Dog food scare 'now over'

2007-02-23 14:35

Cape Town - AquaNutro managing director, Dirk van der Linde, has confirmed that their pet food products are now safe for consumption, after a contaminant was found in some of their lines of dog food.

Van der Linde said in a press statement this week that the company had conducted extensive tests and the factory is now able to continue with the manufacturing of its product range.

"Customers can be assured that all our products comply with all health, hygiene and nutritional standards," he said.

Rapport reported last week that several dogs in the Western Cape had died from renal/kidney failure after eating contaminated food.

Meanwhile, grocery chain store, Woolworths said in a statement that it has withdrawn all its dry dog and cat food as it continues to run extensive in-depth tests on its own range of dry dog food.

Woolworth's in-house brand of pet food is supplied by AquaNutro and was also affected by the contaminant.

On February 23 2007, Woolworths immediately issued an instruction to withdraw two dry Woolworths dog food lines from the shelves in all stores as traces of a contaminant, ethylene-glycol, were found in these particular products.

It had been alerted by AquaNutro on January 19 that there might be traces of the contaminant in the supplier's own range of pet food.

The contaminant, ethylene-glycol, is a type of coolant. The specific raw material originated in Europe, but was obtained through a local supplier.

AquaNutro said that new orders of the ingredient were placed directly from a different supplier in Europe.

Woolworths urged concerned customers to call the Woolworths customer contact centre 0860 022 002 with further queries.

- News24