Bil Jac Frozen Dog Food has an ingredient (second ingredient) that is typically only seen in livestock feed. The dog food contains “Dried Bakery Product“.
Dried Bakery Product is an AAFCO defined feed ingredient, in the category of “Human Food By-Products“. The definition allows expired breads, cookies, cake, crackers, and so on to be ground and recycled into a feed ingredient. Further, the raw materials (breads, cookies, cakes) are processed in their plastic packaging. We’ve seen evidence of the plastic packaging being processed through a whistle blower (Click Here).
This ingredient is listed second in the ingredient panel – which means it is the second heaviest ingredient. By weight, there is more Dried Bakery Product in this dog food than Beef Tripe. More ground expired bakery goods than Chicken By-Product Meal or Beef Liver or Chicken Liver.
It is perfectly legal for Bil Jac to use the ingredient Dried Bakery Product in their dog feed. While this ingredient might not be what pet owners consider optimal nutrition for a dog, it is a legally defined feed ingredient with no restrictions to what species of animal it is fed to. The FDA and State Feed Officials take no regulatory action against the inclusion of this high sugar content (and potentially high salt content) ingredient used in a dog or cat food.
But…the Bil Jac website does make some questionable claims. Considering the dog food uses an ingredient consisting of expired human food by-products – is this website claim accurate? “America’s Freshest Dog Food“.
Could a dog food be considered “America’s Freshest” if it contains expired doughnuts and cookies?
The Bil Jac website also tells pet owners this dog food contains “No fillers“.
Does Bil Jac actually consider Dried Bakery Product to be a nutritionally sound ingredient for dogs (not a filler)?
Unfortunately for pet owners, regulatory authorities do not scrutinize pet food website claims. Pet food manufacturers can make all types of misleading or false statements (including misleading and false images) on their websites with no worry of regulatory action. In other words, we are on our own when trusting information on a pet food website.
Never hesitate to email a manufacturer and ask for explanation of any website claim (such as “No fillers“) and/or evidence of a website claim (such as “freshest“) or website image. If a company does not provide you with an adequate response or evidence, find a different pet food.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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Dr. Laurie Coger
August 23, 2021 at 1:06 pm
And I thought the sweet smell of this product was from all the molasses! Of course, the question of why would anyone add molasses to dog comes to mind. Guess it’s the same people that would use an old Twinkie!
Pacificsun
August 23, 2021 at 1:18 pm
It’s funny what we’re unwilling to serve our beloved companions and yet we’re ignoring about our own diet. I bet there are folks out there with a donut and coffee waiting on the breakfast table while they’re pouring the a kibble-breakfast into the dog bowl. Let’s face it, the pesticides they’re leaching into the soil, going into the water-ways, is doing us all in! “Sugar and salt” should be our only worry!
Susan Thixton
August 23, 2021 at 1:43 pm
It’s different for a person to be eating a doughnut for breakfast than a dog eating expired doughnuts every day. People probably don’t have doughnuts at every meal – a dog eating this food would.
Concerned
August 23, 2021 at 1:47 pm
Hi Susan,
So how can dried bakery goods be consider an ingredient when it’s self is a finished product made with ingredients (that are not part of the dog food ingredient panel list) that made it. So there is no idea what ingredients where used in that so called ingredient item as it has now become “nested” or “hidden”. If the bakery good uses dyes in their frosting, there is no dye listed on dog package label.
Color Additives
Color additives are, by definition, “artificial” 21 CFR 501.22(a)(4)
The term artificial color or artificial coloring means any
color additive as defined in 21 CFR 70.3(f) animal food, there are no “natural” color additives
All approved color additives (colors) are in CFR 21 CFR 73 or 21 CFR 74
No enforcement discretion
Some approvals are included in AAFCO Official Publication
Reinforces colors must be declared as such
“The label of an animal food to which any coloring has been added shall declare the coloring in the statement of ingredients in the manner specified in paragraphs
(k)(1) and (k)(2) of this section.”
Susan Thixton
August 23, 2021 at 1:49 pm
AAFCO defined the ingredient without the requirement for disclosure of colors in the raw materials. That would be a good question for AAFCO.
Cathryn D.
August 23, 2021 at 2:48 pm
Wish I could say ‘unbelievable’ and mean it, but this deceitfulness it all too common any more. Just another reason I am VERY thankful for the work you do.
Thank you for keeping us in the know.
/blessings
Ma Pickens
August 23, 2021 at 3:27 pm
25 years ago a repair man told us he saw Nabisco cookies going into making pet food in a Richmond VA facility. Not surprising it still exists. Thought of it recently when viewing a new Cesar Milan show of an over the top hyper dog. Wondered what the dog was fed…..
