Pet Food stands alone from all other consumed products, but not in a good way.
#5 Pet Food/animal feed is the ONLY consumable product where laws regulating that product are written by a private corporation.
The laws that regulate every consumable product – meat, vegetables, water, frozen dinners, snacks, supplements…everything that is sold in your grocery store – are created by government. The process of law writing starts with a ‘bill’ introduced into Congress, the bill is researched, discussed, debated, edited, and finally voted into law. The entire law writing process is public.
That is…the laws that regulate every consumable product are created this way…except pet food laws.
Pet food/animal feed laws are created behind closed doors ($500.00 admission per meeting) by a private organization – the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) – in two pay-to-attend meetings each year. Per AAFCO’s 2016 Form 990 tax return, the organization earned $384,635.00 for hosting private law writing meetings.
While lawmakers in Congress are influenced by outside lobbyists representing industry and consumers, lobbyists are not allowed to directly participate in the law making process. To the contrary, lawmakers in AAFCO allow multiple industry representatives and a few consumer representatives to be “advisors” to committees. Selected individuals are provided the opportunity to directly participate on AAFCO committees (in some cases outside advisors directly oversee committee work). On all AAFCO committees, industry representatives greatly outnumber consumer representatives. With AAFCO’s Pet Food Committee, there are 14 industry advisors compared to only 3 consumer advisors. At AAFCO’s sole discretion, the private organization decides who is allowed to participate on committees and who is not.
This one-of-a-kind law writing system is allowed due to a special agreement between FDA and AAFCO. The agreement is known as a Memoradum of Understanding. Through the FDA and AAFCO agreement, AAFCO is provided with the legal responsibility of establishing Nutrient Profiles for all cat and dog foods, the legal requirements for feeding trials, establishing labeling laws, and all of the legal definitions of pet food ingredients. Which leads to the next unique issue that happens ONLY in pet food…
#4 Pet Food/animal feed is the ONLY consumable product where laws are privately owned.
The laws and legal definitions of every consumable product in the U.S. are public information – free for any consumer to read. Any consumer with access to the Internet can read food laws and food ingredient legal definitions in full detail.
With the sole exception of pet food laws.
The same Memorandum of Understanding agreement between FDA and AAFCO that gives law writing privileges to a private organization also allows that organization (AAFCO) to own and sell pet food regulations and legal definitions of ingredients.
AAFCO charges $120.00 per year for pet owners, industry representatives, and even government representatives to read the nutritional requirements of pet food, labeling requirements of pet food and the legal definitions of pet food ingredients. Per AAFCO’s 2016 Form 990 tax return, the organization made $413,978.00 in sales of pet food law. (To view more AAFCO tax information, Click Here. Under “Notable Sources of Revenue” the income stated for “Program Services” is from meetings and sales of laws.)
Without pet owners having public access to pet food regulations and definitions of ingredients, they are denied the opportunity to understand what they are feeding their pet.
#3 Pet Food is the ONLY consumable product where labels are openly allowed to deceive the purchaser.
Human foods are subject to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act which forbids consumer deception on labels. But once again, not with pet food.
This TV dinner is required by federal law to contain fried chicken because fried chicken is pictured on the label.
But, because no pet food regulatory authority enforces labeling laws – pet foods can display grilled chicken (or steak or prime cuts of meat) on the label when it contains NO grilled chicken (or steak or prime cuts of meat).
This is a significant ‘misrepresentation’ of pet food, misleading millions of pet owners daily.
#2 (Most) Pet Food is the ONLY consumable product that is not actually food.
In no uncertain terms, Federal law considers dog and cat food to be ‘food’.
But…each U.S. state ignores federal law and defines pet foods as “feed” (instead of ‘food’). Providing just a few examples…
All across the U.S., each pet product label declares it to be FOOD – Dog Food and Cat Food – when each of those products are not food – not held to food laws (only a tiny portion are actually food*). While all other products regulated as a “commercial feed” (also using the very same ingredients as used in pet products) transparently term the product as feed – Chicken Feed, Cattle Feed, pet products mislead pet owners being labeled as ‘food’.
