Tuesday, January 13, 2009
A local food for dogs announced on Monday that suspended the sale of the product after reports of the death of several animals by aflatoxin poisoning.
The company Yidi Shanghai Pet Co. stopped selling food brand Optima last week and notified its customers that do not give their animals, after receiving reports about the poisoning of the dogs consumed, said a customer service manager of the firm was identified only with his surname Gu.
"It is disturbing to see so many dogs have been sick for food. They must be serious problems," he added.
The announcement was made on the same day that Chinese authorities said they would increase security mechanisms in food before the main national celebration, the Lunar New Year.
The campaign is the latest effort by China to solve the serious problems of food security in the country.
The local industry has been affected by several scandals, including last year's, in which hundreds of thousands of children get sick from contaminated milk powder with melamine. The death of six babies have been linked to the scandal.
Melamine has also been cited as the cause of death of dogs and cats in the United States during 2007, due to consumption of Chinese food ingredients, contaminated with this compound.
These scandals are focused on chemical compounds that are used to hide the fact that doses food components have been reduced to increase profit margins.
Melamine, like protein, has high levels of nitrogen and was used to fool tests for protein levels.
Labels: Health
