AAFCO president admits dead/rendered animal remains from euthanized pets are used in making pet food. AAFCO is short for The Association of American Feed Control. They are the regulatory group responsible for regulating pet food. AAFCO could easily ban the use of rendered pets as something allowed into our dog’s food, but they don’t. This is why it is important to buy a high quality food that lists all the ingredients: Chicken meal, fish meal etc.
Why, you may be asking yourself? Many of the same individuals actively sitting on the AAFCO board are also major players in several pet food companies. And those pet food companies value the cheap protein they salvage from the millions of dogs and cats, which are euthanized every year. So what is allowed into your dog’s food as “meat and bone meal?” I’ve already mentioned euthanized dogs and cats, including the flea/tick collars they may have been wearing, road kill, expired grocery store meat, including the packaging, dead stock…etc.
This is why it is IMPORTANT to buy good quality dog food. I do not want to risk putting the same poisons used to kill dogs and cats into my pets via the pet food I feed them. That is why I only feed Pure Woof Gold which has Human Grade right on the package of dog food to Rusty and Sadie.
Here is a report paper written by Justine S. Patrick of Harvard Law school which has some more information.
TruthAboutPetFood.com links to a document published by the EPA that talks about euthanized pets going into pet food.
I find it interesting that you use an edited clip, in no way does the man say that it IS used but you choose that headline which is misleading, to say the least. He said there’s no law against it but major pet food manufacturers do NOT use pets in their food because they know they would lose their customers. For you to inflame the public is, at best, irresponsible. How did you go from there’s no law against it, to an admission that clearly isn’t there?
Someone sent this to me to ask what I think of it. I’m a responsible journalist and as such, I’m stunned that anyone would be so reckless as to make up words and put them in someone’s mouth with a clip that clearly doesn’t confirm your headline.
Ms. Arden-
I appreciate your comment. Unfortunately, I believe you are missing the entire point of this “blog post.” I am not the creator of this video and therefore have no idea why it cuts off so abruptly. I did search extensively to locate a more complete version, but came up empty-handed. As for the content of the video, I have found, that the frightening reality is that the vague naming conventions used by the majority of pet food manufacturers does indeed conceal the truth about what is included as ingredients within our beloved pet’s foods.
Perhaps, some people may believe that I am being irresponsible by sharing information that goes contrary to the mainstream media’s desire to keep people in the dark about what they continue to inadvertently feed their pets. But as a writer and devoted pet lover. I do not intend to shy away from any topic simply because it raises someone’s hackles. Have you gone to AAFCO’s website and read through their documents? I have, and they do not debunk anything claimed by this or any other article and I assure you there are plenty of people thoroughly investigating this topic.
Earlier this year, I wrote another article entitled, What are you feeding your dog?, this article further discusses the ingredients of the big brand dog food manufacturers.
Thank you for your comment.
-Kelley
Kelley,
As someone who apparently seems to care about what she feeds her pets, I feel you should know something about a section of your post. ‘Human Grade’ means nothing in terms of pet food. There is no legal definition for that term in regards to dog and cat food–so any pet food company can put that on their label and still include absolute garbage for ingredients. This is true for ‘premium’ and ‘gourmet’ as well.
If you are actually interested in what you feed your dogs, I suggest taking your own advice and looking past what the label says and finding out what the label means. The closest you can come to what you might consider good food would be ‘natural.’ As defined by AAFCO: “A feed or ingredient derived solely from plant, animal or mined sources, either in its unprocessed state or having been subject to physical processing, heat processing, rendering, purification, extraction, hydrolysis, enzymolysis or fermentation, but not having been produced by or subject to a chemically synthetic process and not containing any additives or processing aids that are chemically synthetic except in amounts as may occur unavoidably in good manufacturing processes.” But that probably wouldn’t hold up to your uninformed basis of what is good to feed pets–if you even understand what it really means.
You are correct in that AAFCO does not define human grade, the FDA does. In order for a food to be human grade it has to pass FDA standards meaning food intended for humans can also be prepared at the manufacturing plant. The FDA’s Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) requires that pet foods, like human foods, be safe to eat, produced under sanitary conditions, contain no harmful substances, and be truthfully labeled.
See my post
Human Grade Dog Food
For years rendered animals have been used in pet food, As soon as I found this out 20 plus years ago I have had my pets cremnated and never left them at the Vets offoce for what I thought or was led to believe that they would be cremnated with other pets. I now research before I buy and will not feed anything that is produced by The Diamind plant, where most of the dog food is made, for the many brands in our food and feed stores,
Hi Raven,
I agree with you completely, I feed Honest Kitchen to my dogs. I really like the fact they only use products from the U.S.A and the food is made in a human grade facility.
-IN reference to “Human Grade” pet foods, The Honest Kitchen can legally sell their finish products as “Human Grade”, initiating the arrival of “Human Grade” pet food!. Of course, this doesn’t imply a human would enjoy to have this for dinner. As for other pet companies claiming “human grade”, most with a respected reputation uses the term in complete reference of the RAW products(pre-canning) being “Human Grade”. Companies also can claim the pet food is made in a “Human Grade’ facility, this is more in reference to the previous poster, in which the factory must comply with FDA regulations. For a concerned pet owner, these two practices should be a critical factor in deciding what to feed your pet. A company who claims to use “Human Grade” will stay far from the “commercial proteins, such as byproduct, blood meals and NOT FIT for HUMAN Consumption proteins – critical!”
IMO – I prefer knowing where my pets protein (NOT BY-PRODUCT) is sourced, how fresh it is, and how it incorporates in the finished product.
Fromm Pet foods is a great place to start
Hi Ellie,
I agree with you about knowing where the ingredients in the dog and cat food come from. There are a few companies that have proven their grade/quality of ingredients and their promise to country of origin of ingredients that make up their pet foods and treats. Fromm has not taken the pledge so I will continue to stay away from their food. The only company that produces kibble which has taken the pledge is Natures Logic. The only company that has taken the pledge and also has pledged to use organic ingredients is The Honest Kitchen. This is the reason I continue to use The Honest Kitchen.
Here is a link to the companies which have provided us a Pledge to Quality and Origin of ingredients. https://truthaboutpetfood2.com/pledge-to-quality-and-origin
They shouldn’t be doing this to any living being period. Some of these animals had families and are not fully disclosed on what happens to their pets when left at shelters. I think more people would be alarmed if they knew of this, but most of the public only get their information from major news outlets. Put yourself in your pets place – how would you feel if you found out the meat you were eating from your grocery store contained the remains of humans. It’s disgusting and immoral.
I agree with you completely.