*The exception is pet products that are also labeled as “Human Grade”. Human Grade pet products ARE food, meeting every legal requirement of food.
By each state classifying pet ‘foods’ as ‘feed’ – this results in all pet products being regulated as feed, allowing food laws to be ignored. Feed laws are significantly less in quality standards, safety standards and manufacturing standards than food laws.
Which leads to the biggest ONLY in pet food…
#1 Pet Food is the ONLY consumable product openly allowed to violate federal and state law.
Federal law defines an adulterated (illegal) food as (in part):
Many states (Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, and North Dakota) have Commercial Feed laws that also declare a commercial feed (including pet foods) to be adulterated if it contains ‘in whole or in part a diseased animal or an animal which has died otherwise than by slaughter’.
But…FDA openly ignores the above federal law and each U.S. state openly ignores their own laws and/or federal laws directly because FDA specifically states diseased animals and non-slaughtered animals are “fit for animal (your pet’s) consumption“.
The above policy is word for word OPPOSITE of federal law (quoted above). The FDA defiantly ignores the very laws they are charged with enforcing in pet food. All U.S. states follow this FDA illegal policy.
All of the above – #1 through #5 – ONLY happens in pet food. No other consumable product allows a private organization to write and own the laws regulating it, no other consumable product is openly allowed to mislead consumers, and no other consumable product labeled as food is actually something very different (feed) and is allowed to violate federal laws.
Angry? Write your state’s Attorney General and demand an investigation into how pet products are regulated in your state. Pet products that are feed should be labeled as feed; Cat Feed, Dog Feed. Pet products that meet the requirements of food law should be the ONLY allowed to be termed Cat Food and Dog Food. Federal law deems a food adulterated that contains a diseased animal or non-slaughtered animal – all pet food should abide by those laws. Pet ‘food’ labels should not mislead pet owners, and all regulations and ingredient definitions should be public information.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
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?
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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.
Cooking pet food made easy, Dinner PAWsible
Find Healthy Pet Foods in Your Area Click Here
Cannoliamo
April 29, 2019 at 11:01 am
Thank you, Susan.
There is a Pet Food Industry conference / convention / trade show happening right now in Kansas City and the general public is not invited nor (according to Steve Akins who I just spoke with) welcome to attend to listen to the presentations or visit the vendor exhibits. There will be NO information provided to the public with regard to the presentation topics ….
https://www.petfoodforumevents.com/agenda-speakers/
https://www.petfoodforumevents.com/about/#contact
after the convention.
Is there anything you or your AAFCO / FDA / Veterinary Professional / Industry contacts can do to make videos or transcripts or summaries or brochures available online or in hard-copy after the conference? I wouldn’t object to a small fee for access to the presentations, but not the $2-3 thousand registration fees paid by the manufacturers attending the trade show.
Thank you.
Susan Thixton
April 29, 2019 at 11:05 am
I’ve asked to attend that trade show. I was told I was a “conflict of interest” to their vendors. ‘They’ like to do things behind closed doors.
Mary
April 29, 2019 at 11:42 am
Very informative and thank you for this information. I would just like to offer one correction. As a lobbyist myself, I wanted to correct your statement that lobbyists don’t participate in the formation/ drafting of legislation. On the contrary they are intimately involved although they don’t vote on the final product and perhaps thats what you meant. Congress was criticized for providing copies of tax legislation to lobbyists – and even legislation to address climate change is discussed with those impacted. However what AFFCO does is allow these lobbyists to draft and pass “legislation” or rules.
Susan Thixton
April 29, 2019 at 11:57 am
Thanks Mary for your information. AAFCO advisors are not allowed to vote, but they are allowed to draft potential rules.
chuck linker
April 29, 2019 at 11:48 am
PLEASE REMIND YOUR CLIENTS THAT
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS THE “BEST” COMMERCIAL DOG FOOD.
