The FDA has been silent on their investigation into a potential link between pet food and canine heart disease for almost 8 months. Why?
The FDA issued their first notice the Agency was investigating a possible link between canine heart disease and pet food in July 2018. The next FDA notice about DCM came about 7 months later in February 2019. And then in late June 2019, FDA issued a third update on their investigation of DCM’s possible link to pet food.
But for the last (almost) 8 months, FDA has remained silent on their investigation. FDA told industry at a recent event “As for public updates, there are none planned at this time.” FDA stated they were “waiting until it had new information to report” for another public update.
A veterinarian who spoke at this same industry event – Dr. Joe Bartges, DVM, Ph.D., professor of medicine and nutrition in the Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery at the University of Georgia – was critical of the FDA pet food/DCM investigation. The PetFoodIndustry.com post on the event stated:
- He said he “loathes” the term BEG (boutique, exotic proteins, grain free) diets, coined by one of the veterinary groups. (A few people in the audience applauded that statement.)
- “When you only look for what you want to see, you will only see what you wanted to look for,” he commented, referring to the data and analysis issued by FDA and some veterinary groups to date.
- His own analysis of data released by FDA showed a huge jump in cases in 2018 – because FDA told veterinarians and owners to report cases, he said. Plus, the majority of cases were in dog breeds with either a familial association or genetic predisposition to DCM.
- He also shot holes in FDA’s June 2019 announcement naming pet foods that had been implicated in the cases, saying some on the list were specific products, while others were entire brands or even companies, making it difficult to assess if there truly were issues with certain products.
- “Vets are bad at taking down data,” he said, explaining that most of the cases did not have a complete diet history for the dog, and other things consumed could be playing a role.
Is the FDA waiting for new information – not giving pet owners an update into the potential link of pet food to DCM investigation – to protect their own reputation?
For close to a decade, the FDA investigated jerky treats imported from China. In a 2016 update on the Agency’s investigation into the many pet deaths and illnesses linked to Chinese jerky treats the FDA stated: “We understand the love and devotion pets provide, and we are determined to find the answer to this mystery.” But they never found the answer; after years of FDA investigation, pet owners have never been provided the reason Chinese jerky treats killed and sickened thousands of dogs. And then – with no public notice – at the August 2019 AAFCO meeting, FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine Director Dr. Steven Solomon causally mentioned the Agency’s investigation into jerky treats was considered “resolved” even though they are still receiving reports of sick or dying pets linked to the treats. The Agency’s investigation failed, and they ended it without admitting to pet owners their investigation failed.
Is the FDA not providing a pet food/DCM investigation update because they don’t want to admit this investigation might fail too? But even if it is going down that path, don’t pet owners still deserve the update?
Opinion: I believe most pet owners understand that every puzzle cannot be solved. We may not like it, but if FDA would be transparent with pet owners – talk to us – we would be more likely to understand. Even if you don’t have an answer to all of our questions – at least be honest about that. Tell us what you do know and tell us even if it means your reputation might take a hit.
The FDA needs to do MUCH better about communicating with and listening to pet owners. We began asking the FDA to meet with pet owners back in October of 2018. The Agency has never fully agreed to meet with us and has never provided a date to plan for such an event. FDA regularly meets with industry, but NEVER meets with pet owners. This needs to change.
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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Mary Huber
February 13, 2020 at 12:25 pm
Thank you, Susan, for all you are doing for our animals and, of course, for us! <3
Jessica Claus
February 13, 2020 at 12:44 pm
We need to look into antinutrient compounds in sweet potatoes and possibly legumes as well. There is a affliction called pigbel in native people in Papua New Guinea that is caused by their consumption of sweet potatoes. Compounds in the sweet potatoes interfere with protein digesting enzymes. The connection may be as simple as that.
Cannoliamo
February 13, 2020 at 12:53 pm
Susan,
FDA put all their eggs (so to speak) in Lisa Freeman’s basket and I suspect the scientific credibility his they had to suffer was painful. As you recall from one of your earlier articles,
https://truthaboutpetfood.com/does-vet-damage-the-reputation-of-university/
Dr. Freeman’s boutique “BEG” diet hypothesis has landed with a “thud” among many veterinary professionals.
It’s going to take a while for FDA to come up with some new DCM / genetic / dietary correlation that doesn’t offend the PFI companies, conflict with the available data or continue to erode the Tuft / Cummings veterinary research reputation.
