Dog guardians should know what is in the food
they are feeding their animals…

The dog food label contains a profusion of information... yet consumers rarely read it… and when they mean to, they often can’t get an accurate understanding of what it really says. Much of this information is “regulated”— but you’ll need to understand how that can be manipulated—and build resistance to marketing gimmicks and “unqualified claims,” which are not. Reputable manufacturers will have means for you to contact them, or you should ask the appropriate regulatory agency if you have questions.

Part 1 of this essay focused on important background issues: co-packing (contract manufacturing), lack of regulatory control, the USDA, FDA and the FTC’s role, the relevant federal regulatory acts, lobbyists and AAFCO dominance, how dog food manufacturers secure premarket clearance for untested products, the issue of by-products, ingredient splitting, and pet food nomenclature. Continuing our discussion, on this page, we canvass what is actually written on the label, and offer guidance on interpreting that information to make informed purchase choices. (Read page 1 of this essay HERE).

It’s important to understand that, unlike any other non-durable product, consumers have no public access to definitions regarding pet food ingredients. The ingredients used in pet foods and treats each have their own specific definition written by and owned by AAFCO; through an agreement (a Memorandum of Understanding) between AAFCO and the FDA, consumers may only access information by purchasing the yearly AAFCO “Official Publication” ($125).

Requirements on a label: the
(“principal display panel” and “information panel”)

1. Clearly identify the product as a dog or cat food;

2. Present a brand name that is not misleading (evaluation includes ingredients and nutritional content);

3. Display guarantee of the certain nutrients within the product;

4. Display an ingredient list in descending order by weight: names of ingredients must be accepted by AAFCO or accepted as standard or in common use, and no single ingredient can be given
   undue emphasis;

5. For products identified as “complete and balanced,” provide feeding instructions so that pet owners understand how much of the product to feed daily;

6. Indicate how nutritional adequacy was determined if the product is “complete and balanced.” Companies should determine nutritional adequacy by sound “scientific” methods, such as chemical analysis or feeding “studies.”

[1]
PRODUCT NAME

Marketing teams are engaged to devise fanciful names or other techniques to emphasize a particular aspect of the product. Recognizing that many consumers purchase based on the presence of a specific ingredient, many product names incorporate the name of an ingredient to highlight its inclusion in the product. The percentages of named ingredients in the total product are dictated by four AAFCO rules: the “95%,” “25% (or “Dinner”), “3%,” (or “with”), and “Flavor” rules.

The
“95%” Rule

Applies to products consisting primarily of meat, poultry or fish; most often, canned products (products with with simple names, i.e., “Salmon for Dogs,” are commonly labeled “for supplemental feeding” or “for intermittent feeding,” and may be
even higher).

At least 95% of the product must be the named ingredient (salmon, in this example), absent water added for processing and condiments. Counting the added water in the finished product, the named ingredient still must comprise 70% of the product.

Because ingredient lists must be declared in the proper order of predominance by weight, “salmon” should be the first ingredient listed, followed often by water, and subsequently other components or
vitamins and mineral additives.

If the name includes a combination of meat ingredients, (“Salmon & Chicken Dog Food”), the two named ingredients together must comprise 95% of the total weight; the first ingredient of the product name must be the one of higher predominance in the product: (a product could not be labeled “Salmon & Chicken Dog Food” if there is more chicken than salmon). Because this rule only applies to ingredients of animal origin, ingredients that are not from a meat, poultry or fish source (such as grains and vegetables), cannot be used as a component of the 95% total. As such, a product named “Salmon & Rice Dog Food” would be misbranded unless the product was comprised of at least 95% salmon.

The
“25%” or “Dinner” Rule

Applies to many canned and dry products. If the named ingredients (of the product name) comprise at least 25% of the product (absent the water added for processing), but less than 95%: the name must include a qualifying descriptive term, (such as “Dinner” as in “Salmon Dinner for Dogs” ). Counting the added water, the named ingredients still must comprise 10% of the product.

Many descriptions beyond “dinner” are used, however, (Platter, Entree, Nuggets or Bites, and Formula are examples), some of which may impart an image of higher quality or quantity of ingredients. In the example “Salmon Dinner for Dogs,” only one-quarter of the product must be salmon; moreover that product need only contain 10% salmon in the finished product (remember: water added for processing). In fact, salmon as a costly ingredient, may be well down the ingredient list: this diet could contain chicken or other meat by-products.

