Posted on 05/05/2012 9:13:43 AM PDT by ColdOne
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Fourteen people in at least nine states have been sickened by salmonella after handling tainted dog food from a South Carolina plant that a few years ago produced food contaminated by toxic mold that killed dozens of dogs, federal officials said Friday.
At least five people were hospitalized because of the dog food, which was made by Diamond Pet Foods at its plant in Gaston, S.C., the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. No pets were sickened, according to the Meta, Mo.-based company.
"People who became ill, the thing that was common among them was that they had fed their pets Diamond Pet Foods," said CDC spokeswoman Lola Russell.
Three people each were infected in Missouri and North Carolina; two people in Ohio; and one person each in Alabama, Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, the CDC said.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
My little guy who just turned 8 just eats Blue Buffalo. The nest dog food bar none. He has eaten it since he got off puppy chow and is in excellent health.
Thanks for posting!
Blue Buffalo!!
that is what mine gets!!!
Made in the US...no chinese crap!
YIKES.
I have a BAD bag. Dogs have been eating it for 2-3 weeks now . . . no problems . . . but maybe it just affects part of the contents.
Mine is Canidae All Life Stages 44# bag and that is what I’ve always fed them. And their Charlee Bears for their treats.
Was on the phone for right at 30 minutes. Put on hold once. After initially holding for a little over 10 minutes. Then someone with an Indian accent . . . very difficult to understand and phone line was very static”y”.
I have to mail in the UPC Code and the production run codes. AND of course WASH MY HANDS very thoroughly after handling said bag and cutting this information out and mail it to some place in Missouri and maybe get a response/refund in 3 weeks.
NOW, what to feed them starting tonight for their supper. The store where I usually buy from and that sells other supposedly “good” brands of dog food closes @ 2:00 and I don’t think I can drive there that quickly unless I leave now. OR grocery store dog food. OR go to a Pet Smart location in town. Guess I better figure it out quickly as the dogs will be wanting their dinner about 6:00. One of them actually will come to me and just look at me like “it’s time” or rest his chin on my chair or sofa and proceed to look at me with those hungry eyes.
Guess I need to check out this Blue Buffalo brand.
Beware of unfresh salmon!
“Stuff happens”
Yup. Apparently the plant that made this food makes more than the Diamond brand. See below:
May 4, 2012
Dear Valued Retailer,
A few brands announced a recall late Friday, May 4th 2012. We are starting
to get information in and will pass along updates and information as it
becomes available. The information below is preliminary and each one of the brands below is preparing factual statements and processes and will be loading them on their individual web sites. Once they have finalized this information, we will also be loading it onto our web site under the forms button for your reference.
The following brands have issued a voluntary recall. More information will be following as it is released.
The below Diamond Pet Dry Dog Food Brands - To determine if what you have is
affected, you should check the production codes on the back of bags that
have a number “2” or a “3” in the 9th or 10th digit and an “X” in the 11th digit.
The best-before dates for the recalled brands are December 9, 2012 through
April 7, 2013. Please note- not all Diamond brands were produced on the affected plant manufacturing lines. Phillips receives products from numerous Diamond plants. Also, no cat or can skus are affected.
Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul - All skus
Country Value - All Skus
Diamond - All Skus
Diamond Naturals - All Skus
Premium Edge - All Skus
Professional - All Skus
Taste of the Wild - All Skus
The below Wellness sku with a Best by Date of January 9, 10, & 11th 2013:
Wellness Large Breed Puppy in 15 pound and 30 pound
May 4th, 2012- No other Wellness skus were affected.
Please note that no salmonella cases have been reported on Wellpet. They are recalling for the safety of the pet and the pet parent.
The below Natural Balance Skus:
5 LB Natural Balance Sweet Potato & Venison Dog; Best By Date: December 12, 2012; December 13, 2012; March 12, 2013
15 LB Natural Balance Sweet Potato & Venison Dog; Best By Date: December 12, 2012; December 13, 2012; December 14, 2012; March 5, 2013; March 6, 2013
28 LB Natural Balance Sweet Potato & Venison Dog; Best By Date: December 12, 2012; December 13, 2012; December 14, 2012; March 5, 2013; March 6, 2013; March 7, 2013; March 8, 2013; March 12, 2013
5 LB Natural Balance Lamb Meal & Brown Rice Dog; Best By Date: December 10, 2012; December 21, 2012; December 22, 2012
15 LB Natural Balance Lamb Meal & Brown Rice Dog; Best By Date: December 10, 2012; December 21, 2012; December 22, 2012
28 LB Natural Balance Lamb Meal & Brown Rice Dog; Best By Date: December 10, 2012; December 21, 2012; December 22, 2012
5 LB Natural Balance Sweet Potato & Bison Dog; Best By Date: December 17, 2012; December 18, 2012; December 28, 2012; December 29, 2012
15 LB Natural Balance Sweet Potato & Bison Dog; Best By Date: December 9, 2012; December 17, 2012; December 18, 2012; December 28, 2012; December 29, 2012
28 LB Natural Balance Sweet Potato & Bison Dog; Best By Date: December 9, 2012; December 17, 2012; December 18, 2012; December 28, 2012; December 29, 2012
5 LB Natural Balance Vegetarian Dog; Best By Date: December 9, 2012
28 LB Natural Balance Lamb Meal & Brown Rice Dog Large Breed Bites; Best By Date: December 12, 2012; December 20, 2012; December 21, 2012
5 LB Natural Balance Lamb Meal & Brown Rice Dog Small Breed Bites; Best By Date: December 21, 2012
12.5 LB Natural Balance Lamb Meal & Brown Rice Dog Small Breed Bites; Best By Date: December 21, 2012
May 4, 2012- Please note that only these 5 flavors of Natural Balance were affected. The other flavors are produced on other lines and plants.
