Latvia's State Food and Veterinary Service (PVD) said October 2 it had lifted restrictions on 'Dogo' brand dogfood, claiming that a foul-up in a Danish laboratory was responsible for earlier results suggesting it was potentially unsafe.
"The Food and Veterinary Service has abolished all the restrictions imposed on 'Dogo' and the cat food 'Nauňau' and the distribution of raw materials of the company "Tukuma Straume", as the result of analysis obtained from an Austrian Laboratory (Osterreichische Agentur fur Gesundheit und Ernarungsicherheit GmbH) that urea has not been detected in the tested feed samples," the PVD said.
As previously reported by LSM, Tukuma Straume is the manufacturer of Dogo and Nauňau. For well over a year, the company has been at the center of a controversy with some veterinarians claiming a causal link between Dogo dogfood and increased incidence of an abnormally enlarged esophagus in dogs, sometimes with fatal results.
The company has denied the link, but in August was back in the headlines when tests showed unacceptably high levels of urea in certain batches of Dogo. As a result, restrictions were placed on sales of certain flavors.
However, in its October 2 release, the PVD says the tests that found the problem were flawed.
"In the Austrian laboratory, testing was carried out using two methods. In one case, the urea content was determined by measuring the optical density at 420 nm wavelengths, while in the second case, as required by European Commission legislation, this was determined by measuring the optical density at 435 nm," the PVD said.
"The results of the analytical results obtained from the Austrian laboratory indicate that the presence of urea in samples was not detected by examining feed samples by the prescribed method, i.e., measuring the optical density at 435 nm."
The PVD did not say whether urea had been discovered at 420 nm wavelengths in the Austrian tests but said samples tested earlier by a Danish laboratory (Fødevarestyrelsens Laboratorie Aarhus) which detected urea had obtained results with "mistakes in the testing method."
"The Danish laboratory has unofficially confirmed that, in examining the samples of feed produced by the company Tukuma Straume, it has made a mistake in its chosen testing method," the PVD said, adding that the Danish laboratory had apologized.
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