Because the primary (largest percentage) ingredient is not always the named ingredient (in this example: salmon), and may in fact be an ingredient that you do not wish to feed, you should always check the ingredient list before choosing to buy. Cheaper or more currently available meats are commonly used (“Beef” dinners are often higher in tuna than beef itself), may be less palatable, or, may represent issues with food sensitivity. In any event, absent an understanding of the use of by-products that may be collectively referred to at “beef,” you may be easily fooled.

If more than one ingredient is included in a “Dinner” name, the combination of the named ingredients must total 25% of the product and be listed in the same order as found on the ingredient list. Also, each named ingredient must be at least 3% of the total. Thereby: “Salmon & Beef Dinner Dog Food” must have 25% beef and fish combined; and at least 3% beef. Further, (unlike the “95% rule”), this tenet applies to all ingredients, including those of non-animal origin. So, a “Salmon & Rice Formula” (or “Salmon Dinner for Dogs”) would represent a suitable name provided there was more salmon in the product than rice (ordered by weight quantity), and the combined amounts of salmon and rice totaled 25%.

The
“3%” or “With” Rule

Originally intended to apply only to ingredients highlighted on the principal display panel, but outside the product name, in order to allow manufacturers to highlight the presence of minor ingredients that were not added in sufficient quantity to merit a “Dinner” claim. For example: a “Duck Dinner,” with 25% duck, would be costly to produce (and therefore, unmarketable at certain price points); but either a “Salmon Dinner for Dogs” or “Salmon Formula Dog Food” could include a side burst “with duck” if at least 3% (wet) duck is added.

AAFCO model regulations now allow use of the term “with” as part of the product name, such as “Dog Food with Duck.” So now, even a minor change in the wording of the name has a powerful impact on the minimum amount of the named ingredient required: a can of “Dog Food with Duck” could be confused with a can of “Duck Dog Food”, but, whereas the second example must contain at least 95% duck, the first needs only 3%. Then also, the term “duck” itself is open to manipulation.

The
“Flavor” Rule

A specific percentage is not required, but a product must contain an amount sufficient to be detectable and adequate to “impart a distinctive characteristic” to the food. “Flavor” as part of the name does not require any specific amounts of a product to be used, and “salmon flavor” can be made with broth or by-product meal.

As an explicit test method, using animals trained to prefer specific flavors, can be used to confirm this claim. In the example of “Salmon Flavor Dog Food,” the word “flavor” must appear on the label in the same size, style and color as the word “salmon.” That ingredient may be salmon… but often it is a small amount of another substance that will furnish the characterizing flavor: such as grease, fish meal (likely, another less costly fish) or fish by-products (manufacturing debris retrieved from the parent company’s production lines of human foods).

To develop flavors—and pursue “least cost mix” protocols—dog foods commonly contain animal digests, which are materials (fats: by-products and manufacturing waste) processed with heat (to stabilize rancidity), enzymes, and acids (thus: chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolys) to form concentrated “natural flavors.” Animal digest is used as a palatant, in order to camouflage other, less desirable flavors. Only a small amount of a “salmon (fish) digest” is needed to produce a “Salmon Flavored Dog Food,” even though no actual salmon (a costly ingredient) may be added to the food. Stocks (grease) or broths may be added. For example, whey (milk plasma: the liquid remaining after milk has been coagulated and strained) is often used to add a “milk flavor.”

“No Artifical Flavors” = No Consumer Information

Often labels will bear a claim of “no artificial flavors,” however, this term has little meaning, since artificial flavors are rarely used in dog foods, owing to innumerable ways to steer clear of that marketing stigma: rancid restaurant grease can provide the basis for natural meat flavorings. A lingering exception would be artificial smoke or bacon flavors, which are added to some treats.

[3]
MANUFACTURERS'S NAME AND ADDRESS

Cost is a major factor in
“co-packing” Arrangements

It can be more cost-effective for a pet food company to “farm out” the production of its foods. This allows the brand to concentrate on it’s strengths: formulation and marketing. The identities and co-packing arrangements are ferociously guarded as industry “trade secrets,” by both parties. This is important to maintain “brand image,” including potential damage that might result from problem contracts with other manufacturers.

