One more confirmation to the horror many of us have suspected for years; an EPA document clearly states Rendering Facilities “obtain animal by-product materials” from “animal shelters.” Along with another EPA report, the evidence is mounting; current pet food regulations must be changed.
No pet lover in their right mind would ever wish to feed their dog or cat ground up dog and cat. But that is exactly what is happening. Deep within the EPA document ‘Emissions Factors and Policy Applications Center, Chapter 9: Food and Agricultural Industries, Section 9.5 Introduction to Animal & Meat Products Preparation’ is the section 9.5.3 Meat Rendering Plants. The truth is crystal clear.
“Meat rendering plants process animal by-product materials for the production of tallow, grease, and high-protein meat and bone meal. Plants that operate in conjunction with animal slaughterhouses or poultry processing plants are called integrated rendering plants. Plants that collect their raw materials from a variety of offsite sources are called independent rendering plants. Independent plants obtain animal by-product materials, including grease, blood, feathers, offal, and entire animal carcasses, from the following sources: butcher shops, supermarkets, restaurants, fast-food chains, poultry processors, slaughterhouses, farms, ranches, feedlots, and animal shelters.”
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/ap42/ch09/final/c9s05-3.pdf
Since the first public awareness of rendered (cooked) euthanized dogs and cats, the Pet Food Industry has claimed this type of rendered material is not used in pet foods. However, to present day, there is no evidence or regulation to support their claim.
This is simply the most inexcusable horror. If no pet food or pet treat contained ingredients sourced from rendered dogs and cats, pet food regulations would clearly state such ingredients are forbidden. They do not.
In fact, existing pet food ingredient definitions and pet food regulations do NOT allow for pet foods to clearly separate themselves (those using human grade meat from those using rendered euthanized animals). There is no regulatory means for a pet food that does not use ingredients sourced from rendered dogs and cats from pet foods that do use ingredients sourced from rendered dogs and cats.
Why? The only answer could be is those that do use ingredients sourced from rendered dogs and cats don’t want us to know who they are.
Regardless of quality of ingredients (regardless if ingredients are sourced from rendered dogs and cats), existing regulations state the pet food labels must all look the same. Same ‘Premium’ or ‘Healthy’ claim, same ‘AAFCO Nutritionally Balanced’. Again, regardless if the pet food includes meat from the same quality of meat you purchase at the grocery or if the pet food includes meat from rendered dogs and cats, according to existing regulations the pet food label and advertising must all look and appear to be the same. Ridiculous.
The only way pet owners can possibly avoid using pet foods that include ingredients sourced from rendered dogs and cats is to read ingredients. According to FDA testing, “there appear to be associations between rendered or hydrolyzed ingredients and the presence of pentobarbital in dog food.” (Pentobarbital is the drug used to euthanize dogs and cats.) The FDA found the common pet food ingredients Animal Fat, Meat and Bone meal, Beef and Bone meal, and Animal Digest “could include euthanized animals.” http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/CVM/CVMFOIAElectronicReadingRoom/ucm129134.htm
Because existing pet food regulations and existing pet food ingredient definitions do not allow for grade or quality statements of ingredients, because there is a slew of evidence that clearly shows euthanized dogs and cats are rendered present day, conscientious pet owners must avoid any pet food and treat that contain the ingredients Animal Fat, Meat and Bone meal, Beef and Bone meal, and Animal Digest. Until pet food regulations provide conscientious pet owners with a classification of ‘human grade ingredients’, we have no option but to assume any dog food, cat food, or pet treat that contains Animal Fat, Meat and Bone meal, Beef and Bone meal, and/or Animal Digest does indeed include rendered dogs and cats.
Pet owners MUST be provided with clear and documented evidence to grade or quality of ingredients.
In the EPA document “Development Document for the Proposed Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Meat and Poultry Products Industry Point Source Category (40 CFR 432)”…
Page 155
“Regulations promulgated under the authority of Poultry Products Inspection Act are more specific and require that all carcasses, organs, or other parts of carcasses be condemned, if it is determined on the basis of a sound statistical sample that they are adulterated because of the presence of any biological residue (9 CFR 381.80). Biological residue is defined as any substance, including metabolites, remaining in poultry at the time of slaughter or in any of its tissues after slaughter, as the result of treatment or exposure of the live poultry to a pesticide, organic compound, metallic or inorganic compound, hormone, hormone-like substance, growth promoter, antibiotic, anthelmintic, tranquilizer, or other agent that leaves a residue (9 CFR 381.1).”
