What is your pet food made from – edible food or inedible waste meats and vegetables? Do you know? Most consumers don’t know because pet food regulations DO NOT require manufacturers to tell consumers the quality of ingredients used in the pet food. Tell the FDA and AAFCO you want to know!
The FDA and AAFCO allows pet food to be made from…
• meat sourced from diseased animals;
• meat sourced from dead animals (such as road kill, animals that died in the field, and even euthanized animals);
• fats sourced from used restaurant grease;
• almost any adulterated human food;
• chemical or pesticide contaminated vegetables, grains, fruits.
The above quality of ingredients are known in the pet food industry as feed grade, pet grade, or inedible ingredients.
The FDA and AAFCO also allows pet food to be made from USDA inspected and approved edible meats, vegetables and grains (known in the pet food industry as human grade or food grade).
But the FDA and AAFCO does not require pet food manufacturers to tell the consumer which is which. An edible food ingredient pet food sits on the store shelf right next to an inedible pet grade ingredient pet food and the labels look almost identical. The pet food consumer has little to no information to know which pet food is made with edible food or inedible waste food.
The only pet food ingredient quality verification program consumers had, was just dropped by the FDA. Without warning to consumers, the FDA ended their pet food ingredient quality verification. The decision of what’s next is now in the hands of AAFCO.
At the August 2015 AAFCO Meeting, the Pet Food Committee will discuss what to do now that FDA and ended their ingredient quality verification. It is time for pet food consumers to tell FDA and AAFCO…I Want To Know!
From attending numerous AAFCO meetings as a consumer representative and having numerous discussions with FDA, I honestly believe regulatory authorities do not have a clue to the challenges pet food consumers face. They have no clue how difficult it is to purchase a pet food we can trust our pet’s life with, they have no clue to the misleading information pet food tells us. We’ve (the various consumer advocates) told them your pet food challenges – but they dismiss us as being dramatic. These regulatory authorities need to hear from all of you. They need to know – without doubt – that pet food consumers want to know the quality of ingredients used in their pet foods.
When I shared with all the news that FDA ended their pet food ingredient verification process, your comments wanted a petition. How about two petitions? One is Change.org, the other is Whitehouse.gov. Both petitions are similar, have the same message. I included the Whitehouse.gov petition because if enough signatures are acquired (100,000 within 30 days), the White House administration will provide us with a response to this critical issue in pet food.
And your consumer advocates will hand deliver all signatures and messages to the AAFCO Pet Food Committee and FDA at the August AAFCO meeting.
This issue is one of the most significant in pet food. It is critical that we achieve thousands – hundreds of thousands of signatures. No pet food consumer should purchase a pet food, trust a pet food blindly.
Tell FDA and AAFCO: I Want To Know! the quality of ingredients used in my pet food. I Want To Know! if my choice of pet food is made with edible food ingredients or inedible pet grade/feed grade ingredients. I Want To Know!
We need your signatures on both petitions. Sign, share, and then share again.
For all pet food consumers: This is not a judgment for or against any pet food. This is simply disclosure. Because pet food is allowed to be made from very drastically different quality of ingredients (edible or inedible – food or feed/pet grade), consumers deserve to know what they are buying.
Click Here to sign the Change.org petition.
Click Here to sign the Whitehouse.gov petition.
Click Here for a printable/shareable one sheet info-graphic explanation of our fight.
Please know – if we do not get a significant number of signatures from pet food consumers, nothing will change. We need a very strong showing of consumer support. Please take the time to sign both petitions, share the info-graphic, and urge every pet food consumer you know to sign.
There needs to be no doubt. Pet food consumers Want To Know! Sign and share.
Next. Independent Pet Store owners need to send FDA and AAFCO your message too on this topic. Share with them your challenges to find quality of ingredient information from manufacturers (for your clients). Write up your message and email to me (Susan at TruthaboutPetFood dot com). Your messages will be hand delivered too. Store owner Nina Wolf will be present at the meeting to share face to face with authorities the challenges store owners face and will present your letters to the committee.
And lastly, we are asking for every veterinarian to share with FDA and AAFCO the challenges you face with pet food ingredient quality. Many have shared with me they are at a loss of what pet food to recommend to clients because they too have no idea to the quality of ingredients used to make the food. Please send veterinarian letters to me or Dr. Jean Hofve (click here for her contact page).
