Bill Marler publisher of Food Safety News explains it perfectly in an article titled Blue Barf, Green Goo, Purple Puke, Red Rubbish or Yellow Yuck. Long story short, his article makes a valid point of manufacturers hiding the truth from consumers with carefully crafted ingredient names resulting in consumer outrage when the truth surfaces. And on top of that, when the truth does come out manufacturers are surprised at the consumer rage.
Mr. Marler’s article speaks volumes. His tremendous tongue-in-cheek explanation of poor little manufacturers that get abused by media and consumers left wondering why their Green Goo is taking such a beating. The poor little abused Green Goo CEO’s wonders ‘Why is this happening?’ And then Mr. Marler speaks the best truth…“It is happening because the CEO did not trust consumers with the truth. Pre-the easily accessible Internet, companies and governments simply made decisions and assumed the public did not care or did not need to know what was in their food. That is neither no longer possible nor the case.
Not openly explaining how the food product was made and what all the additives and ingredients are was a foundational mistake for this CEO. Of course, even 10 years ago it was possible to have an idea for a food additive (err, processing aide), to get a college professor hungry for research dollars to give it high marks, and to get a government bureaucrat yearning for a post-public sector job, to approve its quiet introduction into commerce. Those days are done.”
Enter Pet Food. Home to countless Green Goo’s and Purple Puke’s of their own; carefully crafted ingredient names all developed to hide the truth from the consumer. By-product meal, animal fat, and flavors (just to name a few). Carefully crafted pet food ingredient names that provide the petsumer with absolutely no clue to what animal or animal part is included in that ingredient, no clue to the quality of the ingredient, no clue to just about anything of that ingredient. Though human foods have similar crafted ingredient name challenges, pet foods and treats have one more huge obstacle…FDA Compliance Policies. Unlike human foods, pet foods – thanks to FDA Compliance Policies, can contain carefully crafted ingredient names sourced from diseased animals or euthanized animals. Thus we are left further in the dark.
And then the pet food industry, similar to BPI (manufacturer of Pink Slime) acts surprised when consumers are outraged.
Shocked that someone would doubt the safety of pet food, Pet Food Institute (lobby organization for Big Pet Food) spokesman Kurt Gallagher criticized my recent Response to FDA video stating (my video) was “rife with inaccuracies and misrepresentations.” Mr. Gallagher…have you read the FDA Compliance Policies? Is there something you know that we don’t…if so, please share. We really can handle the truth. (Hint to PFI…Listen to Mr. Marler; those days of hiding are long gone). And by the way, a follow up email sent to Mr. Gallagher of Pet Food Institute two weeks ago asking for his explanation of my ‘inaccuracies and misrepresentations’ has not been responded to.
Pet Food Industry Trade Event and Workshop has denied me admission to their event for two years in a row. How can the industry continue to make claims everything is safe and sound in pet food land yet lock the doors from public view? What in the world is so secret that the industry won’t let one little petsumer advocate in the door to talk directly to ingredient suppliers? The Industry Trade event has yet to provide me with an explanation of exactly why I was denied admission this year (I was told last year I was a conflict of interest).
Shocked at the outrage of angry petsumers whose pets have died or suffered serious kidney disease, Chinese dog jerky treat importers/manufacturers remain diligent their treats are safe. (However they are beginning to add the disclaimer…if fed as directed…now why should that matter?) Yet none of these pet treat importers have provided full disclosure to all of the processing aids or flavoring additives used in these treats. If you have nothing to hide, wouldn’t it be a good idea to open the secret vaults and disclose every single processing aid and or every single ingredient used to ‘flavor’ the treats? Full disclosure…because they are so safe. Pink Slime manufacturer invited the press and political leaders to tour the plant…Waggin Train, Milo’s Kitchen where is your invitation to the press and politicians?
Pet food/treat industry…If you’ve got nothing to hide, why are you hiding? Perhaps you should take a valuable lesson from the BPI experience. Tell us the truth – let us decide. We can handle the truth.
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
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