Condemned animal carcasses are currently allowed (by FDA compliance policy) to be rendered into pet food and pet treats. They become the pet food ingredients by-product meal, poultry by-product meal, chicken by-product meal, beef by-product meal, meat and bone meal, beef and bone meal, animal fat, and/or animal digest.
Page 184
“When the solids are disposed of by rendering, the use of organic polymers is preferred to avoid high aluminum or iron concentrations in the rendered product produced.”
As with some pet food manufacturers, not all renderers process horrendous ingredients into pet food ingredients…
Page 221
“EPA also observed during site visits that some independent renderers reject raw materials that have (1) a pH below 4 SU (with 3 SU being a general cut-off), (2) ferric chloride due to its corrosive nature, and (3) other contamination (e.g., pesticides).”
But…thanks to existing AAFCO regulations (American Association of Feed Control Officials is responsible for all pet food ingredient definitions and for the lack of pet food ingredient grade classification), pet owners are not provided with information of which pet foods use by-products that include contaminants or which pet foods use by-products that are human grade quality internal organs (considered by-product by definition).
So, fine. AAFCO and FDA, you leave us no option. Because you clearly consider the profits of big business to be of more importance than the health of our pets, we have no option but to avoid all pet foods and treats that include any by-product, animal fat, meat and bone meal, beef and bone meal, and animal digest ingredient. Because AAFCO regulations do not provide a clear definition of human grade ingredients, because FDA doesn’t enforce existing Federal laws that should prevent anything less than human grade ingredients into pet food, both organizations further the great divide between pet owners and trust of pet food.
Read the ingredients of every food, treat, or chew you provide your pet. Unless you wish to feed your dog or cat a rendered dog or cat, or unless you wish to feed your pet numerous chemical residue contaminants, avoid pet foods, treats, and chews that contain any of the following ingredients…
Animal Fat
By-Products (any variation)
Meat and Bone meal (not meat specific meal such as chicken meal, turkey meal, lamb meal)
Beef and Bone meal
Animal Digest
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author, Buyer Beware
Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
PetsumerReport.com
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 2500 cat foods, dog foods, and pet treats. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. www.PetsumerReport.com
Have you read Buyer Beware? Click Here
Cooking for pets made easy, Dinner PAWsible
Are you subscribed to Truth About Pet Food Newsletter? Click Here to subscribe
Follow Truth about Pet Food on Twitter
Become a Fan of Truth about Pet Food, Dinner PAWsible, Buyer Beware on Facebook
Find Healthy Pet Foods in Your Area Click Here
Pingback: Green Dog Pet Supply - From Truth about Pet Food:”EPA document proves euthanized dogs and cats are rendered”
sky
August 14, 2015 at 2:08 pm
The link to the pdf – http://www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/ap42/ch09/final/c9s05-3.pdf is not valid any longer. You can however find it on archive.org here – https://web.archive.org/web/20110206184158/http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/CVM/CVMFOIAElectronicReadingRoom/ucm129134.htm
and the new fda HTM file is here – http://www.fda.gov/aboutfda/centersoffices/officeoffoods/cvm/cvmfoiaelectronicreadingroom/ucm129134.htm
I hope people realize why the movie The Matrix talked about feeding the dead to the living.
They do not just do it to animal and feed that to animals.
Hell-O
Peter
November 21, 2015 at 7:18 am
I remember there is a brief video wherein the rendering company “executive” jokingly asks (something similar to): “where do you think fluffy and fido end up?”
Decades ago we used to proudly feed our cat from the grocery store brands. I wouldn’t dream of doing that today. But I also believe (perhaps ignorantly?) that rendered ingredients and “by-products” from those days although awful stuff… were just not as “bad” as they are today. Those were the days before all of the conglomerates had bought up the pet food companies to stream their waste products into.
