Pet Food Safety: Page 79

Pet Food Market

Petfood experts target key opportunities and challenges

It’s probably no surprise that when Petfood Industry asked experts from throughout the world for their insights on the industry’s key opportunities and challenges, they identified many more challenges. After all, our industry is facing a number of difficult issues now, with more on the horizon. But these experts also listed plenty of opportunities to continue to grow and innovate.

Petfood experts from throughout the world targeted difficult issues our industry is facing, along with opportunities to continue to grow and innovate.

FDA inspection at Diamond Pet Foods plant helps pet owner lawsuits

A US Food and Drug Administration inspection at Diamond Pet Foods' production plant found numerous health violations after a series of earlier petfood recalls for Salmonella contamination, which one expert says will be used to help support lawsuits against the company. The inspection, conducted six days after the first of eight recalls by Diamond Pet Foods, found violations at the Gaston, South Carolina, USA, facility such as failure to clean and maintain equipment and a lack of contaminant screenings on raw ingredients.

Pedigree recalls three canned dog foods for choking risk

Mars Petcare has issued a voluntary recall for three varieties in its Pedigree brand weight management line of canned dog food due to a potential choking risk. Cans of the recalled dog food may contain small pieces of blue plastic, which broke off a conveyor belt during the production process.

MOCON establishes permeation testing laboratory network

MOCON Inc. has established a global network of MOCON-certified permeation testing laboratories to provide independent material and package performance verification, regardless of location, for petfood products. Currently, the company has certified seven laboratories in North America, Europe and Asia, at which the company aims to offer affordable permeation testing services.

Pet Food Safety

Aflatoxicosis from commercial diet in 50 dogs

Aflatoxins, produced by Aspergillus spp., are toxic contaminants of stored grain. This study describes 50 dogs presented with foodborne aflatoxicosis.

Pet Food Market

What's next for our industry after the latest petfood recalls?

The good news is that no further incidents from the Diamond Pet Foods recalls have come out since the end of May. The bad news, of course, is that the recalls happened at all and especially that people and pets were sickened by Salmonella-contaminated petfoods produced at Diamond's Gaston, South Carolina, USA, plant.

Petfood industry members discuss petfood production, safety

A recent roundtable discussion by Natural Pet Product Merchandiser brought together a petfood retailer, two petfood manufacturers and a petfood industry representative to discuss the petfood production and safety, including the impact of a petfood recall and controls to prevent one. Although the US Food and Drug Administration’s website shows more than 1,000 petfood and treat recalls since March 2007, Nancy K. Cook, vice president of Pet Food Institute, says this should not be a cause for concern to consumers.

Call for papers now open for Petfood Forum 2013

Petfood Forum 2013 is now accepting papers for this global petfood industry event, being held April 15-17 at the Renaissance Schaumburg, in Schaumburg, Illinois, USA. Petfood Forum offers multiple learning sessions from pet industry experts, networking opportunities and a large exhibit hall with pet industry suppliers.

Pet Food Safety

Petfood safety: key decisions for your HACCP program

Hazard analysis and critical control points, or HACCP, is a regulatory requirement for many industries and is the basis for managing food safety in a variety of international management systems, such as ISO 22000, the British Retail Consortium and Safe Quality Foods Institute. There is no argument as to the effectiveness of HACCP when it is applied properly. However, poor implementation or abuse of the system can be devastating.

A key preliminary HACCP decision is choosing the food safety team leader and providing adequate training and resources, including dedicated team members armed with management support.

Man suing Diamond Pet Foods over dry dog food recall

A father in New Jersey is reportedly suing Diamond Pet Foods and the place of purchase, Costco, claiming that his 8-week-old son was sickened by recently recalled Salmonella-tainted dry dog food he purchased. Lawyers for Nevin Eisenberg of Marlboro, New Jersey, USA, filed a lawsuit in a New Jersey federal court that alleges his infant son was hospitalized by a strain of Salmonella infantis that was found in petfood made at Diamond’s Gaston, South Carolina, USA, manufacturing plant.

Diamond dry dog food recall linked to second plant in Missouri, USA

The initial recall of dry dog food produced at Diamond Pet Foods' Gaston, South Carolina, USA, facility has since been expanded at least eight times affecting at least nine brand names, but the latest expansion now includes petfood produced at a second Diamond facility in Meta, Missouri, USA. No information regarding a possible connection between the Salmonella contamination at the two plants has been released, according to a report.

CDC explains food pathogen database, PulseNet

At the recent annual meeting of the Association of Public Health Laboratories in Seattle, Washington, USA, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explained how its foodborne pathogen database, PulseNet, aids in outbreak detection as well as future challenges CDC anticipates. PulseNet, launched in 1996, identifies the DNA information for foodborne pathogens, including those in petfood, using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.

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