Two make false statements about human grade pet food, one says nothing.
When a pet owner sees the words “Human Grade” on a pet food label, it means that all ingredients are human grade or edible and the pet food was manufactured per the same safety standards as human food. This is a significant difference because most pet foods (unfortunately) are feed grade. Feed grade pet foods are allowed by all regulatory authorities to include inedible (even condemned) ingredients and allowed to be manufactured under far lesser safety standards than human grade. Human grade pet foods have been official per FDA since 2004, and were legally defined by AAFCO in 2016.
So why are some pet food manufacturers still telling pet owners human grade pet foods don’t exist?
Purina
Purina tells pet owners “there is no legal definition for the term ‘human-grade‘.” This is a false statement, that Purina certainly knows – as many of their representatives attend every AAFCO meeting. Purina was in attendance at the January 2016 AAFCO meeting when human grade pet food was legally defined.
Mars Petcare
Mars Petcare Iams tells pet owners “While appealing to many pet owners, it is important to be aware that the term “human grade” has no legal definition and is used primarily for marketing purposes.” Again, this is a false statement that Mars certainly knows; Mars Petcare representatives are at every AAFCO meeting. Mars Petcare representatives were at the 2016 meeting when the human grade definition was approved.
Hill’s
Hill’s pet food has a category about human grade pet food, but confusingly – under this category not one word provides any explanation about “Human Grade vs. Feed Grade Food” as the headline indicates. Hill’s didn’t provide pet owners false information, they provided pet owners NO information about human grade pet food.
Pet food manufacturers providing pet owners false information isn’t new, but it is disappointing. It is further disappointing that regulatory authorities do nothing about the false information and the misleading images on pet food labels and websites. We will be reporting these two webpages (Purina and Mars) to FDA – and we encourage all pet owners to report false statements and misleading images to FDA. Send your complaints to: AskCVM@fda.hhs.gov.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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Lynn Felici-Gallant
June 5, 2020 at 11:55 am
Just in case there was any doubt Big Pet Food was going after the real-food makers…
DoodleMama
June 5, 2020 at 12:00 pm
I thought AAFCO was responsible for writing widely accepted guidelines, but they aren’t “the law”.
Further, Purina states “According to AAFCO…” on their post. In your April 2020 article about human grade, you state that AAFCO’s own communication is confusion, and that they do in fact state that there is no legal definition. So Purina’s statement included in the screen grab is accurate.
So I guess I’m still confused…
Susan Thixton
June 5, 2020 at 12:03 pm
AAFCO writes model bills which are accepted as law. They don’t enforce law – they write law. Purina didn’t state ‘According to AAFCO’s website’ – Purina stated “According to AAFCO”. I think you are trying to give them the benefit of the doubt – which in this case (since they were in attendance at the AAFCO meeting when the definition was approved) is quite a stretch. Purina knows that human grade is a legal claim.
JW
June 5, 2020 at 7:04 pm
Your article is misleading. Human grade may be a legal claim now, yes, but what you’ve neglected to say in your article is the rigourous process that would need to be completed for a pet food manufacturer to meet human grade standards, as shown here: https://www.agriculture.nh.gov/publications-forms/documents/aafco-human-grade-pet-products-standards.pdf
Currently, there are ZERO pet food manufacturers who are listed on the USDAs list of process verified programs, which allows a food manufacturing facility to certify their products as human grade: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Official%20ListingPVP.pdf.
Meanwhile, a quick look at chewy.com will show you the number of companies falsely claiming their products to be human grade without certification.
So when you say statements by these companies are false, you may be correct in a sense but you are also incorrect in a much larger and more dangerous sense by misleading everyone who reads your article. At this time, any pet food claiming to be human grade is simply brandishing a meaningless marketing term, end of story.
Bottom line – if you want to know what food is best for your pet, have a conversation with your Veterinarian instead of reading unqualified opinions on the internet. They will work with you to help find the food that works best for you and your furry loved one.
Oh and good luck with reporting these companies to the FDA, it won’t go very far. They’ve done nothing wrong or harmful, unlike your misleading posts.
Susan Thixton
June 5, 2020 at 7:35 pm
JW – The USDA does not have jurisdiction over pet food, FDA does. The USDA pet food verification program = I believe – is no longer available. In the article above I provided the link to the AAFCO document with the legal definition of human grade – which proves the legal foundation for these pet foods. And you can verify this by contacting your State Department of Agriculture (those who verify the claims on pet food labels). By the way – the USDA is VERY different from State Department of Agriculture offices. State offices work in cooperation with FDA to regulate pet food, USDA does not regulate pet food. The first link you provided is a document that is pending through AAFCO – they are developing a system where the USDA will take over the responsibility of human grade verification (removing it from state verification). But this process has not been finalized by AAFCO. Feel free to verify that with AAFCO. There most certainly are human grade pet foods.
