This from The State (South Carolina) Newspaper - for your information and
cross posting:

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/13744935.htm

QUOTE:
 R E L A T E D   L I N K S 
Archive 1/13/06 | Death for dogs increases in S.C.
Archive 1/11/06 | How lethal pet food got on store shelves
Archive 1/11/06 | Pet owners who sue may win reimbursement
Archive 1/11/06 | One family grieves, another waits
Archive 12/24/05 | S.C. pet owners seeking answers
Archive 12/23/05 | Dogs’ deaths linked to pet food
Archive 12/23/05 | Recalled pet food returning to plant
Affected products
What to do
In the recall
What is aflatoxin?
For more information
Testing for toxins if (typeof(krd_topix_property) != 'undefined')
{document.write('var topixcats = new Array();');}var topixcats = new
Array();M O R E 
 N E W S   F R O M   
 • Agriculture
 • Science
 • Dog
 • FDA
 • Animal

Posted on Mon, Jan. 30, 2006
EXCLUSIVE - DIAMOND PET FOODS

Corn used in product not properly tested

FDA report says company let some shipments into Gaston plant without checking
for aflatoxin

By JIM DuPLESSIS
Staff Writer

Diamond Pet Foods improperly tested, or failed to test, corn shipments for a
deadly fungus during the weeks before it shipped food that killed dozens of
dogs last month, a government investigation has determined.

The company allowed some corn shipments into its Gaston manufacturing plant
without testing them for aflatoxin. In other cases, tests for the poison were
not properly conducted at the plant, according to a report expected to be
released this week by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The federal agency began an investigation into the Lexington County plant
after the company recalled about 1 million pounds of dried dog food on Dec. 20,
said Phil Campbell, the Atlanta-based FDA official in charge of the inquiry.

The FDA report represents the agency’s findings but does not penalize the
company.

“Diamond Pet Foods has cooperated fully with the FDA during its investigation,
” company spokeswoman Carol Anderson said Friday.

Since the recall, the company has strengthened its testing of corn arriving
at the plant and started testing its final product before it is shipped. “This
additional step will provide an extra layer of protection,” Anderson said.

The FDA considers human and pet food to be adulterated if aflatoxin is found
at levels greater than 20 parts per billion.

The toxin grew on S.C. corn, making its way through gaps in testing and into
bags of dog food shipped from Diamond Pet Foods’ Gaston plant to stores in 23
states.

South Carolina and the rest of the Southeast are known to have a higher
incidence of aflatoxin because of hot, humid summers, experts said.

For years, the S.C. Department of Agriculture has provided aflatoxin testing
to farmers, manufacturers and others at no charge as a public service.

Samples of corn and corn products from feed mills are tested to comply with a
state law that requires the Department of Agriculture to monitor animal feeds
to ensure they contain the amounts of protein, calories and other ingredients
stated on the label.

The state also tests those samples for aflatoxin, although that test is not
required by state or federal law.

Out of the 1,413 tests Agriculture officials conducted over the past two
years, a quarter found levels of aflatoxin higher than allowed by the FDA,
according to records obtained by The State newspaper under the S.C. Freedom of
Information Act.

On Dec. 20, Diamond Pet Foods recalled dried pet food produced at its Gaston
plant from Sept. 1 through Dec. 6, saying batches had been found with high
levels of aflatoxin. Those batches bore use-by dates of April 1 to June 6, 2007.

By late December, the company determined that the poisonous batches were
produced Oct. 1-15 (use-by April 1-15, 2007).

Mark Brinkmann, the company’s chief operating officer, said this month the
recalled food was made with corn grown in South Carolina and bought through a
single dealer in the Southeast.

Edgar L. Woods, owner of Palmetto Grain Brokerage, said this month that he is
the go-between for the corn sales made to Diamond Pet Foods.

Dealers often are required by their contracts with manufacturers to provide
test results showing that corn has not been poisoned by aflatoxin, Woods said.
Farmers need similar tests to get U.S. Department of Agriculture loans on
their crops, a common practice.

But ultimately, Woods said, the buyer is responsible for ensuring the grain
meets FDA guidelines, Woods said.

“They have their own inspectors and have to check the cars before it’s
unloaded,” he said. “If they don’t like it, they don’t need to unload
it.”

No state or federal agency is required to test corn going into food plants
for processing or coming out of the facilities as meal for corn bread or dried
dog foods. Instead, officials rely on manufacturers to follow practices
considered good within the industry.

Diamond Pet Foods’ policy was to collect a sample from each incoming truck or
rail car and use a “cup test,” which could determine whether aflatoxin was
present at levels above 20 parts per billion.

In past years, the Gaston plant had received one or two tainted loads per
year. Last September, it started receiving one or two per week, Brinkmann has
said.

The increased frequency led the company to adopt a new testing method that
provided not just a yes-or-no result for aflatoxin’s presence, but also
measured
its concentration.

Workers were trained, and the new test went into use Nov. 30.

About 100 dogs have died or become sick from aflatoxin poisoning in South
Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, New York, Massachusetts, Ohio and
Pennsylvania, based on reports from S.C. officials, individual phone interviews
and
newspaper reports from other states.

The toll in South Carolina stands at 52 dogs poisoned after eating Diamond
Pet Foods, including 35 dead, said Pamela Parnell, a pathologist who has studied
the cases at Clemson University’s animal research laboratory in Northeast
Richland.

The aflatoxin victims include 24 dogs in the Upstate, including nine that
died. One household in Cherokee County had 13 dogs poisoned, seven of which
died,
Parnell said.

“I keep hoping people stop feeding this, and we stop seeing them,” Parnell
said. “It’s a slow-acting poison. It can still cause severe damage a couple
weeks after you stop feeding it.”

The FDA doesn’t allow human or pet food to contain more than 20 parts per
billion of aflatoxin. But it also doesn’t require testing for aflatoxin and
conducts few tests itself. The agency’s most recent report shows it tested 305
agricultural samples for aflatoxin in 2004, including five from South Carolina.
Seven of the samples were above FDA limits for aflatoxin and other types of
fungus toxins, including one from South Carolina.

The state Department of Agriculture’s test records over the past two years
show spikes in aflatoxin readings — mostly in feed corn — during the 2004
and
2005 harvests and in March 2005.

Phil Trefsgar, the Department of Agriculture’s chief chemist, said most
samples tested are suspect corn, so they have a higher incidence of aflatoxin
than
most S.C. corn. “It doesn’t necessarily throw up a red flag for us,”
Trefsgar
said.

“Our feeling is that what we do is good enough for the hot seasons and
not-so-hot seasons. We feel our sampling is adequate no matter what goes on.

“Maybe we need to rethink that. I’m sure we could do a better job.”

Reach DuPlessis at (803) 771-8305 or jduplessis@....
END QUOTE

Jean Townsend - Johns Island SC
(Always for George - Always for the Rimadyl Dogs)





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]