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Another Human Grade Pet Food in Major Retail

Pet feed moves out of the way again…this time it is Rudy Greens pet food in 400 Kroger grocery stores. Why THIS is so, so important.

Pet feed moves out of the way again…this time it is Rudy Greens pet food in 400 Kroger grocery stores. Why THIS is so, so important.

To understand how significant this is – for Kroger groceries to be selling a human grade pet food – consider this…

Feed grade pet foods are openly allowed by FDA to include ingredients sourced from condemned/diseased and non-slaughtered animals (such as animals that died in the field or euthanized) – which is a direct violation of federal law. Feed grade pet foods are commonly sold at every grocery across the US. Pet foods that contain condemned/diseased and non-slaughtered animal animal material are sold adjacent to human grade meat, baby food, and fresh fruits and vegetables. And pet feed and human food are all placed in the same shopping cart.

For one – these pet feeds should NOT be sold adjacent to human food. Many include illegal ingredients that are openly ignored by every regulatory authority.

Two – what if the shopping cart you selected at your grocery was previously used by another consumer who unknowingly purchased a feed grade pet food that included condemned/diseased and non-slaughtered animal material? What if the bag of feed grade kibble tore and some of that illegal feed spilled in the cart? Do you want the food you are providing your family to be exposed to ground up, kibble-ized condemned/diseased and non-slaughtered animal material? (I don’t either. And honestly this is something I think about with every trip to the grocery.)

(I shop at Publix in Florida. I’ve had many conversations with store managers and Publix corporate offices in Florida begging them to understand these products are illegal and pose a risk to consumers. In Florida these types of pet feeds violate federal AND state law. All of my warnings have gone ignored by Publix.)

Kroger has done something very good. Thank you Kroger for selling Rudy Greens pet food – made in a USDA and FDA inspected and monitored human food manufacturing facility – available in a freezer in the pet food aisle in 400 Kroger locations east of the Mississippi river.

We need more of this. More Kroger’s selling human grade pet food. We need Publix and Safeway and Winn-Dixie and all the other groceries to sell human grade pet food ONLY and to stop selling feed grade waste ingredient pet foods adjacent to human foods.

If you feel so moved, tell your grocery to stop selling illegal pet feeds. Below is an example letter/email to send your grocery chain…

Dear _____,

I am very concerned that [grocery name] is selling feed grade pet products adjacent to human food. Perhaps you are unaware that the FDA allows pet feed products (foods and treats) to utilize ingredients that violate federal law. The FDA allows pet feed products to source meats from “diseased animals or animals which have died otherwise than by slaughter”. This is a direct violation of the federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act. In other words, [grocery name] is selling pet products that violate law. Please read these two FDA Compliance policies (there are more just as concerning) for verification of FDA lack of enforcement of law: https://www.fda.gov/ICECI/ComplianceManuals/CompliancePolicyGuidanceManual/ucm074710.htm and https://www.fda.gov/ICECI/ComplianceManuals/CompliancePolicyGuidanceManual/ucm074717.htm. By the way, FDA Compliance Policies are not law – they are ‘guidance’ from FDA. In this case, these Compliance Policies are FDA guidance alerting pet feed manufacturers to their opportunity to violate law.

I do not want food for my family to be exposed to illegal waste ingredient pet products. What if the shopping cart I select at your grocery was previously used by another consumer who unknowingly purchased a feed grade pet food that included condemned/diseased and non-slaughtered animal material? What if the bag of feed grade kibble tore and some of that illegal feed spilled in the cart? Again, I do not want food for my family to be exposed to pet feed products that include condemned/diseased and non-slaughtered animal material.

I am asking [grocery name] to stop selling all pet feed products. This is a ‘food’ store, not a ‘feed’ store. There are multiple pet ‘food’ products that meet all legal requirements of human food, they are known (and labeled as) “Human Grade”. I am asking [grocery name] to sell Human Grade pet products only.

Thank you –

[your signature]

 

Congrats to Rudy Greens pet food. (I didn’t realize this pet food has been sold in Kroger stores since 2007.)

 

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food


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26 Comments

26 Comments

  1. Joy

    May 18, 2018 at 12:40 pm

    Hi, why did Rudy’s Green get such a low rating on Dog Food Advisor? Always a big thanks Susan for your work.