Cannoliamo
April 29, 2019 at 5:37 pm
Anyone wanting to revisit some of the historical evolution of cat food regulations might enjoy reading this article.
https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/10018997/Patrick06.html?sequence=2
guest
April 29, 2019 at 6:02 pm
Hi Susan thanks for another informative article about why to avoid commercial pet food, kibble or canned.
In the book……………….. The Encyclopedia of Medical Breakthroughs & Forbidden Treatments ………………
doctors discuss
the dangers of diseases similar to Scrapi disease, or Mad Cow Disease (Spongiform bacteria or virus sponge like disease that eats holes in the brain and spinal cord – there is no cure – it is fatal) when eating cows, sheep, etc as the diseased cows, sheep, chickens, turkeys, etc are ground up into livestock feed and fed as a cheap source of food, but feeding diseased animals spreads disease to the meat supply chain that can be spread to humans that eat meat. A dangerous practice in the USA that puts Americans that eat meat at very high risks of contacting Spongiform, Mad Cow Disease which is fatal. Even when cows, sheep, etc with Mad Cow Disease are buried under ground for 3 years and then the remains are dug up, they still have the Spongiform Mad Cow Disease infection that can easily be spread. Spongiform cannot be killed with bleach and even meat infected with Spongiform cooked to 360 degrees will not kill the Spongiform. The deadly Spongiform can be easily transferred to other species by orally, eating the diseased meat, or via the animal fluids used in vaccines for both humans, animals and pets.
Other countries now test each cow or sheep or pig for Mad Cow Disease or Spongiform infection, before allowing it in the food supply. Any diseased animal is destroyed and is not used for livestock feed or pet food, but in America, only less than 20% of cows are ever tested for Mad Cow Spongiform. The beef industry and the gov refuse to test and instead it is kept as a secret from Americans and the diseased animals are allowed as livestock or pet feed in the USA. It is a recipe for disaster.
Similarly, pets are fed diseased ground up pets in the commercial pet food industry, putting pets at great risk of contacting pet diseases from the pet food…This is easily allowed because the pet food industry are allowed to make their laws and put whatever ingredients they want to write, regardless of what is in the pet food bag or can.
The Encyclopedia of Medical Breakthroughs & Forbidden Treatments article below…
……………………………………
“Also, don’t let Bowser or Buttercup read this – its standard practice for rendering plants to recycle unwanted house pets back into pet food, regardless if the pet has a disease or not.
According to a 1997 New York Times article, each month the city of Los Angeles alone ships some 200 tons of euthanized killed dogs and killed cats to rendering plants to be recycled back into pet food.
Additional reading on recycled house pets in commercial pet food is found in pet food researcher Ann Martin’s books…. Pet Food, Pet Die For, and Shocking Facts About Pet Food, Contact NewSagePress.com or buy the books at amazon or buy online.”
……………………………………..
Pet owners need to learn the unpleasant truth.
If pet food bags and cans were honest and showed dead dogs and dead cats pictured all over the bags, the actual truth, how many would continue to buy commercial pet food kibble or canned?
The pet food industry is NOT required to put dogs and cats on the ingredients list as that could greatly damage pet food sales, so there is No way of knowing how much meat protein is from killed recycled pets from animal shelters or correctly called Pet Killing Centers.
BTW The Encyclopedia of Medical Breakthroughs & Forbidden Treatments is a must read.
I have learned so much, like what to do immediately if you or some one has a heart attack or a stroke, basically how to save them, and what to do to save the heart from damage, how to stop damage from a stroke immediately, all this info is not shared with the masses, only for the Classes or the powerful elite. Learning how to treat all kinds of health issues, methods that are not known to the masses. There are so many real treatments available for most diseases and health issues, but are hidden from the masses and only used by the classes.
I now am prepared to help someone with a heart attack, a stroke and numerous other health issues. I am learning so much about health treatments only available to the Classes or Powerful Elite but unknown to the commoners or the masses.
The classes live very long healthy lives, but all around us the commoners have chronic illness, obesity, allergies, strokes, heart attacks, diabetes, etc. Humans of the masses are living shorter lives due to all the toxic vaccines, processed food, chemicals, toxic prescription medications, toxic over the counter chemical meds, etc. The classes learn about true health, but it is Not taught to the masses.
