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[RC] Dog Food Recall interesting article - Carla RichardsonHere's an interesting excerpt from a web page --
....(preceding text deleted) There are two types of biological contaminants: bacteria and toxins. Bacteria can cause infection themselves or they can produce toxins, which make us sick. In general, toxins make us sick in a matter of a few hours after ingestion. Bacteria require more like 1 to 6 days. Contamination can occur at any stage of food production and it should be noted that the nutrients present in foods are just as nutritive to contaminating bacteria as they are to us. Bacteria are able to double in numbers every 30 minutes depending on the environmental conditions. What are common toxins to be concerned about? First, there are mycotoxins (toxins produced by fungi or molds). An example of a common type mycotoxin would be the aflatoxins. These toxins attack the liver and can produce upset stomach all the way to a life-threatening hepatitis depending on exposure. They come from the bacterial species called Aspergillus, which is the white and gray fluffy mold that is commonly seen on spoiled foods. A typical exposure scenario might involve a dog that got into some moldy trash. The extra bad news is that aflatoxins are stable in heat which means that cooking does not destroy them. Another toxin to know is vomitoxin, which produces upset stomach especially in dogs. This toxin is produced by Fusarium bacteria growing in grain, especially wheat and barley. This toxin is also heat stable. Because of this toxin, the FDA has established a guideline that the grain and grain by-product composition of pet food should never exceed 40% thus restricting the amount of toxin that could be present in food. The FDA's advisory level of this toxin is 5 parts per million in pet food though many dogs can detect this toxin in amounts as low as 2 parts per million. In 1995, it was the presence of vomitoxin in contaminated grains that led to the recall of 16,000 tons of Nature's Recipe dog food and created much embarrassment for this company. Here's a link to the page - http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=649&S=2&SourceID=30 Carla Richardson Colorado =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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