South African Dog Food Contamination

The Pet Institute of South Africa on Wednesday said at least 21 dogs have died after eating contaminated dry dog food. Three brands involved in the pet food scare include Hi-Pro, Legends, and Buddies. Pet owners have been urged to take their dogs to their local vet should they have concerns.Most occurred in northern Pretoria but vets confirmed that there could be cases in other parts of Pretoria and Johannesburg.

It has come to light that a micotoxin, which is caused by a fungus, has been found in these foods. The fungus usually contaminates vegetable matter, mainly due to poor harvesting techniques or bad storage practices. This leads to aflatoxicosis.

Samples of the suspect foods have already been sent for tests and “extremely high” concentrations of aflatoxicosis have been detected. Aflatoxicosis causes liver failure and is caused by the ingestion of a mycotoxin produced as a secondary metabolite of a fungus, Aspergillus flavus. When food has been contaminated with this mycotoxin, humans or animals eating it generally receive low doses of the mycotoxin, which can cause liver damage but is not necessarily fatal. However, if the food is heavily contaminated, then deaths as seen by some veterinarians in Gauteng, especially, and at Onderstepoort, can result. The symptoms included signs of jaundice, like for instance yellowing gums, nausea, bloody stools and listlessness.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Tainted-food-kills-16-dogs-20110426