Lily
June 6, 2020 at 6:30 am
What exactly do you have to say about dog foods associated with DCM (Dilated Cardiomyopathy)? Hills and Purina are among the safest (least implicated).
What are your qualifications?
Susan Thixton
June 6, 2020 at 8:56 am
What does DCM have to do with making false statements on pet food manufacturers websites?
My qualifications: I have attended AAFCO meetings (two a year) since 2011 advocating for pet food consumers.
What kind of qualifications are needed to read laws and websites?
Dianne & Pets
June 6, 2020 at 6:54 pm
Turning this back on you Lily, what qualifications do you have to says that what Susan writes is wrong?
Marj
June 6, 2020 at 11:31 am
Thank you for replying back to JW so promptly and you backed it up with FACTS and the best tone and manners. He raised my blood pressure just reading his allegations.
Tina
June 6, 2020 at 6:25 pm
Susan you’re providing information on this website that you & team have found, most of it publically available. When people like Lily & JW do not like the info you present or interpret or how you present it, that is their perogative. Each of us gets to make up our own minds about the usefulness of what you post. I for one am deeply thankful of the work you & team do. I have learned much about how to better take care of my furbabies from this website & from my own research than I have benefited from listening to big food companies & the many vets that are beholden to them.
Tina
June 6, 2020 at 12:33 am
When I was a new cat guardian, I used to trust my vet completely. On everything. Then I started learning on my own about caring for my cats. The more I learned, the less I trusted the recommendations of my vet, from vaccines, to diet, to medicines, etc. My vet, like hundreds of thousands of other vets, also performs declawing, which in my opinion is a betrayal of the Hippocratic Oath, much like a lot of my vet’s advise about cat diet. My vet is deep in the pockets of pet food companies like the ones listed in this post.
Amy
June 5, 2020 at 12:21 pm
If they don’t acknowledge it, it doesn’t exist
Bethany
June 5, 2020 at 12:52 pm
This egregious attempt to confuse and misinform the public is quite simple. If knowledgeable consumers purchase more human grade foods for their animal companions, they won’t be buying any products from Hills, Purina or Mars.
Wayne
June 5, 2020 at 2:27 pm
Thanks Susan for all that you do in bringing the truth about pet foods . As sad and unfortunate as it is , it needs to relentlessly be said and written over and over again .
I’ve lost a lot of wonderful furry friends over the years and so have millions of other pet owners .
Many of these losses could have been avoided by honesty on behalf of the pet food business . People want to take for granted that the industry knows what’s best , but they dont and neither do the politicians.
And so people need to be aware of it, And make changes to their current and future pets foods be it for Cat or Dog or be it purchased or homemade .. May the “Good Lord” continue to bless your work.
Thanks , Wayne Hamilton
Dianne & Pets
June 5, 2020 at 2:30 pm
Considering that the pesticide, industrial agriculture organizations are trying to convince consumers that organic is a fraud and in fact dangerous to your health, it is not surprising. If you don’t have a good product, lie about your competitors products.
Lori Skillman
June 9, 2020 at 9:41 pm
THANK YOU for always shedding light on these confusing topics. It is so sad that the companies only care about profit and not health and also have the Vets backing them up. So frustrating to have these big companies dominate the market with garbage food for our pets. I only feed whole food/ raw food so I know what my pets are eating but I feel like many people are just trusting and I feel horrible for their pets. Thank you for all you do to inform us!
Robert Saffold
June 19, 2020 at 1:36 pm
Human Grade is incredibly misleading and there are a lot of ridiculous laws that prevent otherwise “Human-grade” products from being listed as food-grade. For example, in Maryland – you can only label a pet food as Human Grade if you also product products for Humans. And its not that you have to produce food for humans on certain days, or certain once a month – at any given time, when inspectors come into the plant – you have to be producing for humans or you can’t label your pet food “human-grade.” The entire thing is a bit misleading and needs national guidelines for these situations. You also seem to attack the big companies quite a bit – like you have a vendetta against them…
Susan Thixton
June 19, 2020 at 4:57 pm
Actually, the AAFCO legal definition of human grade was overseen by FDA and the protocol that must be met was originally developed by FDA. The claim could be misleading IF a company was not be truthful with pet owners. The legal requirements for human grade pet foods are quite clear.