Nutrition for Dogs

DOG FOOD and WHAT REALLY GOES INTO IT

from the February 19, 1990 San Francisco Chronicle

As horrible and outrageouse as it sounds, it absolutely makes sense...why bury, burn or whatever the MILLIONS of dogs and cats that die each year into...whatelse...recycle them into dog and cat food!!! Yuk! But it's true. Although you won't find it on any pet food label, many brands contain dog and cat remains. It is also true for the human industry as well. You've heard of "MAD COW" disease? Well, you know where that comes from, don't you? It's just been banned in this country...it comes from feeding discarded, bad, diseased cow parts to cows...parts that are not approved for our consumption get recycled into their feed, also poultry, swine, etc. The meat you eat is so unhealthy for you because the food those poor animals have to eat is so unhealthy for them. And that's another reason why the government (that's supposed to watch out for us) allows this to happen...because it's controlled by the feed industry, not by you, the general public...it's the same for the pet food industry...the organization that's supposed to protect the pets and make sure that the stuff that goes into their food is "quality," the AAFCO, is controlled by the pet food manufacturers...and whose interest comes first, yep, you got it...theirs...not ours, our pets...so read on...

Each year, millions of dead American dogs and cats are processed along with billions of pounds of other animal materials by companies known as "RENDERERS." The finished products - tallow and meat meals - serve as raw material for thousands of items that include cosmetics and pet food. The rendering industry denies this occurs.

"I don't know of any small animals going into soap or dog food," said Ray Kelly, spokesman for the National Renderers Association and executive vice president of Baker Commodities, a Los Angeles rendering company.

Pet food executives also deny that pets end up in their products. Many manufactureres in the $8 billion industry require suppliers to sign affidavits to that effect.

Yet federal and state officials, including the Food and Drug Administration, the American Veterianary Medical Association and the California Veterinary Medicial Association CONFIRM that pets routinely are rendered after they die and the end product frequently finds its way into pet food.

"The pets serve a viable purpose by providing foodstuff for the animal feed chain." said Lea McGovern, chief of the animal feed safety branch of the FDA.

The practice is neither illegal nor unhealthy. Pets probably constitute a very small percentage of a day's production at a renderer and an even lower percentage of the ingredients in a package of pet food.

The National Animal Control Association estimates that U.S. animal shelters annually put to sleep 13 million household pets. Its statistics show that 30 percent are cremated and 40 percent, or about 5.2 million, are sent to rendering factories.

Several hundred thousand deceased California pets are trucked off to renderes in Los Angeles, Modesto and Sacramento. When you read pet food labels and it says "meat or bone meal," that's what it is, cooked and converted animals, including dogs and cats, says Eileen Layne of the California Vet Med. Assoc.

Critics like Libby Schenkman of the Berkeley-based Animal Rights Connection are upset by such "cannibalism," but government, academic and industry officials say rendering pets recylces a valuable commodity while simultaneously solving a difficult waste-disposal problem.

The alternative is burying or some other form of environmental contamination, says Bert Mitchel, associate director of the surveillance and compliance branch of the FDA.

Folks, stay tuned to this site as we continue into Part 2 next week...Ed.

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