Diamond Pet Foods, one of the companies that distributed tainted pet food that killed dozens of dogs throughout the United States, will pay $3.1 million in settlement costs.
On Friday, January 4, 2008, an attorney involved in a law suit stated that Diamond Foods is required to set up a fund to reimburse pet owners affected by the tainted food. Reimbursements will include veterinarian bills, the loss of their pet, and the cost of unreturned contaminated food.
The pet food, which was sold in 23 eastern states, contained a mold called aflatoxin. The pet food containing the aflatoxin was produced at a Diamond Pet Food plant in South Carolina.
Aflatoxin is a naturally occurring toxic chemical by-product from the growth of the fungus Aspergillus flavus. It can be found on corn and other crops that are used as ingredients in some pet foods. The fungus can develop on plants during years with high temperature stress and drought.
The company recalled about 20 varieties of dog and cat food after a New York veterinarian noted in December 2005 that she had linked a dog’s death to the company’s food. They announced its original voluntary recall on or around December 20, 2005. An estimated 350,000 bags of dog food were voluntarily recalled by the company.
Diamond Pet Foods which is based out of Meta, MO acknowledged that employees from its Gaston, SC plant failed to follow internal procedures that were put into place to insure pet food safety. Diamond Pet Foods made the acknowledgment after the FDA released a report showing the company had no test result records for 12 corn shipments made in 2005. The time when the grain contaminated with the fungus entered the plant.
Symptoms of illness, from pets ingesting the tainted food, included jaundice combined with lack of appetite, depression, bloody stools, and excessive bleeding.
At the present time it is unknown how many pet owners are expected to file claims against the Diamond Pet Food Company. However, according to the settlement, Diamond Pet Foods and its insurance company have settled about 1,200 related claims for compensation ranging from the price of recalled food to veterinary bills and pet deaths.
Note this case is an outcome of the 2005 Diamond Pet Food voluntary recall involving aflatoxin and is unrelated to the contamination problem that prompted recalls of more than 100 pet-food brands in early 2006. In those cases, investigators traced pet deaths and illnesses to melamine a toxic chemical that had been added to wheat imported from China. That contaminated wheat was in turn used as an ingredient in food manufactured by Menu Foods.
Bev Storer writes about human and pet nutrition. For more information about healthy and safe pet foods, please visit http://www.Dog-Food-Zone.com or http://www.Cat-Food-Zone.com
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