Today, even though we take effort to buy high end, even so-called “super premium” foods, they are filled with things that are often worse than we can imagine.
Tracy Clark
June 4, 2016 at 2:16 pm
I’m not at all surprised; but I’m glad to have the Science to back it up!!! I boycotted Purina when I was 15 years old…let’s just say that was NEARLY 40 years ago! I boycotted Walmart nearly a decade ago for manufacturing and peddling “Ol Roy”…at that time its first ingredient was High Fructose Corn Syrup; I understand they’ve switched it to the ‘second’ ingredient. Criminal if you ask me. Feel free to ask me.
Michelle
June 5, 2016 at 11:54 am
This exact article was run in 2010.(Google Title) Great to reinforce, but please state that it’s a reprint so it won’t lessen your credibility.
Susan Thixton
June 5, 2016 at 1:10 pm
The date on the article is stated – April 24, 2010. It’s no reprint, it is the original article.
ellen
September 2, 2016 at 1:21 pm
What pet foods dont have this i use beniful does this have dog and cat can some one tell me im not rich and i have 3 dogs so what is the foods with no dog and cat
Elizabeth haley
September 5, 2016 at 10:17 pm
Loyall life is safe and very affordable. Get off beneful asap!!!!
A Lover of Fur Children
April 10, 2021 at 8:11 pm
Beneful is one of the worst. I recommend Orijen (expensive, but worth it, and very true to what dogs would eat in the wild) just stay away from anything that says ‘by-product, blood meal, bonemeal’. If its a named organ from a named source those are fine (heart,liver,gizzard etc.). Merrick is also good, but my dog wouldn’t eat it until we put it separately from the homemade food. There is also a great dog cookbook called ‘Feed your best friend better’ that has a lot of nutritionally sound recipes. It also has a chapter on choosing commercial food.
Paula Osullivan
April 5, 2022 at 12:43 pm
None of them.I use human grade food and cook it myelf in big batches (enough for a week) and separate into 1 helping servings and put into freezer sealed packages take one or 2 out each night (depending on how many dogs you have and how many times a day you feed them.)Be sure to add enough meat( my dog is allergic to beef& chicken so I use turkey or fish (salmon or white fish) no tuna.
Sweet potatoes,or carrots. Blueberries or blackberries or cut up apple ( no seeds )
Quinoa, homemade bone broth *all organic* ( be sure to ask you holistic vet what vitamins to add)Very important,depending on age of dog and health of dog.its seem like alot but once you make it once or twice it’s easy.and your dog will thrive.
Kim Hawkins
September 3, 2016 at 10:39 am
THIS DISGUSTING CRUEL ACT NEEDS TO BE STOPPED. DISGUSTING. THIS IS 2016 WE DONOT NEED TO BE COMMITTING SUCH ACTS LIKE THIS. THEY ARE HELPING TO CAUSING THE DEATH OF HOUE PETS.
GG523
September 5, 2016 at 11:02 am
Animals eat animals period. At least they’re not wasted and serving a purpose. The circle of life.
Susan Thixton
September 5, 2016 at 11:29 am
What about the euthanizing drug in the animals? That is a significant concern – and definitely not ‘the circle of life’.
Susie
September 6, 2016 at 10:25 am
The circle of life is an animal caught, killed and eaten by another animal. Not when an animal is pumped full of lethal chemicals and unknowingly fed to another animal. Maybe this explains the rise in cancer and other diseases in our pets. That is why I raw feed my dogs. No hidden ingredients so that I know exactly what they are eating.
kath
September 5, 2016 at 2:39 pm
So how do we know as it’s unclear as to the ingredients in cat food?
Susan Thixton
September 5, 2016 at 2:52 pm
We don’t. Euthanized animals are illegal per federal law to be included in any food including pet food, but FDA openly allows this material to be used in pet food. There is no warning what-so-ever on the pet food label. There are two options for consumers, one is to ask your pet food manufacturer for a written statement guaranteeing that no euthanized animal is included in the pet food (would suggest also asking for a guarantee that all meat ingredients are USDA inspected and approved for human consumption). The other is to purchase a human grade pet food. Human grade pet food means the food is manufactured in a human food facility, and made with 100% human food quality ingredients (including all supplements). This post explains human grade: https://truthaboutpetfood.com/the-only-true-pet-food-human-grade/
ShanaRose
September 5, 2016 at 4:36 pm
would there be a way to get a lawyer involved and sue the pet food companies for deception? if the pet food companies are not responsible for the deception, can we sue the USDA or whatever governing body permits this as law? there has to be a way to stop this legally … it’s not just about citizens refraining from buying commercial pet food …. i don’t think that is possible …. this has to be fought on a level that can actually change these twisted laws ….
