DECEITFUL GAMES PLAYED BY THE PET FOOD INDUSTRY

What's in YOUR pet's food??

This week I will be spending two days listening to representatives from the pet food industry, AAFCO, FDA, rendering companies, feed ingredient companies, and waste food industries as they work on new definitions and rules for the animal feed industry. The first time I attended six months ago, I was appalled by the rudeness and egos of the officials and their blatant disregard for the consumer's input on pet food ingredients and labeling requests. 

I have been looking at a list of some of the ingredient definitions that will be discussed this week. Do you know what used cooking oil, recovered retail food, human food by-products, synthetic iron oxide, toasted partially defatted cooked cottonseed flour, and fabricated meat are used for? ANIMAL FEED. Do you know what "recovered retail food and human food by-products are? Do you know what happens to all the spoiled grocery products from the store? All the outdated dairy and cold case products, as well as stale bakery products? They are thrown in the dumpster behind the store. Then they are transported to the rendering plant. They are melted down IN THE WRAPPERS AND CONTAINERS and used in animal feed. Do you want this to be in your pet food? Do you want this to be fed to the cows from which you will be deriving meat and milk? What happens to the chemicals in those plastic containers when melted under high heat, then eaten and passed out into the milk we drink?

When we, as consumer advocates, questioned these practices at the last meeting, we were met with laughter, boos, and jeers. We were told we had no respect for the environment because we would rather see all these products go into a landfill than be recycled for animal feed. Hey, I love a clean environment, but I love my body and my pets. And I don't want to eat melted plastic that has been recycled through a cow. 

Stay tuned for my series of articles about the meetings over the next few days. If they are anything like the last time, there are bound to be fireworks.