Will Euthanized Livestock End Up in Pet Food?

Staffing shortages or shutdown of slaughter facilities related to COVID 19 is causing some livestock producers to euthanize animals. The concern is where those euthanized animals will end up – and what health consequences pets could suffer consuming pet food that contains a euthanized animal.

The Baltimore Sun states “Nearly 2 million chickens at farms in Maryland and Delaware will be destroyed instead of processed for meat, a result of coronavirus-related staffing shortages at processing plants.” USA Today reports “Iowa pork producers lost access to four major pork processing plants at least temporarily as workers became ill with COVID-19: Tyson plants in Columbus Junction and Perry, a Smithfield plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and a JBS plant in Worthington, Minnesota, both just across the Iowa border. Mike Naig, Iowa’s agriculture secretary, said producers are asking questions about how to dispose of pigs if they’re forced to euthanize them. They’re considering rendering, composting and burial.”

Most livestock farms work on a strict schedule. Animals live a scheduled time frame before slaughter. After slaughter, confinement barns are filled again with young animals that also live only as long as the scheduled time frame. When the slaughter of these animals stops – as in the current case of slaughter facilities shut down related to coronavirus problems – production of baby animals does not stop, creating a backlog problem for factory farms. Young animals need to be moved to confinement barns – but there is no space in the confinement barns due to slaughter facilities shutting down. This backlog has caused some livestock producers to euthanize animals in order to keep the factory farming system operating.

Opinion of factory farming aside, pet owners should be very concerned how the millions of livestock will be euthanized and where those animals will end up. Rendering is often considered as a disposal method for the worst livestock waste. As example, in 2018 when Hurricane Florence flooded North and South Carolina, millions of drowned livestock animals were rendered – ultimately ending up in pet food.

Even though it is a violation of federal law, the FDA openly allows “animals that have died other than by slaughter” to be processed into pet food with no warning or disclosure on the pet food label for the consumer. Will the FDA make the same exception to federal law (selective enforcement) and allow these euthanized livestock animals to become pet food ingredients?

Opinion: Probably so. And we’ll never be told which pet foods contain ingredients sourced from these euthanized livestock animals.

The following questions were sent to FDA (4/27/20):

There are numerous agriculture news outlets reporting that due to COVID 19 issues livestock producers have or will soon be forced to euthanize livestock.
Has FDA approved these euthanized livestock to be processed into pet food?
What types of euthanasia methods has FDA approved for the animal to be processed into pet food?
Does FDA have scientific evidence that the various methods of euthanasia will not ultimately be a health concern for the dog or cat consuming a pet food that contains euthanized animals?
If so, can you provide that evidence?

It is beyond absurd that pet owners should have to worry that euthanized livestock might be processed into pet food. It is beyond absurd that pet food continues to be the dumping ground for all waste. When did FDA classify our pets as living landfills?

Please tell the FDA that pet owners deserve to know the quality of ingredients in their pet’s food. If the FDA is going to allow pet food to violate law, then at the very least pet owners deserve full disclosure on the pet food label if the product contains illegal ingredients. Pet owners deserve to know if a meat or meat meal is sourced from euthanized factory farmed animals, animals that died other than by slaughter, or USDA inspected and passed. We deserve to know what our pets are eating.

Pet owners can email FDA at: AskCVM@fda.hhs.gov

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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