Again, this is not about judgment of any pet food. This is simply an issue of transparency. All pet food consumers deserve to know what they are purchasing. Please share this post, the info-graphic, and ask every pet food consumer you know to sign the petitions. Forces that be will only listen if A LOT of pet food consumers sign.
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
The 2015 List
Susan’s List of trusted pet foods. Click Here
Have you read Buyer Beware? Click Here
Cooking for pets made easy, Dinner PAWsible
Find Healthy Pet Foods in Your Area Click Here
Karen Toner
June 5, 2015 at 11:24 am
Consumers want to know what is in the food that we are feeding our pets.
J King
June 5, 2015 at 12:17 pm
The FDA is fully aware of the challenges consumers face, and that’s part of the problem. We’re told the FDA is protection for the consumer — that may be how things started off, but from the looks of things lately, the FDA’s job now is to pave the way for Industry to do whatever it wants using a smokescreen of Food Safety to justify unpopular decisions. Yes, we need honest labeling on pet food, and on everything else. To do that, we need an unbiased agency whose key people AREN’T recruited from the food industry with their industry agendas intact.
Sharon
June 5, 2015 at 12:37 pm
I tried to share the above on Facebook, but got an “expired” notice. How do I pass on your letter to my friends?
Susan Thixton
June 5, 2015 at 12:42 pm
You can copy the link of this post and then paste it on your Facebook page – or you can find on Facebook Truth about Pet Food page and share the article from there. Thank you!
Linda
June 5, 2015 at 12:39 pm
signed both!
Karen Jones
June 5, 2015 at 12:41 pm
I so much appreciate all you do Susan. My pets and I thank you!
Holly Van Hest
June 5, 2015 at 6:55 pm
Who in their right mind would *not* want to know the ingredients in food fed to pets or humans ? Don’t people understand that that whatever is fed to pets has come into contact with your hands and hence your household ? Obviously, the FDA cares [minimally] about is human health hence, pet health including food must be presented in terms they will understand – if it affects the pet’s health it will affect the health of the entire household, particularly the more vulnerable members like toddlers and elders.
Holly Van Hest
June 5, 2015 at 6:57 pm
P.S. sorry about the grammar mistakes & typos but I also want to say “Thank You” to Susan !
Michelle
June 5, 2015 at 8:34 pm
Signed and will share. Thank you Susan!
Pam Nadelman
June 5, 2015 at 11:48 pm
I’m a very small retailer in Southern California (primary business is grooming; food is a sideline). One of the companies who’s products I sell told me recently that it isn’t so much that the manufacturers don’t want to tell us (am sure the cheesy companies don’t), the rep told me that AAFCO doesn’t allow it, not on product packages, not on web sites, nowhere, never! Being able to inform the consumer of the quality of the ingredients would give an unfair advantage to those companies over the crummy ones. Duh!
Sally Roberts
June 6, 2015 at 10:40 am
Signed- shared- This continues to show me they don’t give a damn about pet food quality ! It is all about the $$$
Linda
June 7, 2015 at 11:19 am
Signed both and will share with family, friends and everyone in my book….thanks for all your hard work Susan.
Kelley
June 7, 2015 at 2:01 pm
Susan Thixton needs our help! Can you thank her for COUNTLESS hours of incredible information? Here’s how:
Sign the Petition at Whitehouse.gov (see above) to tell the FDA and AAFCO that Pet Food Consumers want to know if a commercial PF product (no matter the style) is FEED grade (inedible, waste, diseased ingredients) or FOOD grade (human edible).
SIGN THE PETITION. But even more importantly please ask 10 more to sign and for them to ask another 10. Please report back to the website how many signatures you can take credit for so progress can be measured before the deadline!
If the Whitehouse.gov petition gets 100,000 signatures in 30 days the Whitehouse Administration will provide a response! This would be good media attention. HOW we demonstrate what the Association cares about will mean the kind of support Susan requires when she meets with these agencies on behalf of all of us! The number of signatures translates into purchasing power! If 100,000 signatures spend only $30 a month on pet products that’s 3 million dollars of PFI business.
The petition won’t cost us a dime but it will VISUALIZE our concern!
To get 100,000 (US Resident) signatures takes organization however.
