Most people are familiar with the massive pet food recall that occurred in 2007. The recall affected dozens of brands, and was linked to ingredients that were intentionally tainted with melamine (and unintentionally tainted with cyanuric acid due to shoddy melamine manufacturing) by human beings. The combination of ingredients sickened or killed a large number of pets.
Human-made chemicals aren’t the only contaminants that can be found in pet foods. In 2005-2006, a massive recall of Diamond brand dog food occurred due to contamination with a natural poison. That poison was aflatoxin.
Aflatoxin is created by fungus that grows on corn. Exposure to aflatoxin can lead to sudden liver failure.
A report in the May 1, 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association discussed the symptoms, treatment, and outcome of dogs that ate contaminated food.
Different species have varying susceptiblity to aflatoxins, with dogs being highly susceptible . . . During late 2005, a serious foodborne aflatoxin contamination that was derived from moldy corn in manufactured dog food was recognized through collaborative efforts of regional New York State veterinarians and the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University . . . Although product recall was rapidly announced, high rates of morbidity and mortality of dogs nevertheless was encountered in the United States.
The report goes into quite a bit of detail about the pathology that occurred in affected dogs. But the conclusion of the study was disheartening.
Despite aggressive treatment, many but not all severely affected dogs died.
For reference, the article cited in this entry is J Am Vet Med Assoc 2008;232:1329-1337.
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The December 1, 2007 Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) included an article entitled “Researchers examine contaminants in food, deaths of pets.” The article discusses new revelations about last year’s massive pet food recall.
Some of the researchers’ findings are outlined below. Before you read them, I should warn you: what they discovered might not make you happy.
The total number of animals killed or sickened by tainted food is not known.
Cats and small dogs were more likely to be sickened by the contaminated foods, implying that small animals were not able to tolerate the contaminants as well as larger ones.
Two contaminants, melamine and cyanuric acid, appear to have been the main agents that led to kidney damage, illness, and death.
Neither contaminant, on its own, has been found to cause significant damage to kidneys in cats and dogs. However, in combination they form crystals in the body. This leads to kidney failure in some cases.
Melamine is an adulterant that is used to make the protein content of food components (wheat flour in this case) appear artificially high. According to JAVMA, “Adding melamine could throw off a test for the protein concentration of an ingredient, allowing flour to pass for a costlier high-protein ingredient.”
According to the prevailing theory of the researchers, cyanuric acid was present because of incomplete chemical reactions during the manufacture of the melamine.
Here’s how it looks to me. Note that what I am about to say is speculation, not proven fact.
The manufacturer of the wheat flour involved in the recall may have purposefully added melamine in order to obtain a higher price for the product. The manufacturer used low-quality melamine that was contaminated with cyanuric acid.
The combination of melamine and cyanuric acid caused kidney failure in some of the pets that ate contaminated food. If this hypothesis is true, it is scandalous indeed.
For reference, the article is J Am Vet Med Assoc 2007;231:1636-1638.
Further information can be obtained by visiting the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians website. Click on the 2007 conference proceedings (warning: large PDF file; relevant information is on page 29).
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