Purina's recall of aflatoxin contaminated animal feed earlier this month has been widely reported to the public - not by Purina, who chose to contact their dealers directly - but by bloggers, including Petsit USA. From Purina's recall (which they call a "retrieval") statement: "Our investigation and product testing identified one ingredient of concern, which originated from a single supplier. We have discontinued purchasing from this supplier. Other feed companies that purchased from this supplier are facing a similar situation." (emphasis mine)
1. I don't know which ingredient it is they are talking about
2. I don't know who the supplier is
3. I don't know what other companies are facing the same problem because none of them have "retrieved" their products to my knowledge
4. I don't know if any of this "ingredient" was used in other feeds, such as dog food.
Highlights from this article on the Purina aflatoxin recall echo some of my own concerns:
- Land O’Lakes Purina Feed LLC announced a recall of several varieties of horse, goat and pig feed...
- Purina’s statement said the ingredient of concern came from one supplier, but the company declined to identify either the ingredient or the supplier...
- Purina has not identified whether the supplier in question in the recall is a domestic or overseas company.
Meanwhile, the CDC has confirmed that the human Salmonella outbreak in 2006 was attributable to dry dog food. Both the CDC and the FDA recommend that people use precautions before and after touching pet food and treats to minimize the risk of transferring possible bacteria in the food. But um, I guess it's still fine for our pets to actually eat this stuff (and in fact only this stuff, since "table scraps" are discouraged)?
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5 comments:
Can't you just imagine the honchos sitting around their board table trying to find a word other than recall to use? Recall...retrieval...whatever they want to call it, they obviously don't seem to be all that interested in protecting the pets they're feeding.
That's all...now I'm off to give my dogs some table scraps...
I sent an email on May 7th asking to identify the ingredient and who the supplier was---no reply as of today-May 18th..I did get a confirmation that they received my email though..
I've also rethought my opinion on "table scraps" as dog food. I've never had to "recall" any of the meals I've cooked for all of us.
Table scraps used to be what EVERYONE fed their dogs... before the pet food industry made the concentrated effort to push their own product by using scare tactics and false information to tell pet owners it was 'dangerous' to do so. And many vets, who get kickbacks from those same industries, dutifully parrot their misinformation.
Once you read what's ACTUALLY in most brands of commercial kibble, you wonder how anyone could believe that human food could be WORSE for a dog than that.
I'm glad to see so many blogs publicizing this recall or retrieval, whichever you prefer. Such problems have really created a dilemma. A good balance between dog food and table scraps is natural or green dog food. This way you can provide your pet with the nutrition it deserves and also not be worried about any hazardous ingredients.
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