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Recall to

Supplier of the Year in 18 months?

The Diamond Pet Food Story

Told from the perspective of:

Michele M. Sayles Ph.D.

• A family-owned company

– Founded in 1970

– Driven by the philosophy that super-

premium pet food should be

affordable and available to all pets

– 1000 employees in five locations

– Committed to caring for our

employees

– Diamond Pet Foods’ brands used in

50 states and in more than 70

countries

– Our business has grown from word-

of-mouth; retailers are our partners2

Meet Diamond Pet Foods

Where We Make Our Products Presentation Overview

• Set the Stage

• What happened?

• How did Diamond react:

– Commitment

– Immediate changes

– Control Programs

– New Technology / Innovation

– Culture Change

2005 – Aflatoxin Recall

2007 – Melamine

3600 pet deaths over 5300 products recalled

2007 – Mars Pet Care

Salmonella Schwartzengrund

62 people in 18 states

2012 – Diamond Pet Foods

Salmonella Infantis

49 people in 20 states

2012 – Hatchery in Ohio

Salmonella Infantis, Newport,

and Lille infections linked to live chicks &

ducklings 195 people, 27 states and 2 deaths

Interesting to Note:

Pet Food Recall Mail Order Poultry Recall

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What Happened?

• What happened?

– April 2012 Michigan Dept. Ag found Salmonellain an unopened bag during routine inspection

– This isolate was put into Pulse Net• This yielded a match of 28 illnesses

– 22 of 28 had contact with a dog 1 week prior to becoming ill

– 17 of 28 had purchased dog food;

– 11 people had purchased Diamond

• During additional state surveillance S. infantis strain with a different pattern was found, put into Pulse Net and an additional 16 illnesses linked

• Canada also reported 2 illnesses from non-outbreak strain

How Did Diamond React

• How did Diamond react:

– Immediately shut plant down

– Plant was down for 40 days

– FDA was in the plant for 7 days conducting

investigation

– Outbreak strain was never found

– No single source identified

• Immediate Reaction:

Company Commitment!

Some Immediate Reactions

• Tore every thing apart!

• Installed strict area segregation

• Installed Air Handling Units per production area

• Eliminated potential harborage

• Made equipment more accessible to clean

• Implement Test and Hold and a micro program

• Became DATA DRIVEN!

DATA DRIVEN

Strict Plant Separation

Control Programs

• Multi Hurdle Approach:

– Microbiological monitoring

– Cleaning and sanitation

– Effective pre-requisite programs

– Innovation technologies

Pre-Requisite Programs

• Specifications• HACCP Program• Food Defense• Vendor Approval• Equipment Sanitary

Design Standards

Pre-Production

• Training• Documentation• Mycotoxin Control• Water Quality• Air Quality• Cleaning and Sanitization• GMPs• Foreign Material Control• Glass and Brittle Plastic• Chemical Control• Pest Control• Raw Material Receiving• Micro

• Environmental• Finished Product

Production

• Recall / Withdrawal• Product Retrieval • Warehouse and

Distribution Center• Customer Complaints

Post Production

Taking these programs to new levels:

Example: Air Quality, Water Quality

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Microbiological Monitoring

• Within 2 weeks – onsite modular micro labs

• Implemented:

– Finished product testing

– Environmental monitoring program

– Ingredient testing / COA verification

Microbiological Monitoring

DATA DRIVEN

Major Challenges

• Legacy equipment

• Equipment Design– Sanitary design standards – originally non existent

• Cleaning and Sanitation– SSOP’s – how do we clean?

– Establishing frequencies

– C&S verification, validation

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Dryer room

OLD NEW

Extruder Room

OLD NEW

Cleaning and Sanitization

Strategies

• Cleaning and Sanitization: How and When??– Wet clean vs. dry clean

– New technology • Dry fog

• Ozone / Chlorine dioxide

• Probiotics

– New chemicals vs. old chemicals• Peracetic acid

• Acidified Calcium Sulfate

• Lactic Acid

– New Monitoring Technology – 16 s?

Innovation technologies• Cleaning and Sanitization

– New technology, improved chemicals

• Sampling and Monitoring

– Improved testing 16 S metagemnomics

• Ingredients

– Probiotics

• Processing Technology

– Radio frequency, UV light

WGS vs 16s Metagenomics

• WGS • 16s Metagenomics

WGS

Traditional (PFGE) Traditional

16s metagenomics

Investigations with 16s

Overview

• Sample multiple sites

• Sample multiple raw materials

• Compare spoiled vs. normal

• Understand facility microbiota

• Root cause analysis

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Data set # 1

Vials

What Are Probiotics?

• Commonly Used Strains

– Lactobacillus

– Bifidobacterium

– Enterococcus

What Do Probiotics Do?

• Aid in digestive health

– Competitive inhibition

– Competitive exclusion

– Receptor binding

– Antagonistic behavior

• Secondary benefits

– Antimicrobial

characteristics in product

Key Benefits of Probiotics

• Improve pet GI heath

• Food Safety Effect

– Competitive Inhibition of Pathogens (i.e.Salmonella)

– Competitive Exclusion of Pathogens

• Probiotics are effective against pathogens:

– In the laboratory

– In the human or animal

– In the environment

• Diamond’s cutting edge Environmental Application research

project

Culture Change

• Company - internal

• Customers

• Suppliers/vendors

• Trade Organization

• Professional Affiliations

• Regulatory Agencies

• No Really…HOW???

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The Diamond Pet Food Story

How did the story end?• Customers:

– Recall to Supplier of the Year in 18 months

• Regulators:

– Invite us to teach and present our story

• Industry Peers:

– Ask for advice and input