This is how ALL of US can help! On average 2,000 signatures are needed per State! If 100 Readers can be responsible for just 10 others, then ask them to do the same for another 10, that’s 10,000. Distribute requests through breed, activity, hobby clubs and rescue organizations. Speak to neighbors, dog walkers, pet sitters, trainers, park goers, or to any pet enthusiast! Ask at Vet Clinics. Ask at reputable Pet Supply stores. Make a Laptop available. Set-up under a canopy in a public area near Big-Box stores! Can collecting signatures be accomplished via Smart Phone or Mobile Device too (?) Remind every person you speak with, to ask others! Hand them a simple reminder: “Please Sign the Petition at Whitehouse.gov to label ingredients as Pet Feed (inedible, waste, diseased) or Pet Food (human edible).”
This isn’t a matter of commenting on what people feed, just awareness. Which is no different than non-GMO labeling. Because Freedom of Choice in this Country is SUPPOSED to be the American Way!!!
Please help if you can! Thank you!!
Susan Thixton
June 7, 2015 at 2:14 pm
Thank you Kelley!
Linda Chiolero
June 20, 2015 at 6:53 pm
I signed and shared several times over. There are numerous dog and cat related groups on Facebook; I belong to 10 ++ , some are breed specific, some are on holistic care, and several on health and nutrition, I shared it with each group. I hope and pray that others continue to share.
Gabrielle G. Taylor
June 8, 2015 at 11:12 am
We as Animal Lovers demand to know what ingredients are in our pets food.
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Linda Chiolero
June 20, 2015 at 7:13 pm
I also appreciate how very much Susan Thixton does with her work in fully researching and recommending quality pet foods. Purchasing Thixton’s 2015 Approved Pet Food list, is some of the best money I ever spent. It saved me a lot of anxiety, frustration and time in doing my own trial and error research. I now feel a great level of comfort with the food I chose from her list. I continue to tell all my friends with pets about Susan’s Annual List, and even many strangers I see getting ready to possibly make a big mistake at pet stores and grocery stores. Thank you Susan Thixton!
Mark W Morton, DVM
June 27, 2015 at 8:17 pm
ALL Government and its agencies are worthless wastes of our tax dollars. They are nothing but self-serving bureaucracies!
Andrea Mauer
July 4, 2015 at 5:26 pm
I am writing here because I didn’t know where else to post this question. I usually feed my dogs what I cook for them. They eat healthy food and are in great shape. If I can’t cook, I have high quality Kibble. Sometimes I use canned dog food for a meal, but usually Dave’s or that Butcher brand with the pressure cooked chicken legs. In a pinch I got some HY-Vee store brand chopped chicken and when I was putting it in the dogs dishes, I saw something that looked like a little twig. I separated it from the dog food and was horrified that it started to move. It was some sort of worm that was gray and had centipede feet on one end and a mouth that opened wide in the back like 3 mandibles and was bright green inside the mouth. I know it sound like a joke, but it is not. I thought about saving it and calling the company, but I knew they would bend over backward and say it was impossible. I would like to believe it was impossible and how did it live through the canning process? But this rubbery chill inducing worm was crawling in my sink and I washed it away for a long long time. I didn’t have any inclination to sue anyone or claim harm or sleeplessness, (lol), but I sure would like to know what it was and how it got there? The closest I could find on google was a bloodworm, but they are more red. Any ideas and why would it be in my dog food? And how could it be alive? I will not buy that cheaper kind anymore, but it creeped me out for sure.
B Dawson
July 17, 2015 at 7:29 pm
Just received an email ad from Pet Age and guess what? Halo is using “feed” isn’t “food” in their latest ad campaign. Maybe this type of advertising will get a conversation going at the mainstream consumer level. I’m going to remain hopeful that this isn’t just another corporation jumping on a buzz word.
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Anthony Hepton
September 15, 2015 at 11:24 pm
A number of dog foods and treats have resulted in illnesses and deaths over the past 5, 6 or more years and FDA has said that their evaluations have not found any contaminants that can be related to the symptoms. My recent evaluation of a number of these products show a clear similarity of symptoms between a number of these products, e.g. Nutro, Purina’s Beneful and Waggin’ Train i.e. Vomiting, Bloody diarrhea, liver and or kidney failure, loss of appetite, bloating, low red blood count, high bilirubin, and so on.These are all symptoms of endotoxemia, all of these products contain animal by-products often from rendering, the pet food manufactures do not test for endotoxins, and it appears that FDA does not either. If and when they do they will find these products teat positive. Neither FDA or the manufactures want to shut off any portion of this cheap supply of animal protein. Just who is FDA working for????