Susan Thixton Pet Food Safety Advocate Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsibleTruthaboutPetFood.comAssociation for Truth in Pet Food
In the same meeting when FDA was questioned about the massive amounts of dead/diseased livestock being sent to pet food, the agency stated: “So 3 billion plus animals should go to landfills?”
Rendering dead/diseased animals is a safe method of disposal. BUT ONLY for disposal. Rendered dead/diseased animals are a certain risk for high levels of endotoxins and a certain risk to pets consuming those materials in a pet food (as stated by USDA).
FDA has chosen – without remorse – to allow pets to consume dangerous, illegal pet foods. FDA has chosen pets to be living landfills. All pet food consumers deserve to know which pet foods/treats contain dangerous, illegal ingredients. A pet food/treat warning label is required.
If you do a Google search for “landfill animal carcasses” you find page after page after page of state regulations discussing the risks (and requirements) to disposal of dead animal carcasses.
In February 2018, the J.M. Smucker Co. withdrew shipments of several brands of dog foods amid reports that the product was tainted with pentobarbital. How the drug might have entered the pet food supply chain was unknown, but the company said they were “focusing on a single supplier of a minor ingredient used at one manufacturing facility.”
Much of the evidence offered to corroborate the presence of dead pets in pet food can be traced back to a photograph of indeterminate origin (which is graphic) and an undated video news report from Seattle television station KING. In that video, former Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) president Hersh Pendell also states that its impossible to tell exactly whats in rendered meat (but doesnt say it necessarily includes dog or cat carcasses): Another piece of evidence is an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Some versions of the rumor stem from legitimate instances in which pet food has been recalled over the presence of pentobarbital (a drug whose uses include the euthanization of companion animals), a situation which occurred in February 2017. However, that particular mishap (which resulted in the death of at least one dog) was attributed to contaminated beef and not to the presence of rendered dogs or cats in pet food.
The mention of the term “animal shelters” as one source of material for rendering plants again suggests the possibility that cats and dogs are being rendered, but many shelters also take in a variety of other species (including ones more typically consumed by humans and their pets), such as chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, goats, and various farm animals.
The FDA assessment noted that “pentobarbital is routinely used to euthanize animals [so] the most likely way it could get into dog food would be in rendered animal products” and that “[pentobarbital] seems to be able to survive the rendering process,” leading that agency to posit that euthanized companion animals could be posing a contamination risk if they were being rendered into pet foods. However, although the FDA in their investigation of pet foods “found [that] some samples contained pentobarbital,” they found no evidence of cat or dog DNA in those samples and suggested the more likely source of pentobarbital in pet foods was rendered cattle or horses:
Meat meal can contain the boiled down flesh of animals we would find unacceptable for consumption. This can include zoo animals, road kill, and 4-D (dead, diseased, disabled, dying) livestock. Most shockingly, this also can include dogs and cats. Thats right, your pets could be cannibals. Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser writes, “Although leading American manufacturers promise never to put rendered pets into their pet food, it is still legal to do so. A Canadian company, Sanimal Inc., was putting 40,000 pounds of dead dogs and dead cats into its dog and cat food every week, until discontinuing the practice in June 2001. “This food is healthy and good,” said the companys vice president of procurement, responding to critics, but some people dont like to see meat meal that contains any pets.”
One of the dirty little secrets kept by the pet food industry is that some by-products also contain substances such as abscesses and cancerous material. In my opinion, feeding slaughterhouse wastes to animals increases their chances of getting cancer and other degenerative diseases. Some meat, especially glandular tissue, may contain high levels of hormones, which may also cause serious health problems including cancer. Unlike bacteria and viruses, these hormones are not destroyed by the high temperatures or pressure cooking used in the manufacture of pet food. Cats seem to be most adversely affected by high hormone levels. – Healing Pets With Natures Miracle Cures By Henry Pasternak DVM CVA, page 11
Cattledead, diseased, dying and disabled (4-D)can legally be rendered and used in pet foods in the United States and in Canada. Rendering will not eradicate any of the TSEs, including the chronic wasting disease in deer, elk, and roadkill, which can also be rendered for use in pet food. The U.S. government believes it is safe to render diseased cattle for use in pet foods because this practice does not affect humans since we dont eat dogs and cats. But rendering diseased cattle into pet food does potentially endanger our animal companions. This is already happening in Europe. If dogs and cats succumb to a TSE disease, would their owners know the actual cause? – Food Pets Die For by Ann N Martin, page 100
In Dr. Pitcairns Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats (Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, Inc., 1995), the author, a renowned veterinarian, lists a number of other factors that could expose a family dog or cat to possible carcinogens. “These include,” he writes, ” consuming pet foods high in organ meats and meat meal (concentrators of pesticides, and growth hormones used to fatten cattle, which can promote cancer growth) as well as in preservatives and artificial colors known to cause cancer in lab animals.” – Natural Pet Cures by Dr John Heinerman, page 78.
Preservatives in dog and cat foods keep the foods seemingly fresh for long periods of time: “Unfortunately, harmful chemical preservatives and other artificial additives are the norm in most pet foods. Some are intentionally added by the manufacturer, while others come from the herbicides, insecticides, and pesticides used by farmers to boost crop yields,” Pasternak writes. While some pet food companies have decided to use less harmful preservatives and natural preservatives, most pet food companies dont find these ingredients to be cost effective.
What’s REALLY In Your Pet’s FOOD??
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has found a euthanasia drug in several brands of dog food, leading some brands to issue a voluntary recall and causing concern among pet owners.
The FDA says that such a low level of this drug in pet food is unlikely to seriously harm pets. However, no amount of sodium pentobarbital, a common lethal drug used to put animals to sleep, is acceptable in pet food, the agency warns.
The J.M. Smucker Company, famous for Smuckers Jam, has responded to this report by issuing a voluntary recall of the tainted pet foods they sell. Pet food with the labels Gravy Train, OlRoy, Kibbles N Bits, or Skippy Premium, can be returned to the store for a full refund. The FDA asked pet stores to stop selling these brands immediately. The same goes for the dog food brand Against the Grain, which also issued a recall last week for the same concern.
The FDA is currently investigating where exactly in the supply chain the drug comes from and how it made it into food. Veterinarians usually injects animals that are too sick to save with sodium pentobarbital at a high enough dose that the animal goes into cardiac arrest and dies. There are other ways to euthanize animals, and guns and tools similar to guns are more practical for large animals.
Some pet food companies buy raw goods from rendering facilities that process animals euthanized at animal shelters. That means that some pet food is made from a variety of meats that humans wouldnt eat, including diseased livestock and cats and dogs containing lethal doses of sodium pentobarbital. In other words, the body of a stray dog killed in a shelter may be ground up into dog food. Whether any of the recalls are related to this practice is unknown.
Pentobarbital poisoning can result in “drowsiness, dizziness, excitement, loss of balance, nausea, nystagmus (eyes moving back and forth in a jerky manner) and inability to stand,” the FDA says. The agency recommends that if your dog exhibits symptoms of pentobarbital poisoning, you should take it to the vet immediately.