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Pet Food Regulations

Change Has to Happen

From my first regulatory meeting, I’ve referred to the process that controls pet food as a ‘good ol boys club’. With a month away till the next regulatory meeting, this post isn’t going to make me the most popular person at the July AAFCO meeting…but this needs to be said. Consumers and their advocates are NOT going away and we’ll never again accept recycled waste as food for our pets.

From my first regulatory meeting, I’ve referred to the process that controls pet food as a ‘good ol boys club’. With a month away till the next regulatory meeting, this post isn’t going to make me the most popular person at the July AAFCO meeting…but this needs to be said. Consumers and their advocates are NOT going away and we’ll never again accept recycled waste as food for our pets.

The ‘club’ was/is state and federal regulatory authorities and big industry/trade groups. When I walked into my first meeting of the ‘club’ several years ago (an AAFCO meeting) I was aghast at the buddy buddy system of pet food regulations. Industry/trade representatives had such close ties to federal and state regulatory authorities they almost finished each others sentences. It was/is a very strange love affair between the two sides (industry/regulatory). I have felt (and witnessed) the regulatory system of pet food is a cooperative effort between state/federal authorities and industry – ‘you got my back, I got yours’ appeared to be the club motto.

This system didn’t have any room for consumers…or perhaps better phrased, consumers that ask questions. ‘They’ felt they had the system worked out perfectly. The good ‘ol boys were pleasant – ‘Hi there little consumer!’ – but, the pleasantries ended when those pesky consumers questioned their well oiled system of pet food regulations. ‘We know what we’re doing little consumer, you just mind your own business.’

To regulatory authorities, pet food is either kibble or can and it is made using waste ingredients with a ton of added supplements…end of story. This is what pet food regulations are based on and this is all most of the authorities that enforce those regulations understand – the only pet food comes in a kibble or a can and it is made with rejected for use in human food waste with a side order of supplements from China.

But somewhere along the line, new companies came into the pet food picture. In many, many cases these small companies were started by a frustrated consumer. A consumer that watched their pet die from eating the brown-and-round waste ingredient pet food. These new pet foods were made with USDA inspected and approved meats and vegetables (certified human grade), or raw meat pet food, or pet foods that are so like human food (even made in human food commercial kitchens) a person could actually eat the pet food themselves.

And just how ‘the buddy system’ didn’t have room for consumers asking too many questions, the system didn’t have room for these trendy, new-fangled pet foods either. Nutritional requirements were established for waste ingredient pet foods with tons of added supplements – not whole food pet foods with little to no supplements. Human grade? Forget about it! Pet food has no definition of ‘human quality/grade’ ingredients (though federal law does). They stand firm…’that’s not pet food!’

A very recent consumer advocacy effort from Association for Truth in Pet Food (ATPF) was to ask each state if their regulations included labeling laws that would protect consumers from misleading labels. All responses of this consumer advocacy effort will be published on the ATPF website, but overall it was discovered that many states have no pet food specific regulations, and many states have antiquated pet food regulations. Many states haven’t responded yet.

One State flat out refused to answer our consumer association’s simple questions – stating their responsibility was only to consumers within their state and the industry.

The response from this particular state representative, the lack of state regulations in so many states, and the lack of response at all from so many states was a reality check for me. Pet food is such a regulatory mess, it allows the good ‘ol boy club to thrive. It allows authorities the opportunity to turn their head at violations of law by some manufacturers (from labeling to serious food safety law as diseased animals becoming pet food ingredients), while targeting other manufacturers who are using such safe ingredients that a child could eat the pet food.

It’s the pet food regulatory system that is working to protect their good ‘ol boys club and deter consumers from discovering who the true quality pet foods are. It’s the regulatory system that has to change.

We are a little more than a month away from another pet food regulatory meeting (AAFCO). With certainty more consumers and consumer advocates need to be there – letting the good ‘ol boys know you aren’t going away. With certainty more human grade ingredient pet foods need to be at regulatory meetings – telling authorities human grade or raw or whole food (supplement free) pet foods aren’t going away.

