Diamond Pet Foods and Aflatoxin

The July 1 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association had a news update on Diamond Pet Foods. The update described the warning Diamond Pet Foods received from the FDA after its dog food killed several dogs. The food was contaminated with aflatoxin, which causes liver disease. Some dogs became severely ill and died suddenly; other dogs will die slowly as aflatoxin causes progressive liver failure. This is what the FDA inspection found:

Diamond dog food contained aflatoxin.
Diamond did not use controls to prevent food from being contaminated.
Diamond personnel did not follow company procedures to prevent contaminated dog food from being distributed.
Diamond sold material salvaged from production of pet food to a hog farmer.
Diamond sold material with mammalian protein without the warning that it cannot be used for cattle or ruminants because it may transmit bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

Egregious as it is to make dog food with aflatoxin, it is equally evil to sell this material to hog farmers because it can no longer be used for pets. Won’t people be eating meat from these hogs?

As though these were not reasons enough to avoid Diamond Pet Foods, here are examples of how Diamond Pet Foods engage in misleading advertising:

Diamond makes Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul brand dog and cat foods. In advertising Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul foods, they state their food is from the finest ingredients. Yet, they do not use the finest ingredients—which are organic meat or vegetables. Diamond claims the flaxseed used in Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul is “natural.” Now what is that? Is there unnatural flaxseed?

2. Diamond Pet Foods advertise that they make “Super Premium” pet foods and biscuits for dogs and cats, puppies and kittens. Included in these foods is chicken-by-product meal. Chicken-by-product meal is made from chicken feet, necks, and intestines. Is a food which contains chicken feet, necks and intestines “Super Premium”?

3. Diamond advertises that it adds glucosamine and chondroitin to pet foods, but the amount added is insufficient to be of significant benefit to a pet that has joint problems.

4. Diamond advertises that it adds DHA to pet foods to encourage proper brain and vision development, yet the amount added is a token of what a pet’s brain needs for optimum health.

5. Diamond makes Premium Edge Pet foods and advertises them as natural. However, the lamb and beef used is not free-range meat raised without growth hormones or antibiotics. What is meant by the use of the word “natural?” Some companies advertising chicken as being free-range, but this is misleading because chickens raised with a couple feet of space in a building housing hundreds of other chickens are classified as “free-range.” These “free-range” chickens may never eat grass or see the sun.

If you don’t appreciate misleading advertising or the mishandling of pet food so that is sold containing aflatoxin, don’t buy Diamond pet foods. Don’t buy Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul brand dog and cat foods. Don’t buy Diamond Super Premium pet foods or Premium Edge pet foods. Instead, use pet food from a company that has never been cited by the FDA and has never made food that killed pets. Use pet food from a company that does not advertise in a way that is easily misinterpreted by inexperienced consumers. I trust Azmira pet foods.