The PURR Act Will Leave Pet Owners PURRterbed

The Pet Food Institute – the trade organization representing the largest manufacturers of pet food in the US – is behind a newly proposed bill in Congress. In other words, the pet food industry itself is pushing for these proposed changes in pet food. When reading the bill, it is crystal clear who the bill would benefit and who the bill does not benefit at all.

History behind the bill…

Pet foods are currently regulated by state laws and federal laws. Specific to state laws that regulate pet foods, most US states adopt AAFCO regulations – but not all. Some of the states that adopt AAFCO regulations update their laws annually with each new update to AAFCO regulations, but other states do not update their state laws when AAFCO pet food regulations change leaving an inconsistent state system of regulating pet foods.

As well, pet food manufacturers are required to register with each state (individually) they sell products in and register each product label with each US state (again, individually). In many states, pet food manufacturers are charged a ‘tonnage fee’ based on the pounds of pet foods sold in the state. As you can imagine, companies that sell hundreds of different products – such as those that are represented by the Pet Food Institute – it is time consuming and costly to register each product in each US state.

Acknowledging these weaknesses of pet food regulation in the US, there is a need for improvement.

However, the PURR Act is not the fix. The Pet Food Institute’s PURR Act is a bill that solely benefits industry, not one word of it benefits pet owners (even though they claim it does).

In short, the PURR Act would remove the regulation of pet food on a state level, the bill proposes that FDA have sole responsibility to regulate pet food. “No State or a political subdivision of a State may directly or indirectly establish, maintain, implement, or enforce any authority or requirement relating to the marketing or labeling of pet food.”

At first glance, the bill would/could encourage uniform enforcement of law, save manufacturers time and money registering all products in all US states. But…the bill falls into that ‘give an inch, and they’ll take a mile’ category.

Line after line within the bill benefits industry, provides the ‘wants’ of industry.

“Creating a more streamlined Federal regulatory process for new pet food ingredients…”

“…allows for more consistent and predictable ingredient review and market introductions…”

“A pet food manufacturer is not required to notify the Food and Drug Administration of GRAS ingredients used in pet food…”

“Not later than 90 days after receipt of a pet food ingredient submission, the Secretary shall review such submission and issue an action letter…”

“Pet food shall not be treated as misbranded by reason of stating in the pet food ingredient list on the product label that an ingredient of a type described in paragraph (2) is sometimes, but not always, present in the pet food.”

“Pet food shall not be treated as misbranded by reason of the following claims in labeling and promotional materials for pet food…” “Claims regarding hairball control.” “Claims regarding tartar control, plaque removal, and bad breath odor.” “Claims regarding the ability of pet food to support general urinary tract health.” “‘Natural’ claims”

“The responsibilities of the Director of the Center for Veterinary Medicine shall include— conducting and coordinating science-based reviews of pet food ingredient submissions.”

And what do pet owners get in the PURR Act?

“The Secretary shall delegate to the Director of the Center for Veterinary Medicine responsibility for…educating pet owners, veterinarians, and the companion animal industry about pet food;”

“communicating and educating consumers on the safety of pet food…”

That’s it. The bill promises us education by FDA. (How do you think that will go?)

The Pet Food Institute is marketing the bill as if it solely benefits pet owners providing misleading information about the bill. From the Pet Food Institute website:

No, nothing in the bill provides pet owners “access to the latest scienced-based nutrition”.

And…

There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in the bill that requires pet food to be regulated like human food. Pet food would remain a mainly feed grade product without disclosure of feed grade to pet food consumers.

Are you PURRturbed? Tell your Representatives in Congress (House of Representatives) to silence the PURR Act.

Example email:

I ask you to NOT support H.R. 7380, the “Pet Food Uniform Regulatory Reform Act of 2024”. This bill was clearly written to solely support the pet food industry with no thought or concern of the largest stakeholder of pet food – pet food consumers.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7380/text

The Pet Food Institute – the trade association that represents some of the pet food industry is behind this bill and is misleadingly promoting it to benefit pet food consumers. This is absolutely not true.

H.R. 7380 does not require pet food to be regulated similar to human food, in fact the bill does nothing to prevent the use of waste ingredients allowed in pet food by FDA. The same feed grade ingredients would be utilized in pet food after the bill with NO disclosure to pet food consumers.

H.R. 7380 does allow industry to make potentially misleading claims on labels with no worry of mislabeling, allows industry a fast paced path to introduce new ingredients with no assurance to safety, allows industry the opportunity to list ingredients on a label that may or may not be included in the pet food – certainly misleading consumers.

Please do not support this bill. H.R. 7380 does absolutely nothing to assure the safety of pet food or provide transparency in pet food labeling/marketing, and the bill does not benefit pet food consumers.

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The bill is currently in the House of Representatives, you can find your Representatives in Congress here: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative.

Please do your part to STOP the PURR Act, send your representatives an email.

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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