What’s changed in pet food since the deadliest recall in history?

Little to nothing. Thirteen years later, after tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of pets died in 2007 – today pet owners face the very same challenges.

On March 16, 2007 the deadliest pet food recall in history began. Because this pet food crisis was so deadly – Congress held a special hearing specifically about the existing regulation of pet food in April 2007. Below are two excerpts from that hearing, one from Senator Richard Durbin and one from veterinarian Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins.

Senator Durbin:

“Okay. We’ve been told by the FDA that there is no premarket approval of this product sold to consumers. We know that there’s no regular inspection of the facilities that make these products. What we are told is that 30 percent of these facilities will be inspected once or twice over a 3 1⁄2 year period. We also know that there is no penalty for failure of a company, like Menu, to report if they know that their food is contaminated. At least we’re going to check into that, but it appears they waited 3 weeks, and I haven’t heard of a penalty being assessed. We know that there is no Government authority to recall a contaminated product. We know that there was no mandatory State inspection standards established by the Food and Drug Administration across the United States. We know that the claims being made on the label here about this dog food are beyond the claims that can made about human food. And we are told, at least Dr. Hodgkins has told us, that it’s questionable as to whether or not a company that makes a contaminated pet food has to report to anyone about adverse events in a timely fashion, whether a dog has died or dogs are dying. When I go through that long list of things, it’s hard to conclude this is a ‘‘highly regulated product.’’ What is it about this product that I have missed?”

Almost every word from Senator Durbin’s statement showing his disgust with industry claiming pet food is ‘highly regulated’ – still applies today.

Dr. Hodgkins:

“Pet foods carry both an implicit and an explicit guarantee of safety in the label statement that they carry, conferred by the American Association of Feed Control Officials, AAFCO. It is important to note that the sweeping safety and adequacy guarantees that are ubiquitous on pet food labels today cannot be found on any human food. No human food, whether it is fresh produce, meats, or commercially processed and packaged human consumables, is allowed to bear such broad guarantees of wholesomeness and nutritional completeness.

To begin meaningful reform, I propose that the FDA adhere to the letter of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that pet food labeling may not be false and misleading, by adopting a presumption that all safety and nutritional adequacy claims for pet food are disallowed. Petfoods could be marketed without claims, as is the case with almost all human foods, with consumers and veterinarians aware that the product carries no label claims for safety or nutritional adequacy.

Thereafter, the pet food industry and FDA/AAFCO might well work out a system of honestly informative label statements that notify pet owners and veterinarians of the actual safety and adequacy testing to which each labeled food is subject. No implicit or explicit safety claims could be made without rigorous ingredient testing by the manufacturer and/or the ingredient supplier. No long-term nutritional adequacy claims could be made without long- term, well-controlled clinical studies proving that adequacy to genuine scientific standards.

Conscientious manufacturers would undoubtedly rise to the occasion and properly test their ingredients and their finished foods themselves in order to gain the competitive advantage that honest, carefully allowed label claims would provide. The consumer would have a more informed choice of pet food quality, as indicated by truthful labels. Veterinarians would have far more meaningful guidance about what foods to recommend to their clients.

There is no doubt that the present system of pet food regulation needs meaningful reform. This can be achieved as a first step by a ‘‘truth in pet food labeling’’ initiative that would stimulate America’s best pet food-makers to provide and prove the quality and safety of their foods. This is no less than what pet owners desire and deserve, and what will be required to regain faltering public confidence in the industry.”

Thirteen years later, the FDA continues to ignore Dr. Hodkins wise words. FDA does NOT adhere to the letter of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act with pet food (the Agency openly allows pet food to violate the Act) and FDA and AAFCO have NOT worked out a system of honest informative pet food labels.

Congress did listen to what Dr. Hodkins shared with them. Laws were written after this hearing – Section 1002 of the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act, Ensuring the Safety of Pet Food – requiring FDA to update pet food labels, improve ingredient definitions (including adding ingredient standards of quality) and improve pet food processing standards. But…FDA ignored these pet food legal requirements year after year after year. And in 2018 Senator Rand Paul (Kentucky) submitted an addendum to an unrelated bill completely deleting from record these pet food safety laws that tens of thousands of pets died for.

Sadly pet owners today face almost identical challenges as they did in 2007. In 2020 (as in 2007) pet food labels directly lie to consumers, ingredients violate federal and state laws, manufacturers continue to ignore safety testing of ingredients and finished products.

Dr. Hodkins was right in 2007 and her words are still accurate today; “There is no doubt that the present system of pet food regulation needs meaningful reform.” The question is, what is it going to take for pet owners to have that meaningful reform? Hundreds of thousands of pets have died for that reform…again, what’s it going to take?

To read the full transcript of the 2007 pet food Congressional Hearing, click here.

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food

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