In 2018, subsequent to scandalous recalls, Markham, IL-based Evangers Dog and Cat Food Co., Inc. (that co-packs for other brands), changed it’s distinctive curved date stamp: because food safety advocates published essays describing it as a means to identify brands made by them. Among the issues, it became clear that while Evangers was making false “human-grade” claims about their own dog food, the company was in fact purchasing feed-grade ingredients, including from a dead livestock removal service that the company itself owned, and which may have been y the source of pentobarbital-laced horse meat that wound up in the dog food (see: “Animal Euthanizing Drugs in dog food,” here).

Co-packing shifts the costs of building, operating and maintaining a complicated pet food manufacturing facility to a third party, which holds the advantage of economies of scale (cost per unit of output decreasing with increasing scale of production). Quality control (QC) is assumed by the manufacturing facility according to brand specifications. QC can also include on-site visits from brand representatives, ongoing testing during stages of production and testing of the finished product.

Each brand remains responsible for the food produced by a co-packer: their name still goes on the bag even though they did not manufacture it. Pet food brands often use different co-packers for their dry and canned formulas, and, with proper instructions, oversight, and testing, this arrangement works well.

But often… it simply doesn’t. Complications may arise when, as dictated by “least cost mix” protocols, brands use multiple manufacturing plants for the same formula, or for dry or canned foods. Some of the larger pet food companies, as well as the larger co-packers, utilize multiple production plants, both domestically and overseas. This facilitates more efficient production and distribution in different regions of the US and globally.

Multiple production location facilities make date and batch codes even more significant. A recalled food produced in one plant may be removed; while the same formula, produced on the same day in a different location may be unaffected.

[4]
INGREDIENTS LISTING

All ingredients are required to be listed in order of predominance by weight, under standards established by the Center for Veterinary Medicine for the FDA. Weights of ingredients are established as they are added in the formulation, including their inherent water content (pre-cooked). Water content is important when evaluating relative quantity claims, particularly comparing ingredients.

Chicken (or any listed meat) is the muscles. skin, and bones (and more) of chicken that have been ground together. The water content averages around 70%, and the product contains approximately 18% protein and 5% fat. If this same ground chicken is dried to a moisture level of 10% it is called “chicken meal.” The protein content is now 65% and the fat level is 12%. This rendering process creates a concentrated protein product (a reason why dry foods appear high in protein).

As a marketing protocol, it takes very little unprocessed beef to weigh more than this powder: so in reality the food in question is based on the protein meal, and in fact very little “meat.” as the consumer perceives that term. Understanding this, “first ingredient” claims should be ignored. In fact, “first ingredient” claims should fairly be regarded as intentionally misleading.

Thus, a consumer may favorably respond to a claim that their diet is better because it has chicken as the first ingredient and corn as the second; while a competing product lists corn as the first ingredient and “chicken meal” as the second ingredient. Chicken meal sounds processed (it is), but that does not necessarily discount its value as a protein source. Remember also that the word “fresh” carries no meaning.

If both products are compared on a dry matter basis (mathematically “remove” the water from both ingredients), it is clear that the second product had more animal-source protein from meat meal than the first product had from meat, even though the ingredient list (and the vendor) seems to suggest otherwise.

Remember that “meat meal” “poultry meal” or “by-product (waste) meals” are not fresh, but dry rendered ingredients—dried powders—and we should not conclude that the second product has more “meat” than the first, (or in fact, any meat at all). Rendering (boiling) separates fat (used as an ingredient elsewhere), removes water, and kills bacteria, viruses, parasites, and other organisms. However, the high temperatures (270 - 300°) used can alter (denature) or destroy natural enzymes and proteins found in
the raw ingredients.

Denaturing can contribute to development of food intolerance, inflammatory bowel disease, and generalized immune system response that can become inappropriate (allergies) in dogs. These problems are more common with dry foods, because the ingredients are cooked twice: first during rendering, and, again in an extruder; and the baking process—perhaps 500°—can further stimulate the formation of carcinogenic (cancer causing) compounds (in production, all of the ingredients—meats, grains, vitamins, minerals—are mixed together and run through the extruder: the extruder cooks the mixture by adding steam and water, producing carefully planned shapes familiar to consumers as “kibble,” and is subsequently dried; fats ares then sprayed on as a “palatant”).

even More pet food nomenclature

Ingredients must be listed by their “common or usual” name with a corresponding definition in the AAFCO Official Publication. But consumers may have little understanding of industry-standard terminology (created and owned by AAFCO) and it is fair to argue that use of that vocabulary favors that status-quo. For example, while there are chicken, turkey, and poultry by-product meals, there is no equivalent term for mammal “meat by-product meal”: it is called meat-and-bone-meal (MBM).