David Boothman
February 13, 2020 at 12:55 pm
Its simple, as investigators they are not competent. The Veterinarian clearly pointed it out regarding BEG, a silly acronym, totally inappropriate in a scientific forum. When he spoke about only finding what you are looking for, this TED lecture on Motivated Reasoning will make this explicit for the averag person.
https://www.ted.com/talks/julia_galef_why_you_think_you_re_right_even_if_you_re_wrong
Thomas James Damico
February 15, 2020 at 8:58 am
I can’t find anything about Hills Science Diet Dog Food and the Vitamin D overdose that killed my Tanner and thousands of other dogs. Are they protecting the manufacturers, distributors and the veterinarians?
Tina
February 19, 2020 at 3:04 am
I called Hill’s to ask who supplied the contaminated premix. Answer was their suppier is confidential. I later read a piece of news that reported that DSM is the manufacturer, & I contacted DSM directly with questions.
Concerned
February 19, 2020 at 8:12 am
The only way these companies will learn is through the court system.
https://www.locklaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/2019-02-26-Hall-v-Hills-Pet-Nutrition-Complaint-CA.pdf
Mary Johnson
February 13, 2020 at 1:12 pm
https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/fda-basics/fact-sheet-fda-glance
If I’m reading the FDA’s documentation correctly, taxpayers pay the majority of their budget. Since their job is primarily to protect us, it makes ZERO sense they will not give the same access to us as industries. Where’s the media? Are there any investigative journalists interested in investigating this?
Debi cohen
February 13, 2020 at 1:50 pm
I wish that President Trump had a dog in the White House and in his personal life, I bet it would change things
Alli
February 13, 2020 at 1:58 pm
well, this is NO puzzle, if you look at the ingredients, (dry food) pet food industry has decided to use MORE plant based proteins like beans and legumes, chic peas…to compensate for the lack of grains thinking this will be better for our carnivores (cats) omnivores (dogs) gosh forbid they were to actually put in more meat as a protein source, with little other junk. Any person who is a cook or who likes to cook or is a chemist or just an AWARE individual can pinpoint this. But as usual they want to use rocket scientists, who tend to not see the forest for the trees. OR are
they too trying to cover up for the FDA??? HMMMM….oh yeah and lets not forget that the FDA thinks they can pull the wool over most peoples eyes.
Nattie Hollister
February 18, 2020 at 1:34 pm
Yes. It was labeling games. “Fresh whole foods!” (actual animal protein) appearing at the top of the ingredient list, bc it was fresh — ie full of water — ie had more weight literally in the formula — with all the plant material these jackasses loaded their food up with further down the list, bc it *wasn’t* fresh — ie it had no water – ie it was dry. While actually contributing more “weight” to the diet in terms of the proportion of protein.
Result: pets ate food every day that did not have sufficient amino acids.
And they died bc of it, in a terrible, painful way.
Their hearts became distorted from this, they couldn’t breathe.
Bc the US regulatory industry is corrupt and incompetent, and their sole aim is protecting US industry, including from lawsuits.
US marketers are a bunch of sleazebags who will do literally anything for a dollar.
US pet food makers are greedy.
US vets are ignorant and useless.
Handing over their petfood formulas to US marketers, US food companies can step back, and let these used car salesmen squads bullshit away — just do whatever, to sell it. This meant pasting wolf faces all over petfood packaging even though the product was full of fillers like peas and legumes, and before that, grains.
The difference was these recent marketers ultra ugly campaigns convinced people to run away from grains to something even worse. They did this mainly through social media , pushing “wholesome foods!”, “fresh/natural!”
And the result was pets died from US pet food formulas that made pets malnourished and sick and many died.
While US vets, including US “research” vet community, sat around twiddling their thumbs (even though research decades back showed what happens from stuffing pet food full of peas and legumes, and the need for animal-based amino acids).
They said and did nothing., while this food kept spinning off shelves.
While charging up a storm for the typical array of misdiagnosed “ailments” — looking at everything but the food. Stupid and incompetent, and, as always, ultra smug while doing that.
Ignorant and arrogant, nice combination for US “health care”.
US agencies just sat there, too.
Doing nothing, other than “liability protection” for their main concern – US markets.
The “US regulatory” system was designed for sales, stability of markets wall street — not “health” or “safety”.
Half the people staffing these agencies are either from industry or will be working for it later.; that’s the cycle, by design. “Makin change!”, as they see it.
Makin’ dollars, is more like it and all that they ever do and have ever done, bc that is how this system is designed.
The whole thing is disgusting.
All of this could have been avoided by actual food and nutrition safety measures requiring truth in US labeling.
But doing this once these products were out there would as people say above, have opened up US companies to multiple lawsuits (and exposed the agencies for what they are).
