If There’s A Risk, Report It

TruthaboutPetFood.com has put together a resource for pet owners, that IF you find yourself in that horrible position of a sick pet you believe is linked to a pet food, will make reporting the potential pet food risk a little easier.

For years we have provided links on this website to the FDA website and to the AAFCO website to report a suspect risk pet food. All suspect pet food incidents need to be reported to regulatory authorities – a sick pet, a pet death, foreign objects in the pet food, mold, and so on – all needs to be reported. One report has the potential to save the lives of many other pets.

As example, one pet owner in Washington state reported the death of her pet (and the necropsy results) which resulted in more than 90 million pounds of pet food being recalled.

Unfortunately, reporting a pet illness or death is not easy. At the worst time, pet owners have to search (and search) for information on how to report a pet food related incident. To make matters worse, the AAFCO website has removed all contact names, phone numbers, and email addresses for pet owners to contact their state authorities.

To help pet owners, we reached out to every US state – asking who a pet owner should report a suspect pet food related incident to. Most states were very prompt with their responses, however we are still waiting on some replies. All of that information has been compiled and will be permanently stored (and updated) on this website.

Click Here to view this pet owner resource.

Work for us to do in our own state

When you view the state contacts, you’ll see that at least one US state does NOT regulate pet food at all. Hawaii. Pet owners in Hawaii are paying sales tax on each pet food purchase – providing financial support to the state, yet Hawaii does not provide pet owners any protection in return. I encourage pet owners in Hawaii to work together to lobby the state to ask for pet foods to be regulated by state law.

Some states make it relatively easy to report a suspect pet food – such as Kentucky. If a pet owner knew the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment Division of Regulatory Services regulated pet food…they could relatively easily find how to report a suspect pet food. From the homepage of Division of Regulatory Services, pet owners click on “Consumers” – then click on the option “Pets” – then scroll down to “Report a Pet Food Incident“.

But the problem – is that most pet owners in Kentucky do not know that the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment Division of Regulatory Services regulates pet food in the state (most veterinarians in Kentucky don’t know either) and would be the agency to report a pet food issue to. So even though Kentucky makes the process fairly easy, pet owners have to know where to look.

Another problem is that most pet owners across the US don’t understand that pet food is regulated as feed and that the search on how to report a pet food issue needs to be phrased as ‘how to report a commercial feed issue’. Michigan as example provides pet owners with a detailed webpage on how to report a suspect pet food. But…finding that page on the Department of Agriculture website is a challenge.

If a pet owner knew the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development was the regulatory agency that investigates pet food issues (in the state), the homepage of the agency does not give any information on how to report an issue. A pet owner would need to click on the menu option “Plant & Pest” – look for the option “Animal Feed Safety” in the drop down menu – and then scroll down the page to locate the link “Animal Feed Complaints“.

Needless to say, we (pet owners) need every US state to do much better informing pet owners how to report a suspect pet food. I encourage every pet owner to reach out to your state government asking for a webpage to be written detailing how to report a pet food complaint – AND for a easy-to-find link to that webpage be provided on all consumer related government websites, not just the regulatory agency website.

This is a significantly important concern – IF more pet food related issues were reported, perhaps we would see safer pet food on store shelves.

Wishing you and your pet the best –

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
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.

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