The same is true for pet health. The wealthy classes have healthy pets, while the masses pets are sickly at young ages with costly veterinary bills because the masses must learn true health and pass that on their pets. With true health, the savings are great, as literally no vet bills.
I learned this first hand, I followed allopathic vets advice and my first dog had chronic illness as a puppy, severe side effects from all the toxic puppy vaccines, severe seizures after the puppy vaccines, chronic black ear gunk that had to be cleaned out daily, smelly dog yeasty smell, hot spots, severe diarrhea after eating commercial pet food, severe gas after eating commercial pet food, allergies, etc. Then after the rabies vaccine, became very aggressive. Then died from the microchip with a microchip cancer that grew around the microchip.
Next dog, no toxic vaccines, used natural nosodes for safe alternative to vaccines, No microchip, fed frozen thawed green beans or asian frozen VEGGIES, organic pastured EGGS for raw protein, plain KEFIR a probiotic like yogurt in the grocery fridge, teaspoon of COD LIVER OIL, KELP iodine tablets, SELENIUM tablet, teaspoon of CHIA seeds sprinkled on the food for Fiber and Firm Poop. We mix up the veggies and use different raw meats, or raw organ meat. Healthy, no health issues whatsoever. No allergies, nothing. It is amazing the difference that health makes, and health means literally no vet bills except for an emergency.
Only bought a full panel blood test once a year, just to see if the holistic vet needed to add any herbs or supplements as needed and to test for any tick diseases, as there are numerous herbs and supplements that can help heal and eliminate tick diseases.
Used BLACK WALNUT capsule once a day for 5 days a week to prevent heartworm for life, 5 days on and 2 days off.
For Dogs that test positive for heartworm or have a severe case of heartworm, the holistic vet prescribes 2 Black Walnut capsules, 1 in AM 1 in PM for 5 days a week for about 2 months, that usually kills off the heartworm, then the pet goes on a maintenance of 1 Black walnut a day in the food for 5 days on and 2 days off for the rest of the dogs life to prevent and kill any heartworm. Or buy OnlyNaturalPet HW Protect black walnut liquid eyedropper that can be put in a large gel capsule and hidden in raw ground turkey meat and fed daily for 5 days a week and 2 days off.
Put Garlic Allicin tablet and Neem tablet and Wormwood capsule for internal pest repellent in the food or fed in raw ground turkey meat. And if walking in the woods or fields, bring a bottle of a natural essential oil pet pest repellent with clove oil, cinnamon oil, geranium oil, cedar oil, etc, and would spray that on right before walking in natural areas on my dog and on myself. If fleas were a big issue, we kept a few comfortis tablets in the cabinet, made with natural spinosad bacteria from the Caribbean, as a go to, if fleas were ever to be a problem, we were prepared as comfortis kills fleas fast and stops a flea infestation fast. We sprayed the pet beds with the same essential oil pet repellent too.
When you learn better, you do better!
txtuftif
April 30, 2019 at 2:30 pm
Great post “Guest”…..I do the same raw feeding as you but you even taught me some things I didn’t know. 10 stars for you and your healthy pet!
Claudia Loomis
April 30, 2019 at 6:02 pm
Thank you Susan. I would love to get to place where we could differentiate dog and cat “food” from dog and cat “feed”. I think it would be a game changer for pet owners. If grocery store owners knew what was actually in the pet food they have on their store shelves, sitting an aisle away from FDA regulated food for human consumption, I wonder if they would risk letting it into their stores.
Sam
June 28, 2019 at 7:17 pm
You are doing amazing work. Diving into all of this information today after hearing about certain dog food (make that “feed”) being linked to cardiovascular problems. I am infuriated by this incredible deception on the part of the FDA, AAFCO, and pet food brands, but I can’t say I’m entirely surprised. I’m now looking into switching my dog over to a REAL food diet, and finding out how I can combat these inhumane institutions. Thank you for advocating and fighting for what’s right – you have my support.