AAFCO says No to Recorded Interview

I am also requesting an on camera interview with Dr. Dan McChesney of the FDA.  As well, if you have any suggestions for me of other AAFCO Members or FDA officials that pet owners would like to/should meet, I’d appreciate that too.

And, I’m not sure if you are the person to ask – but…I’d like to film little snippets of the meeting.  Again, to provide pet owners the opportunity to see how an AAFCO meeting works.  So my question is – do I need any special permission for this?  And are photographs acceptable too?

Thank you for your invitation to interview regarding pet foods.  At this time I am declining any on-camera or audio recorded interviews and can share with you that any unauthorized filming or other recordings of any portion of the AAFCO  meeting is  prohibited.    No filming or audio recording of AAFCO proceedings has been in fact a long term practice in AAFCO for the reasons indicated below.  If you would like to interview with AAFCO specialists off camera and off tape,  we can possibly arrange a time.  Please let us know.

I am sure, having seen the AAFCO process in person,  you can appreciate that  the candor of industry, academics, state regulators and others working through issues needs to be held confidential.  The discussions are often deliberative and therefore subject to change, major modification, or withdrawal of concept.  This frankness among attendees is a reason for AAFCO’s successes, and  is part of the dialogue process that can not be adequately captured on film and may be easily misunderstood by some who are not experiencing the full context of the discussion.

We look forward to seeing you in Reno.

Sincerely,

Robert D. Waltz, Ph.D.
AAFCO President, 2012
Sharon Krebs, Assistant Secretary-Treasurer
Telephone:  765-385-1029
Fax:  765-385-1032
E-mail:  Sharon@aafco.org

I would still like an interview with you, but I have to say I am very disappointed about not doing this on film.  You shared with me AAFCO’s perspective on recording and/or video taping – allow me the same privilege to share with you the pet owner perspective – why pet owners deserve to know more of those who make the decisions effecting the lives of their pets and how the process works.

Without pet owners – there would not be a need for pet food.  We are the reason there is a pet food industry.  We (pet owners) have no say in the safety or quality of the commercial pet foods we purchase for our pets, yet industry is provided (by AAFCO and FDA) a huge influence.  Pet owners, as a whole, have no trust of any AAFCO member or FDA representative.  As a whole, pet parents believe AAFCO (and FDA) is closely tied to industry and could care less about pets.  I met many of the AAFCO members last year and found some to really care about their job at AAFCO and the responsibility involved.  I wanted to show that to pet parents.  I wanted to show them that some really do care and that we could possibly work together to make some real and necessary changes in pet food.

Without film or audio recording – you and any others I speak with – will be left to only interpretation of the conversation or interview.  My interpretation.  If you are comfortable with that, I am too.  However, I am puzzled that you would not want a more accurate representation of what we speak about known to pet parents.  Despite what you might believe, accurate is what I was looking for.

Please let me know of a time for our interview.  Looking forward to the meeting.