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What we have to go through to get the Truth

There are many things that the pet food label doesn’t tell you in order to choose a safe, healthy pet food.  To make matters worse, getting the needed information from the pet food manufacturer can be like pulling teeth.  And then, to top it off, once you finally get the information you asked for, the pet food company legally prevents you from sharing the information learned.  This just really bites.

There are many things that the dog food or cat food label doesn’t tell you that every pet owner deserves to know; one being country of origin of ingredients.  Recently, an email was sent to a pet food company asking if any ingredients were sourced outside the United States, and if so, what ingredient and what country?  The email sent specifically asked about vitamins and minerals in the pet food (this was a very smart pet owner).  One of the latest tricks of pet food companies is to Not include country of origin information of vitamins and minerals.  For some reason (perhaps its that so many of the vitamins and minerals come from China), some pet food companies of late feel as if vitamins and minerals are not ingredients (?); some simply neglect to provide that information.  This particular pet owner asked for this information specifically (they asked if any vitamins and minerals were sourced from China) along with asking about country of origin of all other ingredients.

The first reply received from a representative of this pet food company was something similar to a response you’d get from a politician.  It was full of accolades for what this pet food company does to keep its pet food safe; but it didn’t answer the full question.  The pet food company reply (first reply) provided the typical ‘lamb from New Zealand’ response, but it did not make any mention of country of origin of vitamins and minerals.  In fact, the reply stated the Veterinarian Representative was ‘not aware’ of any ingredients being sourced from China.

Hmmm, a veterinarian representative of the pet food company that is ‘not aware’ where the ingredients in the pet food are from?  That’s comforting. 

So, another email was sent by this pet owner asking the veterinarian representative that since they ‘weren’t aware’ perhaps they could ask someone that was aware.  The second email specifically asked (again) if any vitamins or minerals in the pet foods originate in China or other Asian countries. 

A week passed, no response.  A third email was sent to the pet food company, again asking the golden question.  The next day the representative confirmed that ‘some vitamins are sourced from Asia’. 

But wait, there is more to the story!  Being quite frustrated at the struggle to obtain this information, and as well, learning that this pet food company sources vitamins from China, this pet owner wanted to share this information with other concerned pet owners.  But they cannot.  This pet food company attached the Electronic Communications Privacy Act warning to the email communication.  It states that the information shared is confidential and privileged.  Sharing the information in any fashion is prohibited.

Not only do pet owners have to scratch and claw to get the information they deserve to know in the first place, now some pet food companies are preventing those that go to the multiple efforts to discover the truth from sharing it with other concerned pet owners. 

Be determined and discover the information about your pets’ food you deserve to be told.  Don’t accept evasive answers.  Keep emailing and asking the tough questions.  If there is no response, or if you have to repeatedly ask the same question, that in itself gives you some valuable information.  If the pet food company attaches the Electronic Communications Privacy Act warning on the email, that too tells you a great deal.

Questions to ask your pet food manufacturer:
1.  Do all ingredients in the pet food – including vitamins and minerals – originate from U.S. sources?  If no, what ingredients from what country?  (Risk country of origin would be Asian countries.)
2.  Do the meat meal ingredients such as chicken meal include bones and internal organs?  (A new study from EWG.org showed that bone in pet foods is linked to high levels of fluoride; high levels of fluoride is linked to bone cancer. http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/388/1/The-latest-pet-food-concern-Fluoride/Page1.html )
3.  What is the preservative used by your supplier for fish meal?  Not the preservative you use, I would like to know what preservative is used by the supplier of your fish meal.  (Some fish meal suppliers use ethoxyquin – a chemical preservative linked to serious illness including cancer.  Federal laws require fish meal suppliers to preserve with ethoxyquin UNLESS a special permit is obtained to preserve the fish meal with a safer alternative such as Naturox.)
4.  Are the meat ingredients human grade/quality or pet grade/quality?  (By official definition, all pet food meat ingredients are considered pet grade.  However many pet food companies use the same quality meat found in your grocery, others do not using left overs or rejected for use in human food grade meats.)
5.  What is the shelf life of your foods?  (Shelf life varies from pet food to pet food.  Knowing the shelf life of your pet food and checking the ‘Best By’ date on the package tells you how fresh the food actually is.)
6.  Where are your foods made?  Do you have your own manufacturing facility?  If not, who makes your foods?  (Most U.S. or Canadian sold foods are made in the U.S. or Canada.  Some companies have their own manufacturing plants, and others sub-contract manufacturing to other plants.)
7.  Does this manufacturing plant have any special certifications to assure the safety of the food?  (Special certifications such as APHIS EU would give the pet owner some insight to quality of ingredients and quality control.)
8.  Do your canned foods have a BPA lining?  (BPA or Bisphernol A is an element of plastic; BPA is known to leach into foods with increased heat and it is linked to serious illness.  Recently, current FDA ‘safe’ BPA levels has been highly questioned.  Currently, only small cans of some pet foods are BPA free.)

