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Pet Food Ingredients

The difference between Alfalfa and Chicken

A (infuriating) lesson of pet food regulations.

A (infuriating) lesson of pet food regulations.

What do you think – which pet food ingredient has more definitions surrounding it, Alfalfa or Chicken? Pet food ingredient definitions are supposed to clarify exactly what is (what should be) used in your pet’s food. So, what do you think – did regulatory authorities give more clarity to Alfalfa or Chicken?

The answer is alfalfa.

Why should that be of any concern to pet owners? What difference does it make? Clarity to pet owners. Clarity to exactly what is included in their pet’s food.

Below are the different definitions and specifications for Alfalfa (a minimal ingredient found far down the ingredient list) in pet food/livestock feed as compared to Chicken (a major ingredient in pet food found first or high on the ingredient list):

Notice under Dehydrated Alfalfa the definitions even clarify protein and fiber content “for the various grades of alfalfa”. We have no such clarity for the most commonly used ingredients in pet foods – meat ingredients.

How many clarification definitions should we have for the pet food ingredient chicken?

Based on what the current (2019) definition of chicken allows…a lot of clarification is needed. The AAFCO legal definition of pet food chicken is:

T9.57 Poultry is the clean combination of flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts or whole carcasses of slaughtered poultry, or a combination thereof, exclusive of feathers, heads, feet and viscera. If it bears a name descriptive of its kind, it must correspond thereto. If the bone has been removed, the process may be so designated by use of the appropriate feed term. It shall be suitable for use in animal food. (Proposed 1978, Adopted 1979, Amended 1995, Amended 1997)

The existing definition of chicken requires it to be sourced from ‘slaughtered’ poultry – but currently AAFCO has no definition of slaughter, thus anything could be accepted. The existing definition of chicken holds no requirement to be USDA inspected and passed chicken (as human food is required), thus condemned and non-inspected are allowed into pet food. And significantly, the legal definition of chicken does not require the ingredient to be meat, skin and bones (no meat) are still considered to be ‘chicken’ in pet food.

All of the possibilities of ‘Chicken’ in your pet’s food look like this (the first column are requirements of Human Grade pet foods, while any of the below could be in feed grade pet foods):

The same is true for the ingredient Chicken Meal. Every variable above could be rendered, becoming Chicken Meal and pet owners are provided no clarification to what exactly is in a Chicken Meal ingredient. As was exampled by the Purina vs Blue Buffalo lawsuit several years ago, Chicken Meal has the potential to include just about any part of a chicken with no one the wiser (until they get caught by a competitor).

And unfortunately, there are similar variables for Beef and Pork and Lamb and every other meat ingredient or meat meal ingredient in pet food. Pet owners are provided NO clarity to what type of chicken or beef or pork (and so on) is used in their pet’s food.

If clarity can be provided to Alfalfa ingredients, it certainly should be provided for all meat ingredients in pet food. Pet owners deserve to be informed what they are purchasing.

An initial email was sent today to AAFCO’s Pet Food Ingredient Definitions Committee asking how we can achieve meat ingredient clarity for pet owners. We asked for instructions on what AAFCO needs from us (via Association for Truth in Pet Food – our pet owner stakeholder association) to proceed.

In the meantime, feel free to contact your State Department of Agriculture (members of AAFCO). Tell them you want ingredient definitions to provide clarity – USDA inspected and passed, condemned, non-inspected and clarity to muscle meat or bones or skin that is included in your pet’s food. Click Here to go to the AAFCO website Regulatory page, click on your state, and contact information is provided for your representatives.


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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6 Comments

6 Comments

  1. Margo Mann

    February 13, 2019 at 8:33 pm

    Alfalfa is not an ingredient that should ever be included in cat food. The protein level is vegetable protein, not meat protein. Cats cannot receive any value from vegetable proteins. They must be fed meat proteins. Alfalfa has absolutely no value for cats. It is just cheaper than meat and that’s why they use it. Bad!

  2. Johanna

    February 14, 2019 at 9:30 am

    All this extra clarification, and still no discernable labeling difference between gmo alfalfa and non-gmo alfalfa. 😉 (I’m only partly joking…). Thanks for the excellent reporting, Susan! Awesome graphic too, I will be sharing!

    • Susan Thixton

      February 14, 2019 at 9:48 am

      You are absolutely right. Same clarification is needed for meat ingredients (grass fed, pasture raised, and so on). We do deserve to know.

  3. landsharkinnc

    February 14, 2019 at 3:47 pm

    unfortunately this will only serve to fuel the ‘vegan’ diet for pets …

  4. Jeni Marks

    February 15, 2019 at 12:10 pm

    ALL ingredients should have this level of specificity or more! Alfalfa is not important to cat and dog parents, but it IS very important to many, many little lives. If you have never looked at the ingredients of hamster, chinchilla, rabbit, parrot, rat, etc… food, they are horrifying. Even the few “premium” brands include huge numbers of byproducts and empty/potentially dangerous ingredients. For example, corn cob for fiber/filler or sodium bentonite, a clay commonly used for kitty litter and pool sealant but unapologetically used as a binder in small-animal food. Small animal/exotic pet families don’t have an advocate like Susan to make sure the non-canine/feline furkids’ food companies are held accountable for their products. The vast quantities of byproducts, unhealthy, inappropriate ingredients, and general lack of safety in small-animal foods is given even less consideration than that of cat and dog food. All our pets deserve safe and healthy food! I learned about and support Susan and all her work because I had 2 kitties that I loved until their passing at 17 and 19 years, respectively. I wish, though, that all pets were given this level of advocacy and consideration.

  5. Dr. Oscar Chavez, Veterinarian

    March 22, 2019 at 12:39 pm

    Great post Susan. This isn’t even the worst of it. It’s only the start. Then, that condemned or rejected “poultry” is loaded onto an open container (maybe covered with just a tarp), with no temperature control, and no enforced rules and regulations on handling, transport, and storage. Thus, even though it started off as rejected meat at the slaughter house, it continues to degrade and rot in its chain of custody until it gets to wherever it will be processed into pet food.

    The kibble and canned industry believes this rotten rejected meat is perfectly fine because the high temperature processing of extrusion (kibble) or canning will kill any bacteria or mold. That may be the case, but these organisms leave behind toxic compounds like mycotoxins and endotoxins that are not necessarily degraded in processing.

    OC

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