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Columns
Section -
No Margins. No Limits. No Kidding.
PET FOODS INDUSTRY PERIL!
Covert disposal methods for recalled
products, inadequate FDA regulations,
and counterfeit foods are a worse case
scenario in the making.
FDA
does not state what industrial uses are
acceptable but economists agree that
farming is an industry. Has FDA combined
categories? Is feeding pet food to farm
animals still allowed? Or are imperiled
pet food companies practicing risking disposal
methods?
In May 2007, CNN reported (1) “Feds:
Millions have eaten chickens fed tainted
pet food …an investigation of chicken
farms in Indiana found that 38 of the
facilities had given contaminated feed
to poultry raised for human consumption,
and that 2.5 million to 3 million people
ate them… officials added that they
expect to discover that chickens on
possibly hundreds of farms in other
states were also given tainted feed.”
Included in the CNN report was a
conciliatory statement from Richard Lobb
of the National Chicken Council “Lobb
said the chicken feed may have been
contaminated as a result of a practice
common among pet food manufacturers -
they sometimes sell their leftover
material to manufacturers of chicken and
pig feed.”
So was it the pet food or the chicken
industry that would have us believe it
was just scrap from the pet food
manufacturing process?
The Washington Post ran a similar
headline on the same day, but revealed
that hogs were also fed recalled pet
food. (2) “The USDA first announced on
Thursday that meat from 345 hogs
suspected of eating the contaminated
feed had entered the U.S. food supply.
Some 6,000 hogs suspected of eating the
contaminated product have since been
quarantined and meat from these animals
will be withheld from the food supply,
both agencies said.”
The amount of so called scrap seems
excessive considering how much feed it
would take to feed so many farm animals.
The feed was out of the bag when
immediately following, Pork.org (3) made
this much more honest revelation:
“On April 3 and April 14, Diamond Pet
Foods, a pet food manufacturer in
Lathrop, Calif., delivered pet food to a
hog farm (American Hog Farm) in Ceres,
Calif. The pet food is believed to have
been included in a pet food recall
initiated on April 16.”
This was manufactured dog food going
directly to the hogs’ feeding stations,
just two days before a voluntary recall
of products containing rice protein
concentrate started on April 16. So it
was not scrap, and credit to the pork
organization for saying that they
believe it was pet food included in the
recall.
The delivery event leads us to think
that pet food manufacturers, hog
farmers, and chicken farmers, have
working relationships. How much recalled
dog food went directly to the chicken
and hog farms? How much is routinely
sold to feed processing plants, as the
pet food industry would have us believe.
The news reports validate our belief
that the FDA regulation (law) does not
do what is intended. It fails to protect
the human food supply chain or even the
pet food chain. The contaminated dog
food recalls seem to be a voluntary
action by the manufacturer, not
something ordered by the FDA. Recalls
diminish profits, and incineration and
landfills are costly. In light of all of
this, our questions become more urgent.
How did pet food makers dispose of
recalled products over the last two
years? Where did disposal take place?
Were any recalled products shipped
offshore?
FDA regulations for industrial uses
should be carefully defined and the
destination should end in the USA. FDA
indicates only that State and Federal
regulations apply. Once in the hands of
others, regardless of geographic
location, pet food makers lost all
control of recalled products.
Free Trade Zones and Free Ports in other
countries allow goods passing through to
be labeled as coming from any country
that the sellers choose.
Locations/addresses for many internet
pet food suppliers are noticeable absent
from their websites.
The wide range of selections, package
designs, colors and sizes of products
from the pet food industry makes it
unlikely that a consumer would notice a
package which is not authentic. We must
wonder how the manufacturers keep track
of their own products and it looks more
and more like it is a battle that they
are losing. The FDA’s loose control puts
cat and dog food companies in jeopardy
because it apparently cannot force a
mandatory recall.
The growing number of dog food recalls
(4), counterfeiting, and the industry’s
inability to control domestic or
off-shore handling are reasons enough
for the Obama administration to call for
an FBI investigation of the entire pet
food industry. We need to find out why
the FDA cannot protect the food supply
for both animals and people.
Americans want safe food products, not
health risks and dead animals!
Columns
Section -
No Margins. No Limits. No Kidding.
