An alert pet owner was feeding her cats and noticed a silver chunk in the food.
The pet owner wondered what this piece of metal was, wondered if by chance it was a bullet fragment. She asked a friend familiar with guns/ammunition and he shared it appeared to be a .22-caliber bullet fragment.
Concerned she communicated with the pet food company. The company told her all meats are sourced from local farms, the pet food company referenced the meat source as a “USDA facility” numerous times. In writing Raw Paws told her: “In short, the farm doesn’t know how something like that could be in the meat given the process of making the rolls. They’ve never seen it before.”
But on a phone call…
…the company admitted the farm humanely uses a .22-caliber. The company stated they don’t use head or neck meat due to using a bullet in that area.
In other words, this pet food company admitted in a phone call their products include meat from animals that have died other than by slaughter.
Why would a farm kill a cow with a bullet instead of sending it to slaughter?
It could be the animal was ill or injured. USDA slaughter facilities would reject a downer animal. If the animal was ill and being treated with a medication, the animal would also be rejected for slaughter. Farms that repeatedly try to sell livestock for slaughter with drug residues get flagged by the USDA. The agency even publishes a list of ‘repeat offenders’.
It could also be the farm slaughters their own animals by the bullet to the head process. It’s difficult to say whether this method or the USDA method of slaughter is more humane for the animal. But, this method of slaughter would not be considered human edible meat; meat from animals any farm has self-slaughtered is not USDA inspected. (By the way, even though pet owners should be informed if the meat in a pet food is sourced from USDA inspected and passed animals, condemned animals, dead animal carcasses or farm slaughtered animals – regulations don’t require that disclosure. Human food can ONLY contain meat from USDA inspected and passed animals, but the FDA allows any source/quality of meat in pet food without disclosure.)
This pet owner did the right thing, she reported this issue to FDA and to her State Department of Agriculture. This pet food is adulterated with a foreign object and should be recalled. Time will tell if that happens.
But…bullet fragments are not the only problem we see with this pet food.
The Raw Paws pet food website provides this image of their label:
Pet food regulations require manufacturers to disclose on the label if the pet food is Complete and Balanced or for Supplemental Feeding. If the product is Complete and Balanced, the label is also required by regulation to disclose if the pet food is formulated for Adult Maintenance or All Life Stages and state if the food meets AAFCO nutrient profiles or if the food is proven to be complete and balanced via a feeding trial. Most pet food brands also disclose this information on their websites.
However, this pet food label and website does not appear to disclose this pertinent, required labeling information.
The Raw Paws website does suggest the food is “Complete“. The term is included in the product name:
The pet food website also implies the food is ‘complete’ for All Life Stages:
But…there does not appear to be any mention on the label or company website if it is complete and balanced for All Life Stages per AAFCO nutrient profiles. This lack of labeling information does not provide pet owners with a clear understanding if this pet food would provide all necessary nutrients or if the food could result in a nutrient deficiency or excess (and remains a violation of pet food regulations).
Personal statement: My thanks to this pet owner for sharing her story and for taking the time to report the issue to FDA and her state.
To Raw Paws: You need to do much better. If you are selling a pet food commercially, you have the responsibility to know and abide by the regulations of that industry. Pet’s lives depend on that.
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
Become a member of our pet food consumer Association. Association for Truth in Pet Food is a a stakeholder organization representing the voice of pet food consumers at AAFCO and with FDA. Your membership helps representatives attend meetings and voice consumer concerns with regulatory authorities. Click Here to learn more.
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 5,000 cat foods, dog foods, and pet treats. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Click Here to preview Petsumer Report. www.PetsumerReport.com
Find Healthy Pet Foods in Your Area Click Here
The 2023 List
Susan’s List of trusted pet foods. Click Here to learn more.
Maria McGuinness
December 8, 2022 at 1:32 pm
I’ve been buying Raw Paws “completes”, patties and tubes, for over a year now, on and off. I prefer to source from a local organic farm, but the farm doesn’t always have the “dog” beef available, and it’s not technically complete. I have to supplement with organ meat and bone or bone meal and veggies/fruit.
This article is timely! This morning I noticed two things about the 1 lb. raw paws chicken tubes. 1) the label states it’s for supplemental feeding, contrary to the website info, and 2) one tube contained chicken, the other possibly salmon but both labeled as chicken. There were silver pieces in it but they were soft and fleshy like fish skin. I bought beef and chicken in their bulk sale.
I took a side-by-side pic of both meats and plan to contact Raw Paws.
I’m feeding two giant breeds, one is still a pup at 22 months and proper nutrition is vital for his growing body.
Thank you for bringing this to light! You’re a blessing to pet pawrents!
Christina
December 8, 2022 at 1:37 pm
Well shit!
There goes one of the few local raw dealers in my area. I generally don’t feed them rn but this makes me even more hesitant!
chris
December 8, 2022 at 6:00 pm
I had tried these guys when My Pet Carnivore stopped having routes in states other than Indiana. My dogs would not touch the stuff or the bones. I put it the garbage. I use My Pet Carnivore who touts the use good farmers too but when I put in the address of the main farmer, google maps does not paint a pretty picture.
jan blanco
December 8, 2022 at 6:31 pm
how can a food be suitable for BOTH cat and dog when they, as separate species, have different nutritional requirements! Cats are obligate carnivores, dogs are omnivores……….
Lorraine
December 8, 2022 at 7:02 pm
I’ve been using Raw Paws for many years and I’ve never had a problem with their food. I have never understood the “complete & balanced” when it comes to feeding raw food. You want to feed kibble then maybe it’s good to know it’s complete and balanced because by the time it’s processed it has nothing left for nutrition, but I expect when I’m feeding a raw diet that it’s up to me to make sure it’s complete and balanced. Their beef chubs are 80% meat, 10% organ, and 10% bone and this is exactly how I feed my dog whether I buy the food from Raw Paws or I buy the ingredients and make it up myself. As far as finding the bullet fragment, that’s really too bad but it’s not the first time that pieces of something was found in food. In fact it has happened many times with human food. And lastly, as to how the bullet fragment got into the meat…the animal must have been shot but that does not mean that the animal was sick or dying with a horrible disease. It may have been that the animal broke a leg, back ect and ended up being put down by being shot. People hunt all the time, kill deer, bears ect with a gun and then eat the meat and also feed the meat to their dog. What makes this so unhealthy?
Alexandra Whitelock
January 8, 2023 at 8:48 pm
Agree completely. Downed dairy cows might be in great pain due to a broken leg. They provide a huge amount of vital, healthy meat/organs. To euthanize by lethal injection means they get composted…horrible waste.
Death by a .22 is perfectly fine…
Too much drama regarding raw dog food…
Again, appreciate your comment.
Peter
December 9, 2022 at 7:43 am
The company just seemed to shrug off this situation. Pretty much what many of these businesses do. The consumer is supposed to just fade away, and not pursue the complaint.
carole Henry
December 13, 2022 at 3:31 pm
Which is why I have made up my own raw diet since the 70s.
When something is manufactured for a profit, it gets a little iffy. Making my own up , I KNOW what goes into it.
chris
December 26, 2022 at 1:57 am
Curious if they do any testing for lead in the meat? There have been numerous reports over the years of people receiving excessive exposure to lead by eating from a carcass downed by lead bullets. The bullets also fragment into particles the eye can’t detect, so this visible piece probably isn’t the only fragment.