Peter
August 23, 2021 at 3:40 pm
And thanks to you, for bringing attention to this duplicity.
Mareike Kraatz
August 23, 2021 at 5:57 pm
It seems there is something else seriously wrong with this dog feed. The company’s website lists the protein content as “Crude Protein (Min.) ………. 18%” and states that the feed is suitable for puppies and reproduction as well as that “BIL•JAC® dog food is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrients Profiles for All Life Stages including the growth of large size dogs”. However, according to the AAFCO, min. 22 % protein is required for growth and reproduction diets.
Susan Thixton
August 23, 2021 at 7:19 pm
The protein percentage in the pet food is not listed on a ‘dry matter basis’. It has a high moisture content. You have to subtract the moisture content from the whole, the remainder is the ‘dry matter’. Then divide the protein percentage by the dry matter percentage, and multiply by 100 to get the dry matter protein percentage. My calculations show the food does meet the protein percentage for all life stages.
T Allen
August 23, 2021 at 8:38 pm
It was only a matter of time. Works for feeding livestock or so they think so why not dogs. Purina has an ad on TV now that says “cats LOVE pumpkin” in their pumpkin spice Meow Mix. The good news is the state of dog food is making the general news cycle. My mother, who has no pets, mentioned she’s seen several articles recently about the plastic in dog food and other concerns. Yeah!
peggy knapp
August 24, 2021 at 7:21 am
No wonder diabetes is running rampant in our pets! My yorkie has been on insulin for 6 years now. Sad.
Kathryn Smith
August 24, 2021 at 9:15 am
these types of ‘sweet’ products have been used for years in livestock feed… do you know when they were first added to products for pets?
Susan Thixton
August 24, 2021 at 9:43 am
To my knowledge, this is the only pet product that contains this ingredient.
Casey
August 24, 2021 at 2:37 pm
Interesting. Bil Jac used to have “cereal fines” as an ingredient in this food. It was not nearly so high on the list, but back then I had a Lab prone to yeasty ears, so I took a pass on it.
How many dogs eating this are going to suffer with runaway yeast issues?
Sheila Black
August 24, 2021 at 4:00 pm
All dog and cat people need to become aware that what the AAFCO rules call some of the ingredients on labelling of pet food is intended to deliberately mislead; that are intended to deliberately hide unhealthy, crappy ingredients. So, we all should be taking some time to understand the labelling of pet foods that we feed our cats and dogs, to avoid unwittingly feeding them crap food. When I did that, I was so disgusted, that I stopped feeding commercial food, and learned how to raw feed my two very young cats, because I understood that most of the pet food companies do not give a damn about our pets, just the profits.
Karen Mitchell Creator of As Nature Intended FB Group.
October 6, 2021 at 7:39 am
Crikey, no wonder there are problem dogs out there!!
PLEASE SIGN UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER AND SHARE THE NEWS REGULARLY, ITS GOING TO HELP SAVE LIVES!!
Dianne & Pets
November 15, 2021 at 1:55 pm
I heard on the news that dog food is one of the items expected to have a sharp rise in price. I can only imagine the heart break to come as people can no longer afford to feed their pets and manufacturers try to make up the loss of sales. Not to mention all the food rotting in container ships, Bet it ends up in feed.
Maggie
January 19, 2022 at 2:14 pm
I recall when Bil-Jac was really the only “frozen” readily available option in many parts of the country — 15 or so years ago. It was popular as a training treat in some circles. I remember standing in an Albertson’s supermarket frozen food aisle, reading the ingredients on a package of Bil-Jac, and saw this very thing mentioned here: “dried bakery product.” I was deeply puzzled by it, as I’d never seen it on a pet food package. I did some research on my own as to what that ingredient was, and figured out it was waste cookies and pastries and chose not to feed it. It’s a very “old school” product that’s been lapped by several generations of vastly superior frozen products that are now widely available. I’m surprised it still exists, as I don’t know who its customer constituency would be.
Marial Lorance
April 5, 2022 at 11:04 am
Its actually pretty simple and doesnt take much research to feed a small dog human grade food.I’ve been doing it for over 20 years. My first pair who never ate anything but human food lived 19 healthy years, almost no vet visits, good teeth, literally died of old age. Look online or visit a vet school for help. If you are worried that they might not get everything they need, remember what is in the food in the pretty bags! Use a daily vitamin. You can hardly do worse than the garbage in commercial food.