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‘Feed’ could be the cause of Mad Cow Case in Canada

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency seems to be stating the livestock feed is the link to a Mad Cow confirmed case in Alberta, Canada. The very same type of feed grade ingredients (possibly the exact same) used in pet food.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency seems to be stating the livestock feed is the link to a Mad Cow confirmed case in Alberta, Canada. The very same type of feed grade ingredients (possibly the exact same) used in pet food.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (the Canadian FDA) reported in early February 2015 the confirmation of a BSE (Mad Cow Disease) positive cow in Alberta. The agency provided a recent update stating they are focusing their investigation towards the “feed records” to determine if other animals are at risk. “The CFIA will determine the source of the feed used at the birth farm in 2009 and assess any potential risk factors in relation to the feed used. As a precautionary measure, CFIA inspectors will review the records of the feed mills from which the feeds were sourced to verify compliance with the enhanced feed ban.”

In other words – the CFIA believes the cattle feed was the source of the Mad Cow Disease contracted by that particular cow. This is very concerning. How many other animals consumed that feed? Where did those animals end up – human food? animal feed? Please remember – the ‘feed’ quality ingredients used to make cattle feed are the very same ingredients used to make feed quality pet foods (which is the largest percentage of all pet foods on the market).

Mad Cow Disease is deadly; it’s human related illness Creutzfeldt-Jakob is deadly as well. There are variations of the disease in many species including cats, Feline spongiform encephalopathy. There is no known related disease in dogs.

It should be simple math. Diseased animal tissue becoming animal feed ingredients = more diseased animals.

But for some reason, feed regulatory officials (FDA, AAFCO, USDA, CFIA, State Department of Agriculture and on and on) continue to consider rendered diseased animals “suitable for use in animal feed”. As well, feed regulatory officials have no concern of livestock species consuming their own species in feed ingredients (such as rendered cattle fed to cattle).

In my opinion – the regulatory allowance of diseased animal tissues into animal feed and the regulatory allowance of animal species to consume their own species rendered into animal feed is a ticking time bomb. This one incident in Canada is a tiny pre-explosion. When the big bomb goes off, we’ll all pay the price.

The biggest risk to your human and pet family is feed grade ingredient pet foods. To learn if your pet’s food is truly food or if it is feed grade, call the manufacturer and ask…

Are meat and vegetable ingredients USDA (or CFIA in Canada) inspected and approved for human consumption?

Make certain they respond specific to this question – often they will respond with a half answer such as ‘our ingredients are sourced from USDA inspected facilities’. This tells you nothing. Rejected for use in human food meats are sourced from USDA inspected facilities. Half answers or evasive responses are not acceptable. You deserve to know if your pet’s food is feed or food.

Thanks to Mollie Morrissette for sending me the link to a story on this animal feed disaster.

 

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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9 Comments

9 Comments

  1. BC

    February 26, 2015 at 5:12 pm

    Not to mention the horse wholesalers who buy horses no longer wanted and transport them to various dog food mfg. – one in GA- who slaughters and these horses – regardless of the illegal drugs that prohibit them from human consumption or legal drugs in their system are then fed to dogs.
    And Purinas bet has the audacity to state their standards of ingredients are better than the food for humans.
    Guess the powers that be – for profit only who own our elected officials- have no compunction about killing or naming us all.

  2. BC

    February 26, 2015 at 5:14 pm

    Sorry- vet not bet

  3. Ellen

    February 27, 2015 at 9:23 am

    Allowing the use of rendered diseased animals in animal feed is just insane. And although allowing the practice seems inexplicable, there must be money involved somewhere. Government is like business: if you want to get to the heart of any matter involving either, follow the money”.

    Thanks for sharing this extremely important information.

  4. Ellie

    February 27, 2015 at 8:31 pm

    It is so apparent that profit margin is the only concern these days. No one asks questions. People just eat and think the government is protecting them! That may have been true 30 or more years ago but now more.

  5. Anne

    March 3, 2015 at 7:47 am

    illegal to add animal products to cattle feed in the usa

    • Janine

      March 11, 2015 at 2:46 pm

      Canada banned the the use of brains and spines of cattle and sheep in cattle feed in 1997. Then in 2007, brains and spines were banned from all animal feeds, pet foods and fertilizers. Obviously someone was still feeding the wrong feed if that’s what it’s from.

  6. Anne

    March 15, 2015 at 10:55 am

    “Good to know”! Thank-you ~@

  7. JW

    April 8, 2015 at 12:10 pm

    Rendered products have not been banned. The correct ban is that rendered products from RUMINANT animals (cows) can not be fed back into the ruminant feed use. Porcine (pig) rendered products can. BSE is caused by a prion that attacks the brain and nervous system of the effected animal. Research in the 90’s found that the reason for transfer animal to animal was only due to FEED. They have found that you can have “spontaneous” cases in which they have not been able to trace a source in any way. They feel some animals will pick the agent up in nature.
    There is money in the business of rendering animals or no one would do it. Thinking otherwise is naïve. No one does anything in the US or Canada if they can’t make money at it. I pose this question to all fo you who think this practice is HORRIBLE. Do you believe in Green energy? Saving the planet and reducing the use of fosil fuels and having renewable products? Utilizing animal parts that are not usable for human consumption in animal feed is one of the greenest things we can do. It would take a massive and very bad smelling land fill to dispose of all of these animals otherwise.

    Also – Rendered product as in Meat and Bone Meal, Bloodmeal, Feathermeal, Bonemeal, and Chickenmeal are made from a variety of sourced material. Including the bones and skin and meat that was not able to be extracted from an animal for human food. Also – tracablility since BSE was first diagnosed in Great Brittain and North America is mandatory for all plants. Notice the article said they believe and are tracing the food. There is no answer yet which means that the system is still working as it is supposed to. When a suspect animal is identified, all paperwork from the farm, vet, feed mill, and the suppliers to the feedmill are pulled and checked. This is a time consuming process.

  8. Liana

    August 11, 2016 at 11:56 am

    Actually, there is a very interesting article I will post at the end that I had originally read in the Acre USA magazine many years ago about Mad cow disease and it’s link through Organophosphates aka nerve gas used in WWII. This is just another angle people should be looking at as a possible cause of this ‘disease’.

    I refuse to use any ‘pesticides/insecticides’ on my cattle, horse, chickens, or pets, mostly because when looking at the ingredient label on these insecticides there was no label. We also were instructed to pour the insecticide right on the back from the head to the tail of the cattle. The only barrier to the main spinal column is their skin and bone. This stuff is systemic and is absorbed through the skin tissue and goes where is needed to irradiate the grubs, lice, worms, etc. I also do not feed them anything they would not normally eat themselves on their own. Healthy food and environment equals healthy people, animal, plants, and Earth.

    In the end it is about making money at the expense of the rest of us whether human, animal, plant, or the Earth herself without any consideration of the consequences and damage being done.

    Here is the link: http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/animal-pharm/

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