FWIW, aflatoxin can be found in *grains,* period. It may be more commonly found in corn, but no grain is truly immune. Plants stressed by drought and kept in areas of high humidity (are the grains being sourced from the south?) make conditions favorable for aflatoxins. Alflatoxin is pretty common in peanut butter, but the levels are below those of concern per the safety regulators.
And raw feeders aren't safe either. There have been recent recalls of ground turkey (Aug 2011) and frozen tuna (Apr 2012) for causing illness in humans (Salmonella again). Salmonella is all over the place. As I said elsewhere, people who feed raw are much more likely to be practicing safe food-handling procedures, which means they're less likely to make themselves sick, but they are still feeding it to their dogs (that is, the dogs are being exposed to Salmonella on the raw meats being fed).
Here's an article about
Salmonella in chickens published in the
Washington Post last October. There's a link there to recent recalls of people food because of contamination by various organisms.
Good manufacturing practices are key. And it's humans that are responsible for cleanliness in plants that manufacture food stuffs, be it for humans or animals. But just like with the cantaloupe-listeriosis debacle that resulted in dead people, when practices are changed or corners are cut, bad stuff follows. And of course it only takes one small "infestation" to contaminate a whole bunch of what comes after. I may be cynical, but I tend to believe that Salmonella can likely be found just about anywhere foods of any sort are beiing manufactured. All those "safe" plants just haven't had a *noticeable* outbreak (yet). What's safest for your dogs (and you)? Probably home cooked meals sourced locally, but of course that can be cost- and time-prohibitive.
I feed Diamond and Kirkland (not at the moment, though). I live in NC so likely have gotten foods from the plant in question. I have not had a sick dog, nor have I been sick (and I don't sanitize after handling kibble the way I do after handling raw meats/bones). I have friends who have used some of the products and had dogs with a bit of diarrhea, to others like me who have been feeding it with no ill effects. I, too, buy kibble and dump it into plastic containers designed for human food use (so presumably not leaching bad things out into the kibble).
I'm not saying don't return foods from recalled lots or anything like that, but I really do believe that it's likely just a matter of time before Salmonella is found in some other product, and so it goes....
J.