    • susan williams

      May 19, 2018 at 9:56 am

      most likely because of rice being the second ingredient – not very nutritious – more of just a filler

  2. Cannoliamo

    May 18, 2018 at 1:08 pm

    Rudy’s Green dog food costs around $40 /lb. ($2.50 /oz.) …. pretty select market.

    • Gdoggie

      May 18, 2018 at 9:24 pm

      $40.00 per lb is absolutely crazy. For the last 9 month or so, I’ve been purchasing fresh meat, vegetable, and fruit for my dogs. I’ve got GS and I’d be broke it a month or 2 using Rudy’s Green

  3. Mary Sue

    May 18, 2018 at 1:36 pm

    This great news. Too bad I only have cats. Unfortunately, Kroger’s is in limited states. Their website says it’s also available through Amazon.

  4. Cherie Holverson

    May 18, 2018 at 1:49 pm

    Wonderful!! Thank you Susan for all your hard work?. It has taken a long hard time!! Finally some results.

  5. Maria de la Rosa

    May 18, 2018 at 2:33 pm

    Susan, I’m happy that Kroger will be selling human grade pet food so that pets can enjoy a better and longer life. I don’t understand why commercial human grade pet food is so expensive. I cook for my dogs with excellent ingredients and spend a fraction of what most manufacturers charge for their human grade pet food. I believe more pet parents would buy better pet food if the prices were more reasonable.

    • paponypal

      May 18, 2018 at 5:17 pm

      HI Maria. I cook for my dogs too so I understand where you are coming from. And I agree more people would buy it if it were cheaper. But the sellers of human grade food have to pay for packaging, inspections, employees, advertisements…etc. Whereas you and I buy the food, prepare it and place it in reusable containers. We aren’t held to requirements that every batch is the exact same as described on the pkg. Hope that helps explain the prices.

  6. Nora Groenendyk

    May 18, 2018 at 2:50 pm

    Where can I find it in Canada??.?

  7. Martha Clark

    May 18, 2018 at 3:12 pm

    Hard as I try, I cannot understand why this is any kind of issue. I (and, probably everyone else who shops) routinely put into my shopping cart things which pose genuine risk if they contaminate my food… household cleaning products, for example. I (and, probably everyone else who shops) do not give this a second thought. There is a line somewhere between prudent and paranoid… where this line rests will depend some on each individual’s level of awareness and perception, but I think this post could be considered by most reasonable people to have crossed the line into paranoia.

    • Susan Thixton

      May 18, 2018 at 3:44 pm

      It’s ok – call me paranoid, I honestly don’t mind. To me – knowing what type of ingredients are included in feed grade, the bacteria that could be spread (including but not limited to tularemia which only takes 10 microscopic bacteria to make someone ill – and die if not treated – and knowing that pet food company employees and family of pet food manufacturing employees have gotten sick from this disease) – it is normal to be concerned. Worried. Angry that this is sold in my grocery. But I do understand not everyone walks in my shoes and might not agree.

      • Eve WETHERELL

        May 18, 2018 at 8:52 pm

        Susan actually your grave concern is well justified! All chemicals whether used in human food and household products and equally used in processed pet feeds warrants the alarm! You can SMELL the supermarket isle when you walk through the household cleaning products and so too when you walk past the pet processed feed isle it literally STINKS. People have waived this concern through gentle persuasion of the overhead music, pretty labeling and fancy shelving all designed to hypnotize you into thinking its a must have so then it must be healthy and safe. And another HAZARD for the already processed pet feeds which no body has taken into account – I frequently see in supermarket isles processed pet feed is placed in the same vicinity and isles and sometimes directly next to HOUSEHOLD TOXIC CHEMICALS which is extremely alarming. Plastic wrapping does not exclude micro pathogens and toxic chemical substances from infecting the feeds including molds and mycotoxins. Pet owners should be warned think about WHO makes these processed pet feeds MARS for example and Colgate Palmolive-a subsidy for Hills are CHEMICAL PLANTS wonder where they offset their chemical waste? Oh yes and there is also cruel animal testing using these chemicals – why feed your much loved pets toxic waste which has also used ingredients torturing laboratory animals?

  8. Pat Williams

    May 18, 2018 at 4:00 pm

    Rudy Greens dog food has very low protein content – and some of it not from meat – along with very high fat and carbohydrate content. It’s great for human grade food to finally be sold in grocery stores but no help to concerned pet guardians if the food isn’t high quality. My information is from the pet food advisor website. Maybe it isn’t complete information, but I’d never purchase it from the information given though I’d love to find a human grade, high quality, cooked dog food for my babies.

