How Can This Be Allowed?

A Dead Animal Carcass Remover making pet food. It’s illegal to use decomposing animal tissues in pet food, but that law is ignored by FDA.

A few days ago pet owners learned of a new pet food recall – “Bravo Packing, Inc. Recalls Performance Dog Raw Pet Food Because of Possible Salmonella Health Risk to Humans and Animals“. As you’ll see from what we learned, Salmonella is the absolute last thing any pet owner would need to worry about with this pet food.

First – Bravo Packing, Inc. – is in NO WAY affiliated with Bravo Pet Food.

On September 13, 2018 the recall notice of Bravo Packing, Inc. Performance Dog Food was published on TruthaboutPetFood.com. Withing minutes of publishing the recall – I received an email from an friend (who preferred to be anonymous) stating:

That address is our local dead animal guy and he is the worst of the worst. He kills a ton of horses with captive bolt and sends the meat to zoos. He’s so bad I send my horses for cremation ($1500 a piece) rather than have him take them. He picks up all the animals killed with pentobarbital.

In a blog titled “Straight from the Horse’s Heart” is a post titled “Animal’s Angels Investigate a Slaughterhouse of Horrors”. The ‘Animal’s Angels organization investigated the Bravo Packing facility in 2011. This is a quote from their investigation:

When investigators arrived at the premises, they immediately saw a large group of vultures circling over the facility and there was a strong stench of decomposing flesh. In front, large piles of different hides were visible. There was a lot of trash dumped onto and next to the premises, including parts of old slaughter equipment such as meat hooks and saws.

While the investigators observed the premises, several horse trailers and livestock trucks arrived at the facility and unloaded animals.

At one point, the investigators could hear what sounded like a horse scream in complete terror. Horrified, investigators stumbled across a barrel which contained a large number of race horse shoes with feet still attached. Inside the barrel were also many different halters and more meat saws. In the loading ramp area 2 large bison heads were found decaying on a pile of pallets.

There are 3 videos on YouTube detailing the conditions at Bravo Packing, Inc. (I have not watched them).

One of the videos was recorded by “Amanda Sorvino, a horse activist and daughter of actor Paul Sorvino, together with Guardians of Rescue, a not-for-profit animal welfare organization.” From the press release about the video: “Amanda Sorvino went undercover at the Bravo Packing Plant on several occasions to secure evidence that graphically depicts the brutal abuse of the horses living in killer pens without any shelter from the environment.  “The horses were emaciated and some violently abused, all living in unspeakable conditions,” said Robert Misseri, president of Guardians of Rescue.”

But that’s not all Bravo Packing, Inc. does…

The address posted in the FDA recall notice was “Bravo Packing, Inc. of Carneys Point, NJ”. A Google search of the address found the Yellow Pages listing of the business stating “Animal Removal Service” street address “59 N Golfwood Ave”. And further searching of the same street address of Bravo Packing found all of these webpages…

https://www.petlist.us/company-merolas-dead-animal-removal-in-penns-grove-nj-12945

https://webforcompany.com/usa-company/Merolas-Dead-Animal-Removal-258791-6.html

https://www.bbb.org/us/nj/carneys-point/profile/animal-removal/m-s-pet-removal-0221-90134807

Note the above states “Pet Removal”.

Note in the below image what “products, services” this company provides…

https://www.b2byellowpages.com/company-information/104308158-merola-mark.html

Google image of the address for Bravo Packing, Inc.

What we know from public records is that Bravo Packing, Inc. is a horse slaughter facility with a questionable history and we know that Bravo Packing, Inc. is a dead animal remover. We also know that Bravo Packing, Inc. manufactures a pet food.

How much pet food does Bravo Packing, Inc. sell? A lot.

The FDA recall notice for Bravo Packing Inc. Performance Dog Food stated “Tefco Raw Dog Food” is the distributor of the pet food – website http://www.rawdogfoodwholesale.com/.

Tefco Raw Dog Food distributes two products: “Performance Dog Diet” (product of Bravo Packing, Inc.) and “Green Tripe” (unknown manufacturer). Their website page promoting the Bravo Packing, Inc. Performance Dog Diet…

The distribution map of Tefco raw dog food wholesale is concerning…

Law.

Federal law states a food is adulterated if (in part): “if it consists in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance, or if it is otherwise unfit for food”.

To the fullest extent – dead carcasses picked up by any ‘Animal Carcass Remover’ of dogs, cats, horses or cows (or any animal) – IS ABSOLUTELY filthy, putrid, and decomposed substances making it illegal to be processed into pet food per federal law.

It is not illegal in the US to slaughter horses for animal consumption. However horse slaughter is not performed at USDA facilities. There is little to no oversight of the slaughter process outside of a USDA facility – no assurance of a healthy animal, no assurance of a clean environment.

The FDA.

All of the above details about Bravo Packing, Inc. were found within minutes from very simple searches on Google. Did the FDA do a similar search on the company? Or did FDA ignore the concerning details of the animal material that Bravo Packing, Inc. handles? Because this pet food was recalled for Salmonella and nothing else, it appears the FDA was NOT concerned with the potential of federal law violations, NOT concerned a dead animal remover manufactures pet food.

The FDA went to the effort to test Bravo Packing, Inc. Performance Dog Food for Salmonella. The FDA did NOT go to the effort to

• investigate the company
• DNA test the pet food to assure the consumer ‘Beef’ was the meat source
• investigate if the ‘Beef’ was sourced from animals collected by Bravo Packing, Inc. dead animal hauler businesses
• test the pet food for pentobarbital

There is no doubt the FDA cares about bacteria, but it appears that is their ONLY concern. That’s it. Nothing else matters, not even federal law. (FYI: The FDA has issued 29 recall notices so far in 2018 – 3 recalls were for elevated thyroid hormone, 26 were for pathogenic bacteria.)

The absolute worse issue with FDA ignoring law is – no consumer is forewarned their pet food could include decomposing animal carcasses. The FDA openly allows the pet food industry to utilize diseased and decomposing dead animal carcasses into pet food – BUT the FDA does not believe the consumer needs to be notified that illegal waste material is in their pet’s food.

Did the recalled Bravo Packing, Inc. Performance Pet Food include dead, decomposing beef? Did the pet food include horse meat? Did the pet food include dog or cat carcasses picked up by Bravo Packing, Inc.? We’ll never know, because FDA ONLY tested the pet food for bacteria. They didn’t look further into the pet food or the manufacturer. (The FDA doesn’t look further into ANY pet food.)

I will be filing a Freedom of Information Act request with FDA to get all of the details of the recall of Bravo Packing, Inc. Performance Pet Food. When documents are received, they will be shared.

If you are outraged that pet food is openly allowed by FDA to include decomposing carcasses of dogs, cats, horses and cows – please speak out against this. Write your state and federal representatives, write FDA (AskCVM@fda.hhs.gov). Write your local media – ask them to expose this horrific violation of law by FDA.

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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