Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/fda-warning-midwestern-pet-foods/
Hundreds of dogs have died or become sick after consuming contaminated dog food by Midwestern Pet Foods. The company issued recalls earlier this year, but the FDA just sent a warning letter to the company after its manufacturing facilities failed inspections.
In December, the pet food company recalled their SPORTMix brand after reports of illnesses and sampling found high levels of aflatoxin, a byproduct of mold. The recall was expanded in January and included all dog foods containing corn made in their Oklahoma plant expiring on or before July 9, 2022.
High levels of aflatoxin can de deadly to pets, so the FDA considers any pet food over 20 parts per billion (ppb) of aflatoxin to be contaminated. Testing performed on the recalled food found it had levels of aflatoxin as high as 558 ppb.
Midwestern Pet Foods issued another recall in March for multiple brands when samples tested positive for Salmonella. The FDA reports, “Midwestern’s food safety program appears inadequate to significantly minimize or prevent Salmonella in its pet food.”
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None of the recalled products should be available for purchase.
“As of August 9, the FDA is aware of more than 130 pet deaths and more than 220 pet illnesses that may be linked to eating brands of pet food manufactured by Midwestern,” states the FDA. But this is an approximate number and may not include all the affected dogs.
Recalled Pet Food
Exp 03/02/22/05/L2
Exp 03/02/22/05/L3
Exp 03/03/22/05/L2
Exp 03/02/22/05/L3
Exp 03/03/22/05/L3
Exp 03/03/22/05/L3
Exp 03/03/22/05/L3
Exp 03/03/22/05/L2
Exp 03/03/22/05/L3
Lots of the following pet food products have been recalled if the date/lot code includes an expiration date on or before “07/09/22” and includes “05” in the date/lot code, which identifies products made in the Oklahoma plant:
Lot code information may be found on the back of bag and will appear in a three-line code, with the top line in format “EXP 03/03/22/05/L#/B###/HH:MM”. The products were distributed nationwide and exported to other countries. If you can’t find the expiration date, the FDA encourages people to stop feeding it.
The FDA sent a warning letter to the company on Tuesday after its facilites failed inspections and showed “evidence of significant violations of the Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Food for Animals regulation.”
Today, FDA posted a corporate-wide warning letter to Midwestern Pet Foods, Inc. after inspections of its manufacturing sites revealed violations that likely contributed to the illness or death of hundreds of dogs. t.co/JC9PKiHY4c pic.twitter.com/5UQxEl4lv9
— U.S. FDA (@US_FDA) August 17, 2021
Steven M. Solomon, director of the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, said in a press announcement, “The FDA is dedicated to taking all steps possible to help pet owners have confidence that the food they buy for their animal companions is safe and wholesome. We are issuing this corporate-wide warning letter because inspections of Midwestern Pet Foods, Inc.’s manufacturing plants revealed evidence of violations, which were shared across multiple plants and were associated with the illness or death of hundreds of pets who had eaten the company’s dry dog food.”
The pet food company has 15 days to respond and detail how they are addressing the violations. Failure to respond could result in legal actions, product seizure, and/or injunction.
Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog
