One Simple New Year’s Resolution for your Pet

Start your pet’s new year off with this one pet food resolution.

In 2019 resolve to learn more (if not everything) about your pet’s food. Here are two simple questions that will empower you with significant information about what your pet is eating:

Are all ingredients and supplements human edible?

Pet food ingredients are either human grade or feed grade. For a pet food (the entire pet food – not just ingredients) to be human grade it must:

• made with 100% human edible ingredients and supplements,
• manufactured in a licensed human food facility, and
• all ingredients and supplements must be transported/warehoused according to human food safety regulations.

Human grade pet foods state ‘Human Grade’ on the pet food label. Ignore claims of Human Grade on websites (regulatory authorities do not scrutinize pet food websites for false claims).

• made with all or some human edible ingredients and supplements or made with all feed grade ingredients and supplements (there is no method to know if the pet food contains all feed grade ingredients or some without asking),
• manufactured in a licensed pet food facility, and
• ingredients and supplements are transported/warehoused per pet food standards (which are significantly lesser than human food standards).

The FDA openly allows feed grade pet foods to utilize very inferior quality ingredients – some are officially illegal. Quoting just one of FDA’s policies regarding pet food:

“Pet food consisting of material from diseased animals or animals which have died otherwise than by slaughter, which is in violation of 402(a)(5) will not ordinarily be actionable, if it is not otherwise in violation of the law. It will be considered fit for animal consumption.”

Because FDA allows waste into pet food (diseased animals or animals which have died otherwise than by slaughter is waste that no animal should consume and comes with significant risk), resolve yourself this year to ask your pet’s food manufacturer if all ingredients and supplements are human edible.

What is the country of origin of all ingredients and supplements?

Pet food ingredients are sourced globally (just like human food ingredients). Unfortunately, pet owners have a bad history with pet food ingredients sourced from China. Chinese sourced ingredients were the cause of the 2007 pet food recall, the deadliest pet food recall in history.

Not everything sourced from China is a risk, but…pet owners deserve to know country of origin of all ingredients and supplements to make the decision to trust the pet food or not.

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This one simple resolution will take only minutes of your time and will empower you with knowledge about what your pet is eating. Let’s make 2019 a safer pet food year!

Wishing you and your pet(s) a safe and happy New Year,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
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.

What’s in Your Pet’s Food?
Is your dog or cat eating risk ingredients?  Chinese imports? Petsumer Report tells the ‘rest of the story’ on over 5,000 cat foods, dog foods, and pet treats. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Click Here to preview Petsumer Report. www.PetsumerReport.com

The 2019 List
Susan’s List of trusted pet foods. Click Here to learn more.

Have you read Buyer Beware?  Click Here

Cooking pet food made easy, Dinner PAWsible

Find Healthy Pet Foods in Your Area Click Here