Two pet food manufacturing plants have sold to large corporations that also sell pet feed ingredients. Is this good or very bad for pet food consumers?
Crosswinds Pet Food touts itself as being “the largest pet food and treat contract manufacturer in North America” (though it is difficult to determine exactly what brands of pet food are made there). Recently, agriculture giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) purchased the ‘largest’ co-packer in pet food Crosswinds.
ADM is heavily involved in feed, selling/manufacturing multiple ingredient for the aquaculture, cattle, swine, poultry, dairy, and pet feed industry. “Our feed and pet food ingredients include products processed from corn, oilseeds and wheat.” ADM is also a provider of vitamin/mineral feed (including pet ‘feed’) pre-mixes. (Vitamin/mineral pre-mixes are bulk supplements that are calculated out to meet AAFCO nutrient profiles for a complete and balanced pet food/feed and added to a batch of pet food typically as powdered ingredients.)
Another pet food manufacturing sale was Performance Pet to Farmers Union Industries. Performance Pet (canning facility) had the best reputation (to my knowledge) of canned pet food co-packer in the industry. Now owned by Farmers Union Industries, the pet food company becomes part of numerous recycling food/feed manufacturing companies.
- Midwest Grease – “collects, cleans and recycles restaurant grease into livestock feed ingredients”
- Central Bi-Products – a “full-service rendering company” with two plants “one for multi-species materials and one exclusively for poultry” and a “feather processing plant”
- sWheat Scoop – a cat litter.
It could be argued that ADM and Farmers Union owning pet food manufacturing plants could benefit ‘the industry’. But the question remains, do these sales benefit consumers?
Personal opinion: It is concerning that large agriculture/feed industries are buying up pet food manufacturing facilities…building up the pet ‘feed’ industry (not the pet ‘food’ industry). With their powerful trade associations (AFIA and PFI) so heavily influencing Washington DC and AAFCO, serious concerns exist. Growth of pet feed industries is not heading us in the right direction. Pets should be consuming food, not feed.
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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Cannoliamo
February 23, 2017 at 11:40 am
Susan, From my experience, it is the No. 1 Goal (i.e. objective, mission, motive, ….) of EVERY corporation to increase shareholder profitability (i.e. market value, net worth, dividends, stock price, …) regardless of any statement to the contrary. Product quality, employee benefits and any other considerations fall a DISTANT second unless they contribute to a company’s profitability. The ONLY reason one company acquires another is to increase its profit margin. Government, at the behest of public citizens – usually good samaritans (including pet owners, caretakers, consumer and humane groups) may try to regulate product quality, but quality will ALWAYS be a distant second to a company’s profit motive. All corporations are capitalist creations designed to maximize profits and minimize costs (including taxes and quality if necessary). I have yet to find ANY acquisition or corporate merger that has the consumer as the primary stakeholder. This philosophy is the bedrock principle beneath all corporate lobbyists and their unscrupulous and amoral influence in all three branches of our government (including the Supreme Court).
Donna Frano
February 23, 2017 at 11:45 am
I’ve given up after the Evangers’ fiasco. I’m feeding my girl human food mostly. Hamburger that I buy at the grocery store with different base additives (to avoid the one source issue). Expensive, but she’s worth it.
Audree
February 23, 2017 at 2:21 pm
Donna – I know you think you’re doing your baby a favor but plain store bought hamburger is NOT sufficient nutrition for your pet. It’s barely good for humans! You don’t say where you live but PLEASE find a small independent pet store near you that can advise you. There are lots of pet food choices that will be much healthier than hamburger. Freeze Dried: Grandma Lucy’s, NRG, Honest Kitchen are a few that you can have delivered if you don’t live near a good store. If you do, look at a great frozen raw foods like Northwest Naturals, Steves, Tuckers, OC Raw.
Good Luck!
Sharon Bilotta-Testa
February 24, 2017 at 7:25 am
Awesome info! Cats need supplements hamburger is NOT a good source for cats as it lacks any supplements cats need to be healthy I use Darwin’s Raw it has ALL the supplements they need a bit pricey but then again some people pay $2 for a 5 oz can of cat food where Darwins raw is $5 a pound which comes to about $1.65 for 5 oz
Leanne S
February 23, 2017 at 7:42 pm
Ground beef from the grocery store is a damn sight better than most dog foods. But, no, you cannot just feed ground meat, but I suspect you know this, and were not implying that all you feed is ground beef. Honest kitchen base mixes with added ground meat of your choice is just fine. I also buy beef heart and grind it and add eggs, squash, herbs, kelp, yogurt, liver and kidney. And some prey model raw, such as chicken necks and thighs, whole. If you feed a variety of foods, nutrition is not rocket science.
T Allen
February 23, 2017 at 11:51 am
Reading between the lines is so blatant and disgusting. Spread the word!
Jane
February 23, 2017 at 11:54 am
These mergers never seem to make things better for consumers. Organix was purchased by Purina a few years ago (or rather the company that owned them was purchased by another company that was purchased by Purina. It’s hard to keep track without a flowchart!) and the quality really changed for the worse.
It’s frustrating that they’re allowed to be so secretive about which brands are made where, too. That makes it harder to make good, informed choices. And muddies the water when there are recalls. We’re at the mercy of the companies – having to rely on them for information they probably don’t want us to have.
Which makes what you’re doing all the more important. And appreciated!
Mandy Elena
February 23, 2017 at 4:04 pm
Hound and Gatos is moving to the Farmers Union Industries canning facility. Is cross contamination a concern with the grease / bi-products? I have been feeding this food for years, so I don’t know how concerned I should be about this change affecting the safety of the food.
Susan Thixton
February 23, 2017 at 4:15 pm
They are not moving to – they have been canned at Performance Pet for many years (as it was the best canning facility there was/is to my knowledge). H&G has told me consistently over the years – they always double checks their manufacturer and/or ingredient provider – they test for many things prior to manufacturing and after including DNA analysis to assure the meat in the food is the meat as stated on the label. Not many pet food brands do this. Knowing this company, I feel confident they will continue to double check their foods even though the canning facility has changed owners. My concern is more of foods that don’t double check…example being Evangers (who did not double check their supplier).
Mandy Elena
February 23, 2017 at 4:22 pm
Thanks! That makes me feel better 🙂
Laura
February 23, 2017 at 5:18 pm
So disappointed to see that sWheat Scoop is made by such a terrible company. I thought I was using the best litter I could for my cats after hearing about it from http://catmom.com/articles/natural.html, but now I feel sick. Susan, are there any particular cat litters you trust, or feel are safe for cats? I’m thinking I’ll switch to CareFresh.
David
February 23, 2017 at 9:56 pm
Every pet owner should check out http://www.forza10usa.com . This guy Dr. CANELLO discovered what was creating pathologies in dogs and cats. He designed food to correct the problems. We have our dogs on Legend grain free and the results were astounding. Pure sourced protein combined with photonutrients. Incredible food. My girlfriend’s sister owns a petfood store and she turned us onto it.
Anita Guns
February 23, 2017 at 10:37 pm
There are very good books out there on home cooking for dogs – full clear instructions on everything you need to know – read around to find one you are comfortable with – raw or cooked.