Susan Thixton
September 5, 2016 at 5:43 pm
The FDA needs to be sued to force them to enforce existing law. Problem is, that takes a lot of money.
Iva wallace
September 5, 2016 at 4:45 pm
I quit a name brand food when my lab developed skin sores from dyes. My ignorance allowed me to switch to yet another name brand and both of my babies developed liver issues. I stopped buying dog food at local stores.
Diana Bendzel
September 19, 2016 at 11:50 pm
My dogs only eat dry food and organic I cook vevatables and add always organic honey.
I make sure their food is healthy and organic.
Vickie
March 9, 2017 at 5:46 pm
I have been feeding my dogs BilJac because, even though it says “chicken by-products” the conversations I’ve had with the people at Biljac convinced me that they are using chicken organ meat: heart, liver, gizzards, etc. They also said they cook the cornmeal for hours to make it digestible and to provide necessary carbs for the dogs. I like that they are still relatively independent and it’s made in the USA, not in China, where only God knows what they put in the dog food from there!! (rendered people parts? hmmmmmm…)
Keep up the good work!
Jackie
May 4, 2017 at 5:11 pm
I know for a fact that Science Diet uses cats in their dry food. I found a cat tooth in the bag. I stopped buying it. I switched to IAMS, but now I wonder about them too. In the old days you could get horse meat in your canned dog food, now you get another dog or cat. Just disgusting.
jennifer hahn
March 22, 2020 at 11:56 am
If it is not human grade food, it is tainted. Besides that, never feed a cat kibble. It is really unhealthy and causes all of the health issues in cats and dogs. moisture dense, flesh and blood food is what they need to thrive, not just barely eek out an existence as in prison food.
Joseph
October 13, 2017 at 10:15 am
Not all animals at shelters are JUST cats and dogs. Many shelters have cattle, goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits, etc. that they may not be able to afford care for and no one wants to adopt.
rachel
January 25, 2018 at 11:46 am
Thank you for all of the information. First of all I fed my three doggies raw food including raw chicken and beef and the bones. I believe raw food is the best they can get even if it is not organic. I would suggest giving them some THORVIN organic powdered kelp 2-3 times a week in their food as well. My dogs got raw sweet potato’s and raw carrots or rutabaga’s and occasionally as apple for snacks.
Understand that animal agriculture has drastically deteriorated in the past 40 years and large CAFO’s have taken over family farms. The rendering industry recycles animal wastes–(and other wastes like bakery products, nut shells and even vegetables and fruits)–largely because human beings believe they need to consume animals and their milk. For instance only about 50% of a 1000 pound cattle or cow is human edible–what a waste!!– the rest is rendered so it is used and there is not enough landfill space to bury the 100 billion pounds of animal waste rendered ever year. The average person consumes about 100 animals every year (and people now consume 5 times the amount of animal protein as humans ate in the 1940’s) yet we love our animals called “pets”.
–The problem is that the rendering industry does seem to not test the quality or the contamination of their rendered “protein” (except as far as i know they were concerned with “salmonella” at one time). Surely there are large amounts of antibiotics, drugs, heavy metals, growth hormones, GMO’s (from their feed) and even traces of metal pins and other odd items in the mix. As far as i know there is no LAW to test for “contamination” so their industry is protected from doing that.. Understand also that rendered proteins are both fed to farm animals like cows, pigs and chickens (They are eating their own species and become carnivores–{and humans who eat animals are eating the carcass and milk from those animals}) but also end up in most “pet” foods.
