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(Medical-NewsWire.com, December 10, 2015 ) Los Angeles, CA -- The Consumer Council of Hong Kong recently published an article where nearly 40 popular pet foods were tested that delivered shocking results not just to the entire team but many pet owners as well. Three popular US food manufacturers, Purina, Hill's and AvoDerm all had foods that had aflotoxin B1 in pet foods they manufactured. Hill's food that was put into test was a cat food.
What are Aflatoxins?
There are many grains in the market such as corn, wheat, rice etc. as well as many nuts and legumes that are highly contaminated with molds and dust due to lack of quality storage, poor growing conditions etc. Molds called aflatoxins easily grow and produce rich level of carcinogen.
Here comes the worst part. Aflatoxins are quite stubborn in character and even high temperature of processing is unable to kill them leaving little hope and protection for any dog eating these foods.
Purina confirmed this fact in their South China Morning Post. They stated that these cancer causing aflatoxins were “unavoidable natural contaminant”. AvoDerm on the other hand claimed that they have removed the ingredient corn from the dog formula as they felt it was the source of aflatoxins.
Indeed corn has become a major source of aflatoxin. This is because of droughts in the US midwest that trigged a record amount of mold infested crops that amounted to almost $75 million for insurance claims. As a response to such surplus of corn (that was deemed unfit for human consumption), FDA raised the level of allowable amount of aflatoxin permitted in animal food.
History of aflatoxins
We may not be aware but the pet food industry is no stranger to this chemical. The oldest historical outbreak was in the year 1974 in India where hundreds of stray dogs died after consuming aflatoxin contaminated corn. In the year 1998, 55 dogs were killed and by December 2005, 100 dogs were killed thanks to aflatoxin contaminated pet food in US.
Even in US there are pet foods that come with high level of aflatoxins and other modl related mycotoxins. A health and nutritioncompany called Alltech had studied 965 pet food samples and 98% of them were found contaminated with one or more mycotoxins with 93% had more than two mycotoxins.
Now the sad part is even a grain free pet food will still possess high carb content so the chances of mold spores to contaminate the kibble during storage is still high when exposed to moist environment. These problems occur even at home if you store pet food at a moist basement or on an open container.
How does aflatoxins work in dog's body?
They primarily affect the liver and dogs who eat more than 0.5 to 1 mg of aflatoxin/kg body weight can pass away within a few days. Even few amount of aflatoxins often found in food samples can trigger symptoms such as lethargy, weight loss, jaundice or at times even prove fatal.
Aflatoxins are of carcinogenci nature and hence bind with DNA and can cause cell mutations. As consuming small amounts of aflatoxins affect gradually, only a small percentage of affected dogs are reported. Basically, though tens of thousands of cases (of liver damage or cancer) would be reported and might be caused by polluted foods the connection between the two is a missed part.
Wait, there is more
The Consumer Council also found quite surprising facts as well. For instance, three brands such as Purina, Solid Gold and Iams evidently had melamine or cyanuric acid that poisoned thousands of pets in 2007.
Other toxic ingredients found in processed foods included heterocyclic amines, acrylamides, PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) which is a chemical used as a flame retardant.
The best way to feed your pet is whole foods and fresh feed rather than relying on processed pet foods that bark nutrition. If you are a fan of natural remedies for dogs, there are many products that work efficiently in raising the immunity without triggering any side effects.
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