Recalled Pet Food Returning to Plant

By Jim Duplessis, The State, Columbia, S.C., The State, Columbia, S.C.

Dec. 23–Bob Petruzzi has been in a blur of activity since Sunday, when he got word there was a problem with the pet food produced at the plant he manages, Diamond Pet Foods in Gaston.

Over the next four nights, he said, he slept 18 hours. On Tuesday, investigations into dog deaths led to a recall of about half the plant’s output of dried dog and cat food made from Sept. 1 through Dec. 10.

Drivers began arriving at the plant Thursday with truckloads of returned pet food.

Petruzzi said he didn’t expect the 3-year-old plant to shut down or lay off any of its 65 workers.

“We want to get this resolved,” he said. “The main thing is we take care of our customers.”

Mark Brinkmann, chief operating officer at the company’s headquarters, said the plant ships about 400 tons of dry food per day, about half of it containing corn, the ingredient suspected of containing a toxic mold. About 80 percent of the plant’s output is for dogs, and the rest for cats, he said.

At those production rates, the recall could affect about 36 million pounds, or 900,000 40-pound bags of pet food.

Brinkmann said it is likely that only a small portion of the plant’s shipments were tainted.

“We have a very isolated incident. We threw out a broad net,” Brinkmann said. “We don’t want any more illnesses or deaths.”

Brinkmann wouldn’t provide sales for the privately owned company. However, it is not a member of the Pet Food Institute, an industry group that claims its members account for 98 percent of the U.S. pet food market, said Stephen Payne, spokesman for the group in Washington, D.C.

The nation’s 16 million cat and dog owners spent an estimated $14.4 billion for food and treats in 2004, including $8.3 billion for dry food, according to the institute.

Diamond Pet Foods, a subsidiary of Schell and Kampeter, began operations as a livestock feed producer in 1970 in Meta, a southwest Missouri town that had a population of 249 in 2000.

In 2002, the company announced plans to spend $18 million to open the Gaston plant, with at least 40 employees, later that year. It has two older plants, in Meta and Lathrop, Calif., that employ about 185 workers.

Reach DuPlessis at (803) 771-8305 or jduplessis@thestate.com [mailto:jduplessis@thestate.com].

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Copyright (c) 2005, The State, Columbia, S.C.

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