Beyond that, I’m not sure what we need to do. Regulatory authorities are fighting back to the changes consumers want more than I’ve ever seen before. And Regulatory authorities are targeting the non-traditional pet foods more than I’ve ever seen before. Something has to be done.

We need laws that are uniform across all 50 states. We need laws that provide the consumer with pet food labels that accurately describe the contents of that pet food. We need laws that require manufacturers to disclose country of origin of ingredients and country of manufacture of a food or treat. We need nutritional requirements that address the use of whole food and no use of supplements. And then we need enforcement of those laws.

At a conservative 5% – pet food alone provides more than $1 billion dollars in sales tax revenue to states each year. This doesn’t include the fees that many pet foods pay each state to even sell their products in each state.

Government is earning significant income from sales of pet food – it’s time they protect those that consume it.

 

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

What’s in Your Pet’s Food?
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13 Comments

13 Comments

  1. Dillon

    June 19, 2014 at 1:29 pm

    It would also be nice if the percentages of each ingredient was listed on the can, rather than the general “the amount is in order of where it’s placed on the label”.

    I have recently heard of one good change regarding the only pet food my cat likes and will eat that doesn’t seem to give her an allergic reaction.

    I recently learned that Nature’s Variety no longer sources their rabbit protein from China. This apparently started several months ago. France is now their source for rabbit protein in their various lines (my cat prefers the Instinct line).

    • Casey

      June 19, 2014 at 2:27 pm

      Wow, is this true? NV no longer sources rabbit from China?

      If so, that’s certainly a step in the right direction!

      But yes, the “system” is happy the way it is. They don’t want us asking questions, raising concerns. They LIKE being able to do whatever they want however they want and expect us to just sit back and take it, day after day.

      No more. Those times are GONE.

      • Original Steve

        June 19, 2014 at 4:49 pm

        I spoke to a representative this morning and indeed, they told me that their rabbit is now being sourced from France. I’ve corresponded with them many times over the years due to my concern about important the rabbit protein from China. Their Instinct canned rabbit formula is about the only food my cat eats
        and they always assured me that they had the plant in China closely monitored.

        I’m hoping they place an official announcement on their Facebook page or website. I’ve asked them to send me something so I can copy and paste it
        to various blogs or forums.

    • Adriana Rojas

      June 19, 2014 at 2:37 pm

      This is good news – my cats also prefer the Instinct/rabbit canned food among all the other Nature’s Variety products. Thank you for sharing!

      • Original Steve

        June 19, 2014 at 8:23 pm

        Not entirely official, but this is their comment to my Facebook question:

        https://www.facebook.com/INSTINCT/posts/10152313485818022

        INSTINCT: “There is no official announcement about our sourcing, but we have transitioned all of our rabbit sourcing out of China and to France.”

  2. Ann

    June 19, 2014 at 3:16 pm

    I feed my pets what I believe to be the best, always. They also receive the best veterinary care that I can come up with (not always easy). I do my best for them all around and in the scheme of things, they always come first. HOWEVER! You’ve got to know that not everyone is thinking of buying “natural” (etc.) foods/treats for their pets. They aren’t going to spend what it takes to do that. They just aren’t. Whether it’s a budget necessity or a mind set or both, it’s not their reality. This doesn’t mean that they don’t adore their pets — it’s just who they are. So to say that consumers will never accept recycled waste as food for their pets is a partially true statement — some won’t — but many always will. (Even while being bombarded around the clock by television ads for a certain “natural” brand.)