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Truth about Pet Food
Petsumer Report
www.TruthaboutPetFood.com

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Comments (7)

Anni
Said this on 11-13-2009 At 12:26 pm
You could always make two posts when getting electronic malarkey on a pet food manufacturer's return e-mail. One, the response of the
unspecified company, and, two, a second post saying "my pet eats" Brand X or Y or Z, among other foods, just below it.
Reply to this Comment
Gitta
Said this on 11-13-2009 At 12:44 pm
Would it be legal to state that the information was requested and received (being specific as to information and from which company), however, disclosure prohibited? Similar to settlements. The parties are known, the issue is known, only the actual settlement remains under seal. If so, it would be up to the readers to read between the lines.
Reply to this Comment
Jerry
Said this on 11-13-2009 At 12:58 pm
Having worked in a pet food manufacturing facility I agree that everyone of the questions that you suggested are very important. The facility that I worked in manufactured there own products and did not use outside sources for any of their main ingredients. However they, as all of them do, did get their vitamin supplements and preservatives from outside sources. All of their meats, beef, chicken, and pork, were from local sources. All of the grains that they used were also from local source. However the preservatives and supplements origins were unknown to me. Since I have not been associated with them for sometime now, I have noticed that they are using a lot of fruit and vegetable ingredients that I am sure the receive from an outside source, where, I have no idea. At the time that I was there they were producing pet food under 65 different brand beside their own. Some of those brands called for ingredients that they had to obtain from outside sources. Now to claim that some of those outside sourced ingredients did not contaminate some of the ingredients of their own products would be impossible, as the same equipment was used for all of the products. So, I would also add the question as to whether they might also manufacture food for other brands, or companies, using the same processing facility that they use to make their own.
Reply to this Comment
Kathleen
Said this on 11-13-2009 At 01:08 pm
How frustrating! I had a go-round w/a company via email, and after the back & forth baloney, we got into the meat of the matter, then our interaction had to be done via phone call. I'm now a cynic and figured they wanted none of their B.S. or "info" in writing. They refused to continue to interact w/me thru emails and never responded again.
Reply to this Comment
Tania Cummings
Said this on 11-14-2009 At 06:52 am
Well here we go again. I think they would find it very hard to police what people told their friends and online acquaintances based on information received in an email and even more trouble to prosecute. It's pretty standard stuff and I wouldn't let them intimidate me. If they did I would be asking loud and clear what they were ashamed of/had to hide.
Better still, boycott manufactured pet foods and the companies that manufacture them altogether and home-prepare.
If your child's school delayed responding to enquiries about what was in your child's school lunch and where it came from, then gave you half-hearted non-specific answers then told you not to tell other parents, wouldn't you start packing your child's lunch yourself?
Reply to this Comment
diedmarch172007
Said this on 11-15-2009 At 02:19 pm
I have always found that when I tell people that a pet food company( I name names) is threatening to sue anyone who talks about the quality of the food produced, or where it is produced they pretty much do not need to hear any more. If a company is threatening to sue customers they must have a LOT to be ashamed of and I would be ashamed to feed their product to a pet!
If they sold sirloin at a buck a pound people would not touch it after that.
I also tell people to call and ask and then have a friend call and ask, that way they will KNOW how much pet food companies lie. Very effective, people just get livid about the lying and weaseling pet food companies do.
I have a motto, for every lie, I set out to cost a company a hundred customers. At least.
For threats by pet food companies? I set the goal MUCH higher.
Pet food companies want to treat customers like crap? Then, as a generous gesture on my part, I help them have fewer of those pesky customers. They can bleed money and customers as long as they like, perhaps longer.
Reply to this Comment
diedmarch172007
Said this on 11-15-2009 At 02:51 pm
A little handsomely bound book of those emails with the electronicElectronic Communications Privacy Act warnings, with everything "redacted" but the company name and the warning might be a good gift for pet owners this holidays season, and entirely legal to boot.
I already have a lovely collection of all the treats that pet food companies have made against bloggers all printed out on nice paper and it gets handed around a lot, people just seem to take an active dislike to companies that threaten customers. They talk about it endlessly with other pet owners.
Shocking, people talking about a public company! And discussing what kind of products a heavily advertised company makes!
I sincerely hope a pet food company sues a pet owner, that would be...delicious.
In so many ways.
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