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Questions to Presidential Candidates

The following questions have been sent to all Presidential Candidates. When responses are received (if responses are received), they will be posted.

The following questions have been sent to all Presidential Candidates. When responses are received (if responses are received), they will be posted.

The following letter was sent to…

Democrats
Hillary Clinton
Lawrence Lessig
Martin O’Malley
Bernie Sanders

Republicans
Jeb Bush
Ben Carson
Chris Christie
Ted Cruz
Carly Fiorina
Jim Gilmore
Lindsey Graham
Mike Huckabee
Bobby Jindal
John Kasich
George Pataki
Rand Paul
Marco Rubio
Rick Santorum
Donald Trump

Independent
Jill Stein

I write for and represent pet food consumers who depend on the safety and quality of pet foods manufactured in the U.S. We have compiled four significant concerns of food/pet food with questions for each concern. All questions are being sent to each Presidential Candidate. We would appreciate your response to each question. All request for response and responses received will be published at TruthaboutPetFood.com and shared in social media.

#1 Cat and dog foods manufactured in the U.S. are allowed by FDA to violate the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Giving just one example (of many), FDA Compliance Policy 690.300 allows canned pet food to consist of “material from diseased animals or animals which have died otherwise than by slaughter”. (Source: http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/ComplianceManuals/CompliancePolicyGuidanceManual/ucm074710.htm) Pet food consumers are never informed (on the pet food label or product advertising) if their trusted cat or dog food brand contains diseased animal or non-slaughtered animal tissues. Many pet foods display images of grilled or roasted meat on the product label when the pet food contains no grilled or roasted meat (and often meat is sourced from rejected for use in human food material).

Question: If elected President, would you call on FDA to require pet foods be labeled truthfully – disclosing to pet food consumers the pet food could consist of material from diseased animals or non-slaughtered animals? Would you call on FDA to require a pet food whose label displayed a roasted meat to contain a roasted meat ingredient? What is your position on FDA’s allowance of diseased animals and non-slaughtered animals to be processed into pet food?

#2 In early 2007 there were two significant food recalls. One was peanut butter (Peter Pan – February 2007), the other was pet food (Menu Foods – March 2007). Both foods violated the exact same law of the FD&C Act (introducing an adulterated product into interstate commerce). The peanut butter recall resulted in 700 illnesses – no deaths. The pet food recall resulted in 8,500 pet deaths and countless serious illnesses. The peanut butter recall resulted in a plea arrangement fine of $11.2 million dollars to government; the pet food recall resulted in a plea arrangement fine of $35,000 to government.

Question: If elected President, would you require government penalties to be the same for any food manufacturer (human food or pet food)? Do you believe that a food manufacturer that knowingly puts an adulterated product into interstate commerce should be punished to the full extent of the law including jail time?

#3 Genetically Modified (GM) foods are a topic of much debate. Some argue that GM foods and glyphosates are safe for consumption. Others argue that consumption of GM foods and glyphosates have been linked (through science) to cancer, tumors, and numerous other health concerns.

Question: As a candidate for President, what is your position on genetically modified foods? Do you believe U.S. consumers deserve a statement on all food labels alerting to the inclusion of GM ingredients (including pet foods)?

#4 Most fish sold in U.S. grocery stores have made a trip to and back from China before landing on store shelves. As example, most wild caught Salmon is minimally processed and frozen on fishing boats, then transported to China, thawed and further processed, refrozen and shipped back to the U.S. for sale to consumers. The same Chinese processing has been approved for U.S. poultry; birds grown and slaughtered in the US are allowed to be shipped to China for further processing before returning to U.S. store shelves. Currently the Chinese processing is not required to be disclosed to consumers.

Question: If elected as President, would you require food (human food or pet food) labels to disclose the processing in China?

On behalf of pet food consumers, we appreciate your time in responding to these questions and as stated above will provide each candidate with publication of your full response.

Thank you,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Consumer Advocate

 

Whenever responses are received, they will be shared.

 

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

What’s in Your Pet’s Food?
Is your dog or cat eating risk ingredients?  Chinese imports?  Petsumer Report tells the ‘rest of the story’ on over 3000 cat foods, dog foods,  and pet treats.  30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. www.PetsumerReport.com


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14 Comments

14 Comments

  1. Batzion

    October 26, 2015 at 7:25 pm

    Wow, Susan, everything you wrote is excellent from content to form. Thank you. Can’t wait to see if you receive responses.

  2. Marie

    October 26, 2015 at 7:29 pm

    You totally rock!! Damn good questions!! I’ll be eager to hear about responses. I did not know fish, chicken, etc., was sent to China for “further processing.” What on earth does that mean? What processing can’t be done here more cheaply? God bless you!

    • Dick McWay

      October 26, 2015 at 8:07 pm

      Just yesterday, looked at frozen Alaskan salmon at Wal Mart. Caught in the US, processed in China. I believe if the Dark Act passes the Senate, country of origin will not be required on the label.

  3. Kim K.

    October 26, 2015 at 7:32 pm

    I had no idea that what is listed in #4 was happening. It is appalling.

