#plastic contamination

"Company Announcement

MEQUON, WIS. (DECEMBER 3, 2025) - FROMM FAMILY FOODS has issued a recall of 300 cases of Bonnihill Farms BeefiBowls Beef Recipe gently cooked frozen dog food due to potential foreign plastic contamination.

Potential adverse reactions could occur in all size dogs, however, to date there are no reports of illness or injury reported from consumers.

Dogs ingesting plastic may exhibit symptoms such as vomiting, loss of appetite, lethargy, or stomach discomfort. Plastic, when consumed in large amounts, can lead to serious health issues in dogs, including gastrointestinal upset and a risk of intestinal obstruction. Consumers whose dogs have consumed any of the affected product and are exhibiting these symptoms should contact their veterinarian.

Consumers should stop feeding the product listed below to their dogs.

Affected recalled product was distributed at neighborhood pet stores regionally in the United States, in the States of IL, WI, TX, AR, MS, OK, LA, CA, NV, AZ, CO, OR, WA, AK, and Canada, in the Province of Ontario. The product is packaged in 16 oz. chubs with Best By Date 12/25/2026. A description of the affected product is [at the link].

There are no other Fromm products affected by this recall. The recall was initiated after receiving complaints of plastic contamination. We have identified the error, and in addition to our existing safety process, we have put corrective actions in place to prevent this from happening again.

This voluntary recall is being made with the knowledge of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Consumers who have purchased Bonnihill BeefiBowls Beef Recipe Best By 12/25/2026 dog food are urged to return the product to your retailer. Consumers with questions may contact the company at 1-800-325-6331 from Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM-5:00 PM, Central Time, or you may contact [email protected]."

Drinking water from plastic bottles may involve consuming plastic, as per a recent report by Columbia and Rutgers Universities. The reports raise concerns about the potential dangers of drinking water from plastic bottles.

Along with the tiny beads of plastic deliberately added to products such as face scrubs and toothpaste, and the billions of tiny filaments produced by artificial fibres, these microplastics have invaded the ocean’s food chain, gathering in higher and higher concentrations as one moves upward through the layers of predation. In the eastern Pacific, microplastics are now ubiquitous in the host of species of tiny free-swimming or floating animals known as zooplankton. These creatures fill the oceans’ waters and act as a foundation of the oceans’ ecosystems. In some parts of the ocean there is now more plankton-sized plastic than plankton, meaning organisms that rely on plankton for food, such as whales, are consuming it in extremely large quantities.

The long-term effects of this are not yet well understood, but there is no doubt ocean microplastics are also being consumed by humans: studies have detected them in fresh and tinned fish, while a study published earlier this year found that mussels in Britain contained up to 700 pieces of microplastic per kilogram, and other studies have found them in both fish and sea salt, while a study in California found a fifth of fish in local markets contained fibres from artificial fabrics (one study found a single load of polyester or acrylic clothing can release more than half a million microfibres). Their prevalence is made even more disturbing by the growing evidence that microplastics absorb pollutants such as DDT from seawater, as well as organic molecules such as oestradiol, which is used for birth control. Other studies have found that microplastics contain high levels of chemicals that are known to disrupt the endocrine system and affect reproduction in many species.

Plastic pollution is far from the only form of oceanic pollution. Eelco Rohling from ANU, for instance, points to the largely unreported threat of poly-chlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. Originally used in the 1920s for cooling and insulation, PCBs were quickly incorporated into paints, adhesives, the PVC coatings on electrical wires and many other products. While their widespread use meant large quantities were released into the environment, it was not until the mid 1960s that Sören Jensen, a Danish scientist looking for evidence of DDT in fish, found traces of PCBs in pike caught in Sweden. Over the next two years he found traces of them everywhere: in fish, in birds, even in the hair of his wife and daughter.

In the years since Jensen’s discovery, PCBs have been banned or regulated in many countries. But PCBs have not gone away. Quite the opposite: studies show PCBs have permeated marine environments around the world, so much so that one recent study found high concentrations of them in the bodies of shrimp-like crustaceans called amphipods living almost 10 kilometres beneath the ocean’s surface.

The presence of PCBs in the ocean is extremely concerning. Highly toxic in even small doses, they cause cancer, liver damage, reproductive problems and deformities in many species, including humans, as well as disturb hormonal balances in fish, birds and mammals, and cause neurological disorders in birds. Because they collect in fatty tissues they also become more concentrated as they move up the food chain, meaning they accumulate in the bodies of long-lived high-level predators such as sharks, seals and cetaceans.

The long-term effects of this are not yet fully understood, but they may well be significant: PCBs have already been implicated in mass die-offs of certain populations of dolphins, and are known to result in increased infant mortality in whales and dolphins, who transfer high concentrations of them to their young in their milk. Worse yet, PCBs break down extremely slowly when kept out of sunlight, meaning they can linger in the deep ocean and in the bodies of animals and fish for decades or even longer, their continued presence a reminder of the way the effects of our actions persist.

Ten steps to launch your personal Save the World from Plastic campaign

So let’s get started weaning ourselves from unnecessary plastic.

FIRST: Honor plastic. Yeah it’s cheap and easy to buy, but come on. It’s made from plants and animals who lived a billion years ago. Bow down. It is a gift. Plastic protects medicines, provides lightweight materials for cars, computers, condoms, lawn chairs, coating for electric wires, pool balls, a lot of stuff we need and like.…

What to do about plastics, Part II

Has the bad publicity about plastic changed how you use it? You’ve probably seen headlines. Everywhere on earth, air, soil and water is contaminated with plastic. It seems pretty unlikely we’re going to be able to get a handle on this. Right?

Amazon Prime package. It says it’s recyclable. It isn’t. 

Last week I promised good news. Here it is: We can fix the problems with plastic. Most of them,…