  3. Jane Eagle

    June 19, 2014 at 3:47 pm

    I am constantly amazed that people still pay money to buy this garbage; I even find people I know who do so! I am so tempted to tell them to use a pot instead of a toilet and feed THAT to their animals: it’s probably better than the crap they are paying money for 🙁 Thanks, Susan, for working to enlighten the world, and to protect those who are hiding from the light <3

  4. Jolie Cosette

    June 19, 2014 at 6:48 pm

    I thank Susan for all of her hard work and advocacy, for never tiring.

    I have given up. I am feeding my cats a primarily (80% by calorie) raw diet with meat purchased from the butcher around the corner. Because I live in a woodsy, alpine area, most of the meat is local, organic and free-range. It is also a resort area so the butcher supplies several of the upscale restaurants with the same food my cats eat.

    I pay a fortune for the cats’ food. I am thankful I can do this – many people cannot. I go without a lot, but I know there are many loving pet owners who have nothing left to give up. All we want is THE CHOICE for our animals to have wholesome, species-appropriate, non-toxic diets.

    I still add a can of wet food to the cats’ raw. But that will soon cease. I am experiencing consistency problems. Whether this is due to climate changes during warehousing/transporting or the manufacturing process itself, I don’t know. And I’m past the point of caring. When I stick a fork in a can of medium-texture pate and it “boings,” something’s wrong. When I flake off another medium-texture pate with a knife, something’s wrong. When there’s a good 1/4″ gap between the pate and the can and an obvious lack of moisture, something’s wrong.

    • Peter

      June 23, 2014 at 7:22 am

      Jodie, you make important observations about the inconsistency of canned food, and what you should expect from processed pet foods. After all, these companies market their products so that consumers “expect” quality of ingredients and quality of consistency. But even so-called “premium” brands that are nearly $2 for a “tuna fish can size” are often horrible, and I cannot imagine why we continue to patronize these companies. That we blindly “expect” federal or state regulators to protect us is incomprehensible, given even just the recent history of pet food manufacture. At the equivalent of $6 a pound… we ought to be able to do better, ourselves, as you suggest. And it is odd, that we feel we “can’t afford” to make (or at least buy) better food, when we are really paying for it, anyway.

      The most disturbing trend that I have observed personally, of late, is the rising moisture content of canned foods. Who knows what a “maximum” of 78% really looks like? But then, when you open a can of food that is the consistency of, well, vomit (a compliment?), and you can’t even get the equivalent of a “complete meal” out of that can… it shouldn’t take much to convince us that something is wrong. How is the actual weight of a can measured, these days? There is so little real ingredients in many of these modern pet foods, and so much water… that $6 a pound is not really $6, is it? It’s really much more.

  5. Anna

    June 19, 2014 at 9:15 pm

    The only way to know what we feed our dogs, etc., is to prepare everything ourselves, although this needs time and motivation. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and there is little information available here. There are several burgeoning small food manufacturers doing their best. I am highly motivated as my darling Bichon, Lily, passed away after a week’s illness. She was only 9

  6. Kathy N-V

    June 20, 2014 at 10:03 am

    It’s so hard to know what to feed, and that of course, is why Susan is doing what she’s doing, and why we’re trying to support her. I tried asking my vet, but she sells Science Diet, and I’d prefer to stay away from that. These days, Odo gets Blue Buffalo kibble for fat dogs, along with string beans and some tomato. It’s beginning to make me nervous, because of all the TV ads. If Blue Buffalo is terrible dog food, please let me know. I would love to make his food, but there are so many conflicting recipes, that I have no idea how to feed my little guy. And I’m probably more well read than the average pet owner. I wish I knew where to start.

  7. Dillon

    June 20, 2014 at 11:26 am

    Of the 435 congressmen and women in the House of Representatives, and the 100 senators in the US, how many have responded or are receptive to sponsoring a bill that requires changes in the laws regarding the sale and regulation of pet foods?

    Is it possible that a mass bcc of emails to every representative through a concerted effort to place those email addresses on blogs and forums so that individuals could just copy and paste the addresses into the bcc field could help, or is just a “through the looking glass” fantasy?

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