Apprehensions over the high levels of aflatoxin, found to be present on certain dog food brands, have prompted the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue a product recall which impacted more than 12 dog food brands in the country.
Louisiana’s Department of Agriculture and Forestry detected a high level of aflatoxin in a dog food sample from Sunshine Mills, prompting the company to recall most of its dog food products last September. Recently, the product recall has increased coverage to include other dog food variants, such as:
- Paws Happy Life Nutritionally Complete Dog Food,
- Old Glory Hearty Beef and Chicken Flavor Dog Food, and
- Whiskers and Tails Adult Recipe Complete Dog Food
The DFA explained that aflatoxin is a substance found in mold which usually grows on agricultural crops such as maize, rice, nuts, figs, spices, and dried foods. Some of these are processed components of commercially sold pet food. It said that even if the mold is not evident in the pet food, it can still be present. At relatively high levels of concentration, the toxin can be harmful, or even, fatal to pets.
Some symptoms exhibited by pets that ingested high levels of aflatoxin include appetite loss, nausea, loose bowel movement, lethargy, and high level of bilirubin pigment in the liver, which can escalate into liver damage. There have been cases where pets did not show any evident symptoms of the disease until it was already too late.