    • Eve

      May 18, 2018 at 9:07 pm

      Hi Pat, it’s so easy and super simple to feed your dogs (and cats if any) as an Animal Nutritionist with a veterinary background I must warn you to never cook the meat rather than type many pages to explain I’ll try to sum it up quick: dogs are predatory carnivores with the ability to consume large amounts of vegetation “if” raw meat and meaty bones are unavailable – however, the dog will survive but will NOT thrive and will miss out on raw natural life sustaining micro and macro nutrients providing optimum health. Cooking meat destroys and denatures (changes) the nutrient elements and when taken in by the dogs mouth where specific doggy enzymes lay within the mucus membranes of the mouth and then in the stomach and bowel will be literally STARVED out of ORDER because cooked meat refuses synchronicity with these enzymes – that’s when serious disease sets in. In fact the dog and cats natural gut acidity pH 0.02 balance is drastically changed from alkaline to a high acidity level – disease LOVES ACIDIC environments including cancers, tumors, auto-immune diseases including arthritis and yes LUPUS. Feed RAW chicken meat predominately obviously with raw chicken necks and carcasses and all the entrails/offal. You can spoil your dogs with your lamb roast once a week with baked pumpkin/sweet potato and raw baby spinach leaves but just once a week. In cold weather you can place a bowl with raw cold meat in it over the top of a bowl with warm water pop a lid on top wait a few mins to warm the raw food then tip into dog bowl so bowl is not a burn hazard. Remember AVOID cooked bones so watch the roast has NO COOKED BONES. Refer to Dr Ian Billinghursts BARF diet for easy simple tips to help save your dogs/cats life. All the best x

      • Pat

        May 19, 2018 at 10:26 pm

        Thank you for your response, Eve; I’ve read much information on feeding raw, but I still prefer food for my babies to be lightly cooked. They are both rescues, and neither of them have even one tooth, so bones of any kind are out of the question. One is 8 yrs. old and a little over 2 lbs. and the other is 10 yrs. old and 6 lbs. The 2 lb. baby has such a tiny mouth that it’s very difficult for her to pick up food since she’s trying to use her lip and tiny gums to grasp it. The big problem with providing a home diet for them is making it a balanced diet with the proper amount of calcium, etc., compared to the amount of protein as well as other needed nutrients…that is why I would love to find a high quality commercial food for them so I could be sure they receive the proper ratio of vitamins and minerals, but it has to be “real” food – look, smell and taste like “real” food! In other words, the vitamins and minerals have to be in the ingredients and not additives that change the flavor and taste of the food. I’ve seen a few commercial foods I considered that are on Susan’s list, but the low percentage of protein wasn’t acceptable to me, and ones that use peas or other vegetables for a large percentage of the included protein are not acceptable. I appreciate your input, but as a squeamish older woman, I just can’t handle feeding raw…it has to be lightly cooked/steamed for a short time! A boneless, skinless chicken breast is one thing, but a dead chicken just looks too much like a dead chicken, and I can’t deal with it!

  9. Madeleine Fisher Kern

    May 18, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    Rudy Greens is not “pet” food. It’s “dog” food. And still cats get short shrifted. What I have found is a species- centricity that is focused on dogs these last years. It’s irritating and as a cat mom, I always find myself advocating for cats…as well as dogs. I await a human grade cat food, but not patiently. Or is there one that I haven’t heard about in this species-centric world.

    • Keashi T Harney

      May 19, 2018 at 10:05 am

      Honest kitchen. Plant based pet food. They offer cat food. I have a dog but he use to be on hk. But I recently switched to ziwipeak. Not human grade but made in new Zealand where there’s law restrictions on what they can put in pet food. He prefers ziwipeak. But i still use hk other products. Ziwipeak offer cat food too.

      • chuck linker

        May 19, 2018 at 11:13 pm

        NEVER BUY ANY COMMERCIAL PET FOOD IN ANY GROCERY STORE !

        THOSE OF YOU THAT BUY YOUR PET’S NUTRITION THERE DO SO BECAUSE IT IS CONVENIENT FOR YOU. THAT IS SELFISH !

        MAKE ANOTHER STOP AT A SMALL PET FOOD STORE. NOT PETCO, PETSMART PETSUPERMARKET, COSTCO, TARGET, WALMART, ETC.

