Midwestern Pet Food Problems Keep Getting Worse

Midwestern Pet Food has been recalling products since last year due to aflatoxin poisoning and salmonella poisoning, and the problem does not appear to be going anywhere. In a warning letter sent to the company, the FDA says more than 130 dogs may have died and another 220 or more been sickened by the company's products, NPR reports. The FDA inspected manufacturing plants after Midwestern's earlier recalls, and those inspections "revealed evidence of significant violations" of food safety regulations, and also found high levels of aflatoxin, a toxic mold that is poisonous and can cause illness or death in animals. It was found in SPORTMiX and other brands produced by the company, CBS 2 reports.

As for salmonella, "Midwestern's food safety program appears inadequate to significantly minimize or prevent salmonella in its pet food," the FDA says, per NBC News. Salmonella was found in SPORTMiX and Earthborn varieties. The violations "were shared across multiple plants and were associated with the illness or death of hundreds of pets who had eaten the company's dry dog food," an FDA director says in a statement. The company has 15 days to come up with a plan to fix the problems before it faces legal action. (More pet food recall stories.)