds makes it very difficult to control or minimize
aflatoxin contamination, or to accurately assess the extent of the problem.
There can be pockets of plants that are heavily contaminated, while the rest of
the crop is relatively mold-free, so analyzing occasional random samples of
corn plants can give misleading results.
The corn used had been tested before
it was added to the dog food, and the finished product was also tested. Somehow, the contamination wasn’t discovered until a
random bag was pulled from a store shelf in Iowa by an inspector for the Iowa
Department of Agriculture.
Hy-Vee officials have pulled the dog
food as a precautionary measure. No
illnesses have been reported. The dog
food was distributed to Hy-Vee stores in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas,
Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin between October 26, 2012 and January
11, 2013.
If you have purchased a recalled bag of food,
you should stop feeding it to your pet.
You may also return the food to the store. They will give you a full refund for unopened
or opened bags
No comments:
Post a Comment