DIAMOND FOOD

[kelpiegirl]

Just read last night- Diamond food has stated that TWELVE shipments of corn brought in before this debacle, were NOT tested for ANYTHING, which is how this happened. Remember my question about "where was quality control?" Not there. So no, it was not human error- that connotes someone was ignorant. No, I say that someone was NOT ignorant and decided NOT to test those- probably just lazy. Nice job folks.

Julie

[Pipedream Farm]

Diamond Pet Foods Acknowledge Failure

By JOHN C. DRAKE , 02.01.2006, 01:16 AM

 

The maker of contaminated pet food that caused the deaths of dozens of dogs nationwide acknowledged Tuesday that workers at its South Carolina plant failed to follow internal testing procedures to ensure its products were safe.

 

Diamond Pet Foods made the acknowledgment after the federal Food and Drug Administration released a report showing the company has no record of test results for 12 shipments of corn in September and October, when grain tainted with the deadly fungus aflatoxin slipped into the plant.

 

"The company had stringent guidelines in place to test incoming shipments of corn for aflatoxin exposure," the Diamond Pet Foods said in a statement. "It was apparent by the FDA report that those guidelines were not followed. The company has taken the necessary actions to prevent these oversights from happening in the future."

 

The company recalled 18 varieties of dog and cat food distributed across the country and overseas after a New York veterinarian called in December to say she had linked a dog's death to the company's food.

 

The company since has narrowed the batches of potentially toxic dog food to two varieties: Diamond Maintenance Dog and Diamond Premium Adult Dog with "Best By" dates of April 3, 4, 5 and 11, 2007.

 

The federal agency began an investigation after the company recalled about 1 million pounds of dried dog food on Dec. 20, said FDA investigator Phil Campbell.

 

The company said in its statement that it has changed its testing procedure for incoming corn and added a test of the final product, which the company says will add "an extra layer of protection prior to the bagging and shipping of products."

 

Source: Forbes

Pet food company failed to properly test corn, FDA report says

BY JIM DUPLESSIS

Knight Ridder Newspapers

 

COLUMBIA, S.C. - 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, S.C., 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 South Carolina 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 South Carolina 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 South Carolina 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 that state 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 South Carolina 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, 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 South Carolina 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. "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 South Carolina 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."

 

Source: Kansas City Star

Mark

[DeltaBluez Tess]

I called our local rep and he was very nice and he explained what was going on. He had nothing to hide and said they wanted to take care of the public and not ignore the situation like other dog food manufacturers have doen in the past. I enjoyed my talk with him and will continue to buy Diamond dog food.

 

I was very impressed by him and that Diamond stepped up to the plate rather quickly.

 

Diane

[kelpiegirl]

Not to argue, but I don't think that Diamond was responsible with this at all. It took veterinarians to determine what was causing dogs to take ill and die, and the FDA to get involved before there was serious checking done, and THEN, Diamond revealed that they did not check 12 shipments of corn. It is a litigators dream. Yes, it could happen to any of the companies, but to not check TWELVE shipments?

I can see missing one, or maybe two, but TWELVE?

I really feel for those who lost dogs, and who's dogs are fighting for their lives. I have no vested interest in Diamond (don't feed it), and I surely hope that they ensure that they improve the integrity of their quality control for good.

 

Julie

[Pipedream Farm]

Julie,

 

Do you or have you worked in a manufacturing setting? I can see how this can happen, almost anywhere. All it takes is for one employee to not follow the company policy/SOPs or to assume someone else has run the tests; management continues to think all is well because they believe the SOPs are being followed.

 

I'm not trying to make excuses for the lapse in protocol, just trying to show you how any company could be unaware of a potential problem until Vets/FDA find it. I wonder how many times other companies didn't check shipments, dogs died, but no one put it together.

 

Mark

[Pipedream Farm]

So here's a scenerio to consider. The company has testing protocols but decides to change to an improved test and protocol. The company trains the employees; but one employee, for some reason, doesn't follow the new protocol properly. Management is not aware the protocol wasn't followed properly because the employee filled out the test records. Weeks go by and management gets a call from some vets with sick dogs. Through some checking managment figures out that one of its employees didn't follow the new protocol properly. What should management do? Should the company blame it all on the one employee and make him a scape goat? Would you think better of the company if it did something like this? So now here's this employee that knows because of him hundreds of pets have died.

 

Mark

[kelpiegirl]

hi mark:

As a matter of fact, I have worked in a manufacturing setting. Each and every thing I did was checked for quality control. The 'qc" person was not our favorite person

 

Now I work in science, for a long time. I ensure that EVERYONE does their job, making sure that I check routinely, as bottom line, it is my responsibility.

 

Not sure how the testing gets done in dog food companies, but I would venture to say that there is a paper trail, and it was signed off on those shipments. So, since this happened, and no one could have predicted this IF everyone did their job, there needs to be a safety net. Perhaps all batches get a random testing before going out (before packaging), by a lab. This ensures that even if a shipment missed being tested coming in, going out it will be tested again.

 

Julie

[Guest grscott]

I feed Diamond, and will continue to do so.

 

Any protocol or machine administered or made by man is subject to failure.

 

Just as flying in the two or so years after 9-11 was probably safer from the possibility of successful hijacking than ever before in history, I suspect that Diamond feed is now among the safest, or is the safest, feed currently in production.

 

Regards

[kelpiegirl]

I don't presume to tell folks what to feed

I don't have a problem with Diamond per se, I just hope that they truly have improved their ways. It sure would be nice if diamond put out a press release regarding what improved testing protocol they are using, rather than the party line of "we won't ever let that happen again". Maybe it is the scientist in me....

Julie

[Pipedream Farm]

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.

The company said in its statement that it has changed its testing procedure for incoming corn and added a test of the final product, which the company says will add "an extra layer of protection prior to the bagging and shipping of products".

These are from above and indicate testing went from qualitative/threshold to quantitative and testing of finished product before bagging. The only other info left would the exact identity of the test (manufacturer and cat number) and detailed description of the sampling and sample preparation protocols.

 

Mark

[Dal & Mad's Mom]

I happen to know this happened with science diet too but, it didnt affect dogs so it wasnt as well publicised. I raised parrots back in the days before prepared handfeeding formula and we gound up their food it was found to be tainted. I want to say it was ecoli but, I'm not sure, many people including zoo lost their young birds.