Comments for California Pet Food Laws – Empty Promises?

Help needed from Pet Owners to try to stop California.

One of you wonderful Pet Owners forwarded us an email last week – a public notice from the state of California announcing they were planning on updating their pet food regulations and would be welcoming comments until January 1, 2021.

Click Here to read the CA public notice.

Click Here to read the questions CA would like public comment on.

At first look, the California request for comments regarding pet food regulations sounded promising, that perhaps California was going to be transparent with pet owners. But with a little research, we discovered this public notice was little more than a paperwork requirement. California has no intentions of protecting pets/pet owners in the state, no intentions of being transparent with pet food regulations.

When Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) emails were examined – emails obtained by Kohl Harrington of the documentary Pet Fooled – we learned that California had been in conversations with AAFCO more than a year before their public notice was announced. We read emails from October 2019 from California Department of Public Health (CDPH) employee Ms. Kaempfer-Tong stating to AAFCO’s Executive Director “We are moving forward with our regulations and I am discussing incorporation with our program.”

As well, Ms. Kaempfer-Tong discussed with AAFCO the cost of the AAFCO regulations and expressed concern about infringing on AAFCO’s copyright; “we do not want to infringe on AAFCO’s copyright.”

In other words, the request for public comment from California was smoke and mirrors. More than a year before California released their request for comment on pet food regulations – they were already “moving forward” with adopting AAFCO regulations. Plus, California acknowledged AAFCO regulations were copyright protected, resulting in NO transparency to pet owners.

The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) is a private organization that writes pet food regulations and pet food ingredient definitions. This private organization sells those regulations and definitions to federal government, state government, industry and pet owners. All of AAFCO’s regulations are copyright protected; states adopt ‘by reference’ the regulations to avoid publicly releasing AAFCO’s copyright protected rules. When states adopt AAFCO’s regulations by reference, pet food regulations are not available for the public to read – pet owners are not provided with the information to understand what is in their pet’s food or what regulations they are held to.

Such as: AAFCO copyright protects the nutrient profiles pet foods are held to. AAFCO copyright protects label terms like “with” (example ‘with chicken’) and “Recipe” and “Formula”. And AAFCO copyright protects ingredient definitions. Without public access to AAFCO’s regulations pet owners can’t read what nutrients are required in their pet’s food, they don’t know that ‘with’ Chicken on a pet food label means the food can contain only 3% chicken, and pet owners don’t know that AAFCO’s legal definition of chicken allows diseased, condemned chicken in pet food. (The FDA fully endorses pet foods to include meats sourced from diseased animals and animals that have died other than by slaughter. Quoting FDA’s response to consumers in April 2019: “we do not believe that the use of diseased animals or animals that died otherwise than by slaughter to make animal food poses a safety concern and we intend to continue to exercise enforcement discretion.”)  

We initially had hopes California was going to be transparent with their pet food regulations, until we read the emails proving California has intentions to hide regulations from pet owners too.

What can you do to help?

Any pet owner (even if you do not reside in California) can send California a comment stating you do not wish them to adopt pet food regulations that are copyright protected. Note – your comment must be received by January 1, 2021. An example email:

Email address: FDBRegs@cdph.ca.gov

Subject line: Pet Food Regulations

This email is providing comment to amending current Processed Pet Food regulations in California. I am requesting full transparency of all pet food regulations, all pet food ingredient definitions and regulations must be publicly provided on the CDPH website. Adopting AAFCO’s copyright protected regulations is NOT in the best interest of pet owners.

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(Make sure you include “Pet Food Regulations” in the subject line.)

We went into detail with our response, including suggesting California adopt regulations that require pet products to be labeled as food or feed. To read our comment to California Click Here. Pet owners can also copy and use this response to California (but it is detailed).

Why should a pet owner outside of California care about California pet food regulations?

We have to start somewhere. Every state hides their pet food regulations and protects AAFCO’s profits from the sale of the regulations ($120.00 per year). No pet owner – in Florida, Kansas, Maine, or any other state – is provided public access to pet food ingredient definitions, feed terms, or any regulation to understand what they are feeding their pet. This issue in California is an opportunity to stop this despicable lack of transparency forced on all pet owners.

My thanks in advance to everyone that sends their comment.

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?
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The 2021 List
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