Canadians have No Pet Food Protection

A Canadian meat company plead guilty to unlawfully selling deadly bacteria contaminated meat (in 2010). Guess where most of that tainted meat went to? And guess who did nothing to protect pets and pet owners?

The Canadian government receives an estimated $200 million dollars each year in sales tax revenue on pet food sales (Canada) alone. What are Canadian pet food consumers getting for their $200 million revenue provided to government? E.coli contaminated meat pet food.

Recently, a Canadian meat company plead guilty to charges of unlawfully selling (in 2010) E.coli contaminated meat unfit for consumption. This company was fined $125,000 for its actions. The fine issued by the Canadian government was for selling the meat for human consumption. There was no penalty given to this company for selling E.coli contaminated meat to pet food, no mention of it in the charges, and no investigation of the E.coli contaminated meat sold to pet food was ever performed.

Back in 2010, when the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA – Canada’s version of FDA) was informed that bacteria contaminated meat was unlawfully sold, the agency swarmed the meat company performing a “lengthy investigation” including “more than 600 subsequent tests” on meats remaining at the plant. CFIA learned that a handful of human food locations were sold the E.coli contaminated meat. CFIA took swift action and made certain this meat meant for human consumption was recalled.

However at the same time of the CFIA investigation of the meat company, CFIA learned that the majority of the E.coli contaminated meat went to pet food. Did CFIA learn which pet food companies received the E.coli contaminated meat? No, that’s not their job. Did CFIA alert pet food consumers? No, that’s not their job. Did CFIA recall any pet food made with the E.coli contaminated meat? No, that’s not their job. Did the meat go into raw pet food or can pet food or kibble pet food in Canada? Who knows…CFIA’s does not investigate pet food. No one in Canada does.

One of you wonderful Canadian pet food consumers alerted me to this situation of E.coli contaminated meat knowingly being used in Canadian manufactured pet food. I called the CFIA and asked them if the pet food containing this meat was tested for E.coli or were any of the pet food manufacturing plants inspected. And below is CFIA’s response…

Hello Susan,

Below you will find a response to your question.  Let us know if you need anything else.

Have a great day
Denis

Question 1:
It seems that most of the tainted meat from Pitt Meadows who pleaded guilty last week ended up in pet food.  If that is the case, did the CFIA investigate? If so, what did the CFIA do to alert Canadian pet owners regarding this issue?

Answer:
The CFIA’s mandate is to protect the livestock and people of Canada from diseases as listed in the Health of Animals Act and Regulations and the Reportable Diseases Regulations.

The CFIA does not regulate the manufacture of processed pet food containing animal products and by-products for sale in Canada, other than prohibiting the use of certain bovine tissues related to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in Canada.

The above mentioned legislation also provides the CFIA with the authority to regulate the import and export of processed pet food and treats that contain animal products and by-products.

If you have concerns related to the quality of a particular pet food manufactured in Canada, you should contact the manufacturing company, retailer or the Pet Food Association of Canada (PFAC), with respect to your concerns. Pet food recalls in Canada are conducted voluntarily by pet food manufacturers.

If your pet is ill, please contact your regular veterinarian. If a human has become ill after contact with pet food, please contact your local public health authority.

Media Relations | Relations avec les médias
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Agence canadienne d’inspection des aliments
Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada
Telephone / téléphone: (613) 773-6600
Facsmile / télécopieur : (613) 773-5558
e-mail / courriel:
media@inspection.gc.ca

In other words, no…the Canadian Food Inspection Agency did absolutely nothing when they knew E.coli contaminated meat was sold to Canadian pet food manufacturers. They didn’t care, it’s not their job.

Ever wonder why you’ve never heard of a pet food recall in Canada? That’s because the decision to recall would completely be left up to the pet food manufacturer. No one investigates, no one forces a recall. It wouldn’t matter how many pets got sick or died – there is no one in Canada to do anything about it. How many pet food manufacturers do you know of that would voluntarily recall their pet food, costing them perhaps millions of dollars in lost profit, when no authority requires them to even lift a finger no matter how many pets become sick or die? (Yes, I don’t know of many either.)

This is unacceptable. Canadian pet food consumers provide Canadian government with an estimated $200 million in sales tax revenue a year. For the CFIA to do nothing for these consumers is absolutely unacceptable.

This HAS TO be corrected before something devastating happens. Something devastating probably already has happened (multiple times), but we’ve never heard of the devastating event(s) because no one investigated and no pet food was recalled.

I urge every single Canadian pet food consumer to write a polite but direct message to your government authorities and to the CFIA.  As well, pet food consumers in all other countries that feed their pet a Canadian manufactured pet food need to send CFIA your message. Click Here to open the CFIA contact us webpage. And/or you can report a food safety issue to CFIA by clicking Here.

A sample message for you is provided below.

Recently a Pitt Meadows meat company pleaded guilty to unlawfully selling tainted meat to the public. CFIA thoroughly investigated this meat company recalling the small amount of meat that went into public (human food) distribution. However I have learned that CFIA did absolutely nothing to investigate the pet food manufacturing facilities that accepted the majority of this dangerous bacteria contaminated meat.

Humans might not consume pet food, but we purchase it, often in groceries placing the pet food in a cart right next to our food purchases. We bring this pet food into our homes, store it in our food pantries or refrigerators, and the pet food is often handled by our children that hold the responsibility of feeding the cat or dog. And we also pay sales tax on our pet food purchases (providing Canada an estimated $200 million revenue a year). So why is Canada doing absolutely nothing to assure Canadian manufactured pet food is safe?

Canadians would like to trust and support Canadian manufactured pet food that utilizes Canadian ingredients. Pet food consumers all over the world would like to trust Canadian manufactured pet food. How can we do this knowing no authority in Canada regulates pet foods manufactured in Canada? With as example – pet food manufactured in the U.S. – should our pet get sick from the U.S. manufactured food, we can report the illness to FDA. In Canada, there is no one to investigate the illness or death of our pet linked to a Canadian manufactured pet food. Again, how can we support the Canadian pet food industry knowing no authority is overseeing these products?

I am asking CFIA to immediately begin regulatory oversight of pet food manufactured and sold in Canada. I am asking CFIA to put together a team of regulatory authorities, veterinarians and consumers to properly develop regulations that provide Canadian pets proper protection (consuming Canadian manufactured pet food). Or I ask that Canada stop charging sales tax on any pet food/treat product. Canada should not make money on the back of our pets without a return of pet food regulatory protection.

Sincerely,

Please, please, please – every Canadian pet food consumer needs to send your government representatives a message and CFIA a message. They need to receive millions of phone calls and emails. This is a dangerous situation that needs to be resolved.

I have spoken with my Canadian friend Rodney Habib on this issue, and he will be posting on this concern as well. For those that follow Rodney on Facebook (everyone should!) please look for his post soon.

Here in the U.S. pet food consumers don’t have much support from FDA, but something from FDA no matter how little certainly beats the nothing Canadian pet food consumers have. We here in the U.S. will support you any way we can. You deserve so much better.

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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