    I’m glad you are asking the candidates these questions. I look forward to hopefully hearing some answers.

  4. Genny

    October 26, 2015 at 7:41 pm

    Good Luck. I am curious to see who, if any, will respond.

  5. Dick McWay

    October 26, 2015 at 8:03 pm

    I would be surprised if any respond. I think we can pretty much agree the FDA is just a rubber stamp for big pharma and in our case, big pet feed. Pharma has the money and the revolving door into the FDA. It is no different on the human side. Drugs are not for “cure” but for “treatment” to keep the money flowing. Last week I finished watching a 9 part series on the internet on “the truth about cancer”. Not a whole lot new here that I was not already aware of but lots more confirmation of the truly curing of cancer by natural means versus the conventional chemo, radiation, and surgery. Hey, same goes for our pets, right? This is not going to be a top down solution without a strong and powerful voice and who out there is going to be that voice? We need to just keep spreading the word at the grassroots level. There are folks making a difference on the human side and we have some allies on the pet side. We need to keep at it. If I see someone looking at pet food in the grocery store I’ll usually make a comment to try to raise their curiosity about what they are feeding their pet. I was once one of those unknowing pet feed buyers myself.

    Susan, you can chose to not let this run as I did not offer much encouragement and I went off topic a bit. There is a major problem at FDA. The whole cancer thing is one big scam going back 100 years or so and FDA, AMA, Big Pharma, and all of the cancer organizations are all in on it. They do NOT want a cure. I could go on and on. Sorry.

    Dick

  6. Carol

    October 26, 2015 at 8:59 pm

    Wow I would be shocked if they respond at all… as usual only the pet owner thinks of their pets….Very thankful that you Susan continue to be brave and stand up for our precious pets.

  7. Maggie

    October 26, 2015 at 9:38 pm

    Very impressive, thank you! Hillary, for one, is right in bed with Monsanto. Can you also please write up something specific to Canada and send it to our newly minted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau? There’s a better chance of his listening than there was with any of the previous PMs. Many thanks!!

  8. Batzion

    October 27, 2015 at 3:02 am

    I think what we need to focus on is that Susan is a woman of vision, knowledge, courage and tenacity, and she has openly shared these things with us, thereby strengthening us individually and collectively.

    We can all agree that receiving responses from the candidates is a long shot, but let us not ever discourage Susan’s efforts to make the lives of our pets safer.

    We receive so much from Susan. Let us stand in a circle around her and give her the encouragement and thanks she deserves.

  9. In Florida

    October 27, 2015 at 11:09 am

    Didn’t Rubio already give a lame answer by not answering earlier questions?

    My guess is you will receive a good response from Donald Trump. He seems to be the only candidate addressing the issues involving toxic food etc…. coming over from China.

  10. Kelley Kegel

    October 27, 2015 at 1:33 pm

    Wow exactly, well formed written and presented. These are exactly the questions I have also for the proposed presidential electees.
    Thank you for your efforts, let’s hope they all care and take the time to respond with positive answers. Although I am realistic and as we have already seen Rubio’s response to previous letters, he is “bought and paid for” by Big Manufaturers! Let’s hope the rest aren’t though probably are!

  11. Marsha

    October 27, 2015 at 5:51 pm

    I contacted Marco Rubio myself on pet food last year. It took him almost a year to answer me.
    He does not care about our pets at all.

  12. Pacific Sun

    October 31, 2015 at 4:59 pm

    The point of posing these questions is understood! Meaning if the addressed candidate was elected President would he or she take action to enforce existing regulations? What a concept (right?) as in actually following the law. Since candidates say almost anything to get elected (and then do whatever they want to once in office) it is very surprising that no candidate has responded so far, except for not wanting to discourage campaign contributions from big PF corporations. No doubt the candidates see us (the ATPF) as a minor interested party (and not worth their attention).

    So I say we need to take this to the next level! Let’s dredge up (or create) a petition with hundreds of signature (oh yes, once again, I realize!) demonstrating that PF Consumers want only one thing at this point, which is a distinction between “Pet Feed” and Pet Food.” Yes, I realize that Susan and AAFCO are currently working on the definitions. But consumer demand needs to be made clear to all incoming political office holders. Perhaps the petition could be worded in such as to say that consumers are clear stakeholders in this process. And that our vote would go to the candidates who support our issue. Since PACs support all candidates anyway, WHY DON”T WE BECOME OUR OWN PAC meaning to use our vote for decent, honest PF?

    If these candidates (or their campaign offices) want to know what’s behind the distinction, then FDA Compliance Policies and Endotoxin problems can be forwarded to explain our concerns! If the petition and letter is successful I would send a copy of the effort to CNN and Michael Moore, just letting people know WHY we exist and won’t stop until we’re taken seriously.

  13. Sadie

    November 4, 2015 at 1:17 pm

    A step up from labeling foods gmo or non gmo would be to label what a gmo food was genetically modified for. For example, if one food labeled for pesticide resistance and another for resistance to the actual pests, one would would be able to make a more informed decision on what item to purchase.

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