Please note that no salmonella cases have been reported on Natural Balance. They are recalling for the safety of the pet and the pet parent.
The below Canidae skus with production codes that have both a number “3” in the 9th or 10th digit and an “X” in the 11th digit with a best before dates of December 9, 2012, through January 31, 2013 which are being recalled.
Canidae Dog, All Life Stages
Canidae Dog, Chicken Meal & Rice
Canidae Dog, Lamb Meal & Rice
Canidae Dog, Platinum
A message from Canidae:
It is with regret that we are reporting a voluntary recall on a limited production run of CANIDAE dry dog food produced out of the Diamond Pet Foods South Carolina plant. Even though not one of our products have been tested positive for Salmonella, it is out of pure precaution that this product is being removed from the market place. We are working diligently to make this process as seamless as possible for you, our retailers and consumers.
Although there have been no animal or human illnesses related to Canidae Pet Food, and the product has not tested positive for Salmonella, the company has voluntarily initiated this recall out of caution to ensure the health and safety of consumers and their pets.
Following is an example of how to read the production code and best before date:
Production Code Best Before Date
FDE0104R5 3X TS 10 - January - 2013
The recall affects only products distributed in the following Eastern U.S. states which were manufactured at the Diamond Pet Food Gaston, South Carolina plant. Further distribution to other pet food channels may occur:
Florida, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee
Canidae Pet Foods apologizes for any potential issues this may have caused pet owners and their pets.
Recently? My three dogs are all four years old and Diamond Naturals is all they have ever eaten. I think I might switch for a while. The food is good (no wheat, no corn, etc.) and is a good price but it’s not worth taking a chance.
Diamond also makes a cheaper lower quality dry food but I never buy it.
OK, I went to the link. Diamond says testing has showed no problem but I will feed something else for a while.
I got an automated phone call from Costco about this but I had bought a brand that wasn’t in this group affected. It mentioned expiry dates and I checked and mine also fell outside the affected group.
Diamond Dog Food has had a lot of complaints. I wouldn’t buy that stuff.
Why do I think these people were too embarrassed to admit that they tried tasting the pet food?
Yes, recently.
May 4, 2012
Diamond Pet Foods today announced that it is expanding a voluntary recall to include batches of nine brands of dry pet food formulas manufactured between December 9, 2011 and April 7, 2012 due to potential Salmonella contamination.
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recall/natural-balance-dog-food-recall-2/
Natural Balance, too. (sorry if it’s already been posted)
Same here. I alternate between Blue Buffalo and Innova, both high-quality brands.
Before I read it I figured China was involved ping....
Listen, lots of people will take out a portion of the kibble, and stick it in their pockets for treats. Give the pup a treat for doing something desirable, ala “Clicker Training”, but then forget to wash their hands, and stick other things in the contaminated pockets, etc. and so forth.
Healthy dogs can handle salmonella just fine, because their intestinal tracts are so different from ours. Theirs are short and relatively straight, unlike our long convoluted ones. They eliminate salmonella and other pathogens before these can multiply in their digestive tracts.
Unfortunately we can’t, so these pathogens build up in our tracts, multiply exponentially, overwhelming our immune systems, and we get very sick.
We have to cook our foods to get rid of these pathogens, but dogs aren’t bothered by them, unless they are in very poor health (probably from kibble) to begin with.
Moral of the story, feed your dogs a raw diet, and carefully wash your hands and all surfaces touched by the raw food. Your dogs will be much healthier, and so will you.
Hopefully this will put to rest all those who warn against raw feeding because it proves we humans are just as vulnerable from kibble as we are from raw. And, for heaven’s sake, don’t feed your dogs raw hamburger. That isn’t a natural food, and we probably shouldn’t be eating it unless we chop up the meat at home ourselves!
Dogs are scavenger carnivores. They thrive on raw meaty bones, road kill, whatever they are lucky enough to snag on the hoof or claw, and the “riper” the better! and they love the innards like stinky old tripe. Over the years however, they get really sick with modern diseases,from all the grains stuck in the kibble to keep the costs of kibble affordable.
They do not have the digestive juices required to digest grains and other carbs, unless these have passed through the digestive tract of their prey. You think our kibble food processors only use pre-digested grains and carbs?
Think again.
Just my two cents, and I don’t want to argue with those who choose to feed kibble, so I will just state my opinion, and post no more on the topic.
Feed your dog a good raw diet, a la Tom Lonsdale, and don’t let food processing companies come between you and your dog’s overall health, not to mention yours.
Most of us who feed raw meat to our dogs have the sense to wash our hands and surfaces after handling the same.
How many have the sense to wash their hands after handling kibble?
I recently switched my 7 year old Jack Russell to Blue Buffalo,still seems to like steak,chicken and ground round better.:)
It reminds me of the time I told my ex, “this isn’t a good salmon, Ella!”
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