New Diamond News

Diamond Pet Food Media Statement on FDA Investigation Findings
02/01/2006

Diamond Pet Food Media Statement on FDA Investigation Findings

META, Mo. – Jan. 31, 2006 – Diamond Pet Foods cooperated fully with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during its investigation and supports the findings that were released today.

Prior to the product recall, the company had stringent guidelines in place to test incoming shipments of corn for aflatoxin exposure. It was apparent by the FDA report that those guidelines were not followed. The company has taken the necessary actions to prevent these oversights from happening in the future. In addition, Diamond also has strengthened its testing procedures on incoming shipments of corn, and initiated final product testing as an additive step to its procedures. This additional step will provide an extra layer of protection prior to the bagging and shipping of products.

As a result of Diamond's cooperation with the FDA investigation and Diamond's implementation of additional testing, the United States Department of Agriculture has cleared the Gaston, S.C., facility for all product shipments, including export.

The term "human-grade" does not have a place in the pet food industry. Legally, for a meat to be "human-grade", it must be processed in a human-grade facility. Pet food facilities are not human-grade, rather, they are ALL feed grade. In fact, pet food manufacturing facilities are held to a different level of sanitation standards by the USDA than those applied to a human food processing plant, or even a restaurant. By law, as soon as meat, even "human-grade" meat, is shipped to a pet food facility it becomes "feed-grade".

Human-grade meat is a tricky subject. And, while we at Chicken Soup for the Soul™ brand dog and cat foods would love to call our fresh, never frozen, meats "human-grade" our conscience does not allow us.

You see, even though our fresh meats are the same grade and quality and come from the same sources used for human food applications, they are not "human-grade". And here's why:

Now this doesn't change the quality of the meat—but it does change its legal definition. And, to us, it would be irresponsible to tell you that our products are better than the competition because our foods use "human-grade" meats.

So, you won't find a "human-grade" claim on any Chicken Soup for the Soul™ brand dog and cat food, or in our brochures, or on this web site. Period.

What you will find is our products are of the highest quality, processed within the strictest standards in the industry, and guaranteed to help your pet become a better, healthier, happier companion.