Even if you eliminate cats and dogs from the rendering “proteins” many of the carcasses and whole animals that are rendered are from sick, diseased and dead farm animals, road kill, animal laboratories (?) and whatever chemicals were in their bodies. Because of that, to me the only choice is to feed dogs and cats RAW foods and know where your meat comes from and what they were fed.
Another issue is the USDA’s and governments treasonous behavior when it comes to the “safety” of the animal agriculture industry. Lets agree that large factory farms are inhumane places for farm animals and billions are slaughtered, or just die on their own, every year (and why would someone consume the energy of these abused, tortured and unhappy animals?). It is well known that dis-ease spreads rapidly in confined animal operations and BSE is one of those diseases. BSE/”Mad cow disease” and scrapie happened in the UK long years before it was an issue in the USA. The British also handled the issue treasonously and spent years lying to their citizens, downplaying the seriousness and kissing the tush of the industry profits (they LET it spread). The US clearly knew about this but did the same thing here, lying to citizens and still downplaying the issue–they took years to do anything about it and then even more delays. To date the USDA has only tested about 1% of all farm animals slaughtered out of billions, for “BSE”. In contrast other countries test about HALF and Japan even tests 100% of all slaughtered animals. The testing company that tests the animals is hidden away and private (do you believe they are being truthful and honest?). Many people including scientists and myself, believe that mad cow disease greatly exists now in the US animal agriculture and the evidence is being hidden because of greed, profit and power (and it will keep spreading).Howard Lyman, a former cattle rancher, was sued with Oprah for making statements cattle ranchers did not like (that caused a huge decrease in beef sales).They finally won their case but Howard (while he was alive) believed that BSE was well evident and into the US animal agriculture system. I believe the USDA and company are not looking hard because they KNOW its’ there and do not want to reveal that. Mad cow/BSE/Scrapie are linked to increasing incidences of alzheimers, dementia, ALS, MS, CJD and vCJD–other brain wasting related diseases which have been misdiagnosed in their own way–many of these dideases are relatd to CJD or vCJD. Not only watch what you feed your pets, watch what YOU consume (yes I am plant based–vegan and its’ a great time to see the light of this)!.
See the new movie “The Post” which reveals how several presidents and their administrations lied for years to the citizens of the US about the Vietnam war and those soldiers were nothing more than body bags to them. It did not need to happen. I love my country but my government is sadly lying to all of us and hiding the truth.
Be well, rachel
Kali
January 20, 2019 at 9:26 pm
The only question I had for you is that by raw you mean actually uncooked meat or raw as in the colloquial “know where you food is sourced” but the meat is cooked.
Your comment is very knowledgeable so I respect you and didnt want to assume, but if you are feed uncooked meat I would caution you otherwise. Domesticated dogs and cats do not have the same disease resistance that their wild relatives have and feeding them raw pork or poultry does put them at serious risk of illness. Other animals you can certainly get a way with it but dogs and cats have been domesticated for so long breeding has eliminated much of their disease resistance. Cats are less susceptible than dogs but can still contract parasites from raw foods such as Bayless roundworm which can be fatal. Salmonella and E. Coli are also very real threats. You can reduce the E. Coli by purchasing from a local vetted butcher but it is still best to cook their food and supplement it your concerned about loss of nutrients since cooking it doesn’t harm them and raw most certainly can.
Also I wanted to add that a lot of this is also on the individual animal shelter. Many animal shelters are private facilities and are not regulated equally depending on the state, county, and city. Also although the federal law does not exist there are state and municipal laws that prohibit the sell of euthanized animals (pets or otherwise). For example in my county (and I believe statewide) all carcasses euthanized with drugs that stay in the system after death have to be incinerated. This includes wildlife brought into rehab centers that had to be humanely euthanized and livestock that had to be humanely euthanized. However the FDA’s part in the topic has largely been absent and what they have responded to is pretty pathetic.
A Lover of Fur Children
April 10, 2021 at 8:01 pm
This is why I’m not getting my dog euthanized unless he is in the absolute most pain. He has lymphoma, but is doing amazing on a mix of homemade and orijen. I know he will die at some point, but I’d prefer not to have him euthanized because I don’t want him to be made into pet food. It’s not right. I hate how all these companies only care about money and not the consumers (the people, and the peoples pets). All these people who will do this should go to prison forever.