As we’ve discussed, MBM is a product of the rendering industry, primarily used to improve the amino acid profile of animal feeds (MBM is typically about 50% protein, 35% ash, 8-12% fat, and 4-7% moisture). Feeding of MBM to cattle is thought to have been responsible for the spread of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE: “mad cow disease”). In most parts of the world, MBM is no longer allowed in feed for ruminant animals (having a four compartment stomach, such as cows).[13] However, in some areas, including the US, MBM is still used to feed monogastric animals (single stomach, such as dogs and pigs), as a low-cost protein in pet foods.

Definitions... or not? What's Meat?

It's Not Safe... Then it Is...

The FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) can act to prohibit or modify use of an ingredient or additive in dog food if scientific data are presented that reveal a health risk. For example, propylene glycol was used as a humectant (stabilizer and texturing agent) in soft-moist pet foods, having been affirmed GRAS for use in human and animal food before the advent of soft-moist foods themselves. Although well known that propylene glycol caused Heinz Body formation (protein accumulation) in the red blood cells of cats, it could not be shown to cause overt anemia (reduction in the amount of red blood cells/hemoglobin) or other clinical effects.

However, reports in the veterinary literature of scientifically sound studies have since shown that propylene glycol reduces red blood cell survival time, and renders red blood cells susceptible to oxidative damage.[15] In light of this data, CVM amended the regulations to prohibit the use of propylene glycol in cat foods. It is still, however, common in dog foods, particularly dry formulations. It is also used in antifreeze, hydraulic fluids, and
as an industrial solvent.

Shell Games

You should be wary of the means used by manufacturers to disguise less desirable ingredients. Corn and wheat are especially common in dog foods—often, the main ingredient—as a base, and as a cheap protein source. Breaking a major ingredient into several different smaller ingredients (ground yellow corn, corn bran, grits, or middlings; corn gluten or corn gluten meal, corn germ meal, corn cellulose) and listing them individually is used to push these undesirable components farther down the ingredient list, where they might appear to be more minor additives.

The practice, known as “ingredient splitting,” is discussed on the first page of this essay; see: “The Secret Practice of Ingredient Splitting.”)

Likewise, consumers should recognize that the presence of fruits and certain vegetables in premium brands is often based on marketing appeal (or the need for starch as a binding agent), since many of these ingredients don’t provide significant health benefit, the quantities are small, and are commonly rejected from
human food processing.

“Guaranteed Analysis” is not a Guarantee

The “Guaranteed Analysis” statement found on pet food labels was created nearly a century ago when some manufacturers used undesirables like sand or lime-stone to add weight to their pet food. Today, at minimum, many state regulations require a dog food to guarantee the minimum percentages of crude protein and crude fat, and the maximum percentages of crude fiber and moisture.

How to Properly Calculate and Compare
Wet vs. Dry Foods:
(Easier than You Think)

Using dry matter (simply discounting the moisture) will allow you to compare protein, fiber and fat levels “on the same playing field.” To calculate is not difficult: you need to divide the protein by the total dry matter.

The dry matter percentage of the product is 100% minus the percentage of moisture captioned on the “guaranteed analysis” part of the label. Then, to convert a nutrient guarantee to a dry matter basis, the percentage guarantee should be divided by the percentage of the dry matter, then multiplied by 100.

Example: a canned food guarantees 8% crude protein and 75% moisture (that is: 25% dry matter); while a dry food contains 27% crude protein and 10% moisture (or 90% dry matter).

Which has more protein, the dry or canned?

Calculating the dry matter protein of both: the canned contains 32% crude protein on a dry matter basis
(8 ÷ 25 x 100 = 32), while the dry has only 30% on a dry matter basis (27÷ 90 x 100 = 30). Thus, although it looks like the dry has a lot more protein, when the water is counted out, the canned
actually has more.

It is especially important to look at the moisture guarantee for canned foods: AAFCO regulations stipulate the maximum percentage moisture content for a pet food is 78%, excepting products labeled as a “stew,” “in sauce,” “in gravy,” or similar terms.

The water imparts qualities for appropriate texture and fluidity. Some of these exempted products have been found to contain as much as 87.5% moisture. That extra water may not appear significant: until the dry matter contents are compared. Example: a product with