  10. Opie Catt

    May 18, 2018 at 6:42 pm

    Canola Oil??? No thanks! Almost had me too…… 🙁

  11. Eve WETHERELL

    May 18, 2018 at 8:31 pm

    Thank You Susan for the Letter Template. Can I use the letter here in Australia?

    • Susan Thixton

      May 18, 2018 at 9:05 pm

      Yes certainly you can. I don’t know if your existing regulations use the term feed grade – but my guess would be they do.

  12. Mary Marseglia

    May 19, 2018 at 10:13 am

    First off is this Rudy’s Green’s food “complete proper” RAW diet – or a cooked diet!? There is a huge difference for your domestic carnivores — if this is human-grade raw and made “properly” which means NO vegetables and very little fruit if any – then its great. If you are talking about “cooked” diet – then even though this is better than all dry kibble on the market around the world – it is still cooked and not best for your pets. If it is cooked and still has vegetables in it – again, they are using vegetables as “cheap fillers” since your dogs & cats are “carnivores” they are not omnivores and they get very little to none of the nutrients from vegetables – even their wild ancestors do not eat vegetables(they eat some grasses, dandelions, few herbs and for wolves 2-3% of their diet is fruit usually seasonal berries but some have been observed eating a few apples/pears – but again it is very small amount of their diet – wild cats don’t eat fruits at all nor vegetables)

  13. Susan Thixton

    May 19, 2018 at 10:28 am

    Whether you prefer raw or cooked, this IS A HUMAN GRADE pet food in a grocery store full of feed grade pet foods. We’ve all worked hard for this milestone. Not all pets can eat raw – not all raw pet foods utilize human edible ingredients. Let’s not miss the achievement this is for all pet food consumers. Real food – legal pet food taking up shelf space that was previously held by feed – illegal pet food.

  14. chuck linker

    May 19, 2018 at 11:04 pm

    Susan–
    For the last 7 months I have been feeding our Shyla & Judan homemade human grade food It has greatly improved their overall health, vigor & appearance. Both are boxer rescues over the age of 7. The recipe is from a holistic vet here in Orlando.

    Here are the basics of recipe with a variety of choices in each catagory:
    Protien: TURKEY THIGH MEAT- skin & some fat removed, DARK GREEN LEAF VEGGIES. ROOT VEGGIES, COUSCOUS (grain), FLAX SEED OIL, CHICKEN LIVERS.
    All boiled. All ground in mixer. Liver sauteed. All ingredients measured to specific recipe amounts.

    Batches made 2-3 times a week. Must be thougjhly mixed, kept in tightly covered GLASS jars in fridge.
    1 cup of batch served at room temp. for each dog, twice a day. Add to mixed batch a little top grade turkey kibble, a little sodium free broth for moisture & 1 tbls. vet probiotic. Not a lot of work if you love your canine(s). All above other than probiotic available at Publix here in Florida.

    This has greatly improved the recovery due to Shyla’s surgery for the removal of malignant thyroid & spleen. Great for all breeds. Amount of the batch depends, of course, on the dog’s weight.
    Both of our boxers weigh 68 lbs.

    • Pat

      May 20, 2018 at 11:12 am

      Chuck, your home-cooked recipe sounds like something I’d like to try for my two tiny babies….do you add any calcium in the proper ratio to the amount of protein or does it come from the vegetables? And, I assume you have to keep in mind the weight of the turkey after boiling is less than when raw – and probably the chicken livers, too – so that makes a difference in the amount of calcium required…

      Is it possible for you to reply with the specific amounts – ounces, cups, etc. – for each ingredient in the recipe and if you add any specific vitamins or give a multi-vitamin separately? There is no holistic vet in my area, and the vets I’ve asked advice from don’t know as much about quality dog food as I do. I already know if they sell Hills or Royal Canin for therapeutic food, they’re ignorant concerning quality ingredients, and that’s what all of them sell for long-term feeding, though the labels ordinarily state for intermittent feeding.

      If you give the ingredient amounts for your 68 lb. dogs, I can break it down for my 2 lb. and 6 lb. babies.
      Thanks!

  15. Judy Morgan

    May 21, 2018 at 9:54 am

    I agree with this, but the food is very expensive and is not a complete diet. They openly state it should be mixed with kibble. But how many pet owners are feeding this by itself, not realizing it is meant to be a TOPPER?

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