And this is something US “regulatory agencies” will never do, because they are part of US industry, and always have been, and always will be, like every other form of “US leadership” or “Makin’ Change” corps is.
#US has peaked.
Drowning in self-parody of sleazy sales and marketing / fear of litigation.
US veterinary medicine is a joke just like US human medicine is.
It’s all about the dollars and when something goes wrong the go-to strategy is: Darwin.
Leadership will not step in and correct anything if it means fewer dollars or more lawsuits.
It’s disgusting.
Amy
February 13, 2020 at 2:12 pm
Because it would require admitting they were 1. wrong and 2. caused wide-spread panic and 3. lined the pockets of big pet food.
Paige Blackbird
February 13, 2020 at 8:31 pm
Bingo
Bill Alstrom
February 14, 2020 at 10:00 am
You got it! The FDA announcement was code for “just buy the big brands”. It was a hit job on a lot of fine companies. While it may be true that deriving too much protein from things like “pea isolate” is not good. I have read no science that can support it. We did switch to a “grain inclusive” version of the same brand that we respect. It includes barley and oats. But the first several ingredients are meat, poultry, fish or egg. Duh.
Our Vet (who we love and respect) suggests Hills – which is primarily wheat and corn. That just seems crazy to me. Dogs are carnivores who can enjoy some vegetable matter and benefit from the fiber, etc. But their very short digestive tracts are not designed for processing cereal. Keep in mind that MDs for humans have been notorious for their lack of nutritional training. Which gave birth to the “holistic” dietary movement. I find myself in the middle of that spectrum.
I don’t have all the answers. I am open to learn. The FDA should be telling us what they really know from extensive testing – not anecdotes. Or they should retract their baseless statement.
Nattie Hollister
February 13, 2020 at 3:27 pm
Disgraceful. The US has turned into one big self-parody. A sales & marketing-, litigation-protection-obsessed, self-parody. With plenty of bad theatre and all that entails, including grandstanding by various “teams” — good cops and bad cops, f-i-n-e-s-s-i-n-g the narrative, leading the lowly consumer down various stupid m-i-s-d-i-r-e-c-t paths. These crappy US “leadership” groups have collectively killed a lot of pets for all of the reasons above plus the regular old greed and incompetence of our smug and self-satisfied suburban “makin’ change” corps.
All that is left to depend on re: this situation, to answer for our pets who have passed, is karma.
Can’t wait until it finds every jackass involved in this debacle, including the US vet industry, the US petfood industry, the so-called US regulatory industry (which it is), and the ubiquitous US Used Car-style sales & marketing squads who put all of the crappy strategy into practice, for whom there is no approach / tactic too sleazy or disgusting.
Concerned
February 14, 2020 at 12:07 am
…In a 24-wk study that evaluated graded concentrations of soybean meal up to 17% (as-fed basis) in dog foods, soybean meal inclusion did not affect the nutrient status of dogs as indicated by serum biochemistry analysis (Menniti et al., 2014). However, Yamka et al. (2003) demonstrated that using soybean meal at more than 15% inclusion on a dry matter basis decreased crude protein digestibility. Based on the authors assessment of current formulas in the market, there is a high likelihood that legume seed use in some foods may be greater than 40%. This inclusion exceeds concentration of legumes previously investigated in dogs. When used to complement the nutritional profile of other ingredients, pulses can be used as nutrient-rich vehicles to meet the nutritional requirements of dogs and other companion animals. Given that companion animals most often consume static diets for long periods of time, overuse of any ingredient could facilitate higher risk of certain nutrient deficiencies if nutrient balance is not considered in the formulation. Thus, the formulation of static diets that use significant concentrations of a single ingredient, relative to other ingredients in the formulation, requires an in-depth knowledge of nutrient interactions, animal physiology, and effects of processing, beyond that of simply meeting minimum nutrient profiles stipulated in the Official Publication of The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO, 2018)…
https://academic.oup.com/jas/article/97/3/983/5279069
Peggy
February 15, 2020 at 11:49 am
The FDA can barely stay on top of human drug and food issues. How can their priority be animal feed? While I believe there is often a problem with dog foods, perhaps we do not look at the lifestyle of our pets. They too need exercise and fresh air. We humans are more obese now than ever, so wouldn’t it make sense so are the pets?
We also feed so much crap from China, because it is cheap. We truly have NO clue what they put in their treats and feed.
As a pet owner, I feed my dogs the best American dig food I can afford, exercise them on a daily basis and make their treats so I know what they are ingesting.