New Diamond Product Issue - Page 1

You may think the Diamond food scare is over, or that only a limited amount of product is involved. Not so. On Monday, March 6 - after 3 feedings of Diamond's Premium Edge Chicken, Rice and Vegetables - we almost lost 3 of our 4 GSDs. The only reason it didn't effect the 16 week old is because we kept her on other feed. Within 20 minutes of ingesting their dinner, 2 of the dogs proceeded to vomit dark green undigested food and within another 2 minutes they were foaming at the mouth and stiff-leg gaiting. Another 5 minutes and they were having what I - as a nurse - would refer to as petit mal seizures. After a traumatic night at the local emergency clinic, the diagnosis was "food intoxication from Premium Edge kibble". The following day, upon contacting Diamond in Meta, Missouri, I was assured they would work with me in this and stand behind their product....the reimbursement for any and all vet care, etc was also discussed. Upon asking for financial assistance for a test Diamond requested at Cornell ($300.00/dog minimum) - a test that per my vet and those at Cornell said was a CYA call on Diamond's part - they changed their mind on "helping out". I refused that particular test, awaiting results from another analysis on samples. Notification came yesterday from University of Missouri Vet Met Diagnostic Lab: "Each of the four submitted samples of dog food contained approximately 0.5 ppm of vomitoxin, as detected by thin layer chromotography...". Judging from no reference to this on Premium Edge's website (incredible how many products Diamond makes but very difficult to trace back to them - each feed/product seems to have it's own website/contact), no contact as of yet from Diamond and certainly no "standing behind" their product it appears they are not overly concerned about their consumers. Research your food thoroughly. If it is even remotely related to Diamond - DO NOT FEED!! If you are so inclined, please write concerns to Diamond - you can reference me if so desired. My particular contact was Dr. Brookshire, Director of Veterinary Services. Christine Buff Sr. K9 Handler/Trainer, Highland SAR Member, Rescue International K9 Director, New York State Federation of SAR

Do you have an email address?

Christine, Why did you even think about giving Diamond's stuff another chance? They messed up once, they'll do it again. The only thing that matters for companies like that is $$$. Does anyone sue them yet? Try Royal Canin GSD food; as far as I know people who use it (including me) are very pleased. It's expensive, but you get what you pay for. How are your dogs doing? Hope they are well by now. zvkmm

Ok....I admit....I'm not the brightest crayon in the box sometimes! But HOW did this food become so contaminated/toxic? Can anyone explain that to me? Is it moldy or prepared wrong? You would think if they cared, they would have taken care of whatever problem was causing it.

Deeswolf, Are you certain you wrote the correct result of the test? What is this? " 0.5 ppm of vomitoxin"? I do not feed Diamond, nor would I. I use Royal Canin. None the less, as far as I know, the food contaminated with aflatoxin and the ensuing episode of many dogs getting ill was, in fact, handled by Diamond with concern and forthrightness. In order to feel comfortable about further tarnishing their reputation, I personally would like to hear more about your situation, including more on the test sample results. Bottom line, all companies are in business to make money. I can not blame them for that. However, if there are still quality control issues, not only does the federal government need to know, but so do we. Good luck. I hope your dogs recover completely.

Hodie, see below: "Vomitoxin —Deoxynivalenol (DON), also referred to as vomitoxin, is a naturally occurring mycotoxin produced by several species of Fusarium fungi. Wet and cool weather from flowering time to maturity promotes infection, resulting in scab or head blight in barley, wheat, oats, and rye. Wheat infected with scab has a tendency to have lighter weight kernels, some of which are removed during normal harvesting and cleaning operations. Vomitoxin does not represent a threat to public health among the general population. However, it can—in rare cases—produce acute temporary nausea and vomiting in humans and animals. Food and Drug Administration does not have an advisory level for vomitoxin in raw wheat intended for milling purposes, and relies on processors to reduce the level in finished products for human consumption to a level that does not exceed 1 part-per-million (ppm). Advisory levels also exist for animal feeds. "

Sorry to here about your dogs. But I have to agree with hodie.... The problem with The Diamond line food was Aflatoxin, a mold that grows on corn. Vomitoxin is a mold that grows on wheat as zvkmm has written. What line of Premium Edge were you using Deeswolf?

I posted that statement for my friend chris. Just so you all know, Schell and Kampeter Inc, is the umbrella company and they manufacture several brands of dog food. some that we know of so far are: Chicken Soup Nutro Eagle pet Cosco Kirkland Brand Mother Hubbard Saturn Pet Food (germany) Scanbio ASA (Norway) Timberwolf Organics I am sure there are others.

I have looked up vomitoxin and yes, it is as ZVKMM mentioned above. However, it suggests that rice is not the grain involved. None the less, in production, if one grain used was contaminated and the production equipment not cleaned adequately before the next batch was produced, certainly the potential exists. The bottom line is that Deeswolf should contact the Feds, the USDA and the FDA in particular. They were involved before. As well, find the lot numbers of the food she fed and post that everywhere and alert some of the vets and vet colleges. That will get Diamonds attention. In February I believe, the FDA cleared Diamond to resume production. It is possible they still have a problem and do not know it.

My friend, who I posted for at the beginning has asked me to post this response: "Foolish to buy a Diamond product? Absolutely!! Live and learn. I also thought (won't make that mistake again) that Diamond was being fairly responsible in how it handled the previous recall. That was before I learned how many products they DO make and how many ARE causing illness - whether the lab values are "significant" or not. In my defense, there was NO reference to Diamond on the bag of Premium Edge and I had fed this years ago without problem. I believe the particular grain in question here would be barley, but I could be wrong. Certainly wouldn't be the first time. As of now, NYS Ag and Markets is checking the product in conjunction with Cornell. I am in the process of researching all I can as well. Yes, the 0.5ppm is what the sample given tested with. According to Diamond, "the FDA allows up to 1ppm....for human consumption. 0.5....is acceptable". Well, when there is nothing else the dogs have been given, when I am with them all the time and when the 4th is treated identically barring being given THAT food and showed NO illness --- something is amiss. Christine"