Safety & Quality: Page 123

Market Trends and Reports

Food technologists offer insights for petfood, too

While the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) focuses mainly on the human food industry, many of the organization’s initiatives, including its annual meeting, are applicable to petfood as well. In fact, when I attended IFT’s 2012 Annual Meeting & Food Expo June 25-28 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, to speak about petfood regulations, I ran into several people from the petfood industry who have been IFT members for years.

Brand Insights

Pet Food Manufacturer Thinks Outside the Box with EDL’s Double Tight Wrap Machine

EDL, as Massman Company

EDL Double Tight Wrap shrink wrapping machines use two perpendicular bands of LDPE film to tightly unitize and totally enclose a product or collation.

Pet Food Manufacturer Thinks Outside the Box with EDL’s Double Tight Wrap Machine

President Obama's dog depicted in new campaign against petfood from China

Food & Water Watch, a group that lobbies for stricter food-import laws, has launched a campaign criticizing the safety of food and petfood imported from China, which the group hopes will attract attention with the help of a new poster figure. A recent article from Food & Water Watch features President Obama's dog, Bo Obama, in a photo in front of the White House, with the caption: “Is the First Dog being fed risky chicken treats from China?

Food & Water Watch hopes its article with Bo Obama will draw attention to the lack of regulation on the safety of petfood imported from China.

Pet Food Safety

AVMA discourages pet owners from feeding raw petfood diets

The American Veterinary Medical Association passed a new resolution discouraging the feeding of raw petfood diets to dogs and cats due to human health concerns. The association is discouraging pet owners from feeding raw meat diets because pathogens like Salmonella, E. coli and other bacteria can be easily transmitted to humans by handling the raw food or through contact with the animal's feces.

Class-action lawsuit filed over 2010 Kroger petfood recall

Macuga, Liddle & Dubin filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court against the Kroger Company on behalf of all customers who purchased recalled petfood contaminated with aflatoxin. Beginning December 18, 2010, Kroger recalled a total of 10 petfood brands, more than 68,300 bags, which were possibly contaiminated with aflatoxin.

FDA seeks comment on antimicrobial drug use data collection

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is seeking public comment on how the agency can collect more detailed information on antimicrobial drug use in food-producing animals and how best distribute the information, as part of an effort to better correlate antimicrobial drug use to antimicrobial resistance. The Government Accountability Office said information currently collected by FDA does not provide sufficient data to analyze trends in antimicrobial resistance, so the agency is requesting that manufacturers provide an estimate on how much of each drug is being used on each species.

FDA reports indicate sweet potato treats may make dogs ill

Veterinary Information Network reported that new reports to the US Food and Drug Administration indicate that some brands of sweet potato dog treats may be causing pet illnesses. Recent anecdotal reports made by veterinarians to FDA have reported cases of dogs developing symptoms of kidney failure (Fanconi's syndrome) from three brands of sweet potato treats imported from China.

Catswell VitaKitty cat treats recalled for potential health risk

Arthur Dogswell LLC is recalling 1,051 cartons packed as either 10 or 50 packages per case of Catswell brand VitaKitty Chicken Breast with Flaxseed and Vitamins because it has the potential to contain propylene glycol. The recall resulted from a routine surveillance sample collected by the company and the Food and Drug Administration, and the company has since ceased distribution of the affected cat treats.

Chicken jerky treat lab analysis released in new FDA report

The US Food and Drug Administration issued the findings of a new report about complaints of pets suffering Fanconi syndrome-like symptoms or dying after consuming chicken jerky treats imported from China. FDA collected and tested nearly 300 jerky treat samples in the US from April 2007 through June 2012, testing for bacterial contamination, mold, chemicals and heavy metals.

Petfood safety: Fortify weak links in your supply chain

As the former director of both the US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine and Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, I have seen my share of pet and human food outbreaks caused by defective supply chains. In 2007, the largest petfood recall in history resulted from a single ingredient—wheat gluten—that had been intentionally adulterated with melamine for economic gains.

Even if you are fully confident in your supply chain to provide safe and wholesome products, how certain are you that there will not be disruptions when the new Food Safety Modernization Act takes effect?

FDA improves Reportable Food Registry to enhance food safety

The US Food and Drug Administration has added a Rational Questionnaire incorporating additional data elements to its Reportable Food Registry, in an effort to improve the registry's information gathering capabilities and enhance food safety. The Reportable Food Registry is an electronic portal for industry, including petfood industry members such as petfood and treat manufacturers, to report when there is reasonable probability that an article of food will cause serious adverse health consequences, allowing FDA to track patterns in animal feed and petfood and target inspections.

CDC confirms 49 human Salmonella illnesses from recalled petfood

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that at least 49 people have been sickened since October 2011 from a Salmonella infantis outbreak linked to recalled petfood made at Diamond Pet Foods' manufacturing facility in Gaston, South Carolina, USA. In its final outbreak update, CDC increased the number of human Salmonella cases from 22, in its previous update on June 13, to at least 49 cases linked to the recalled dog food and cat food.

Sensient Colors receives food safety, management certification

Sensient Colors LLC, provider of colorings for petfood applications, recently achieved Safe Quality Food 2000 Level 3 certification, making the company able to offer its custom color solutions manufactured under highest levels of safety and quality management standards. Sensient has received third-party certification for risk management plans, manufacturing and distribution, as well as application of comprehensive assessment, screening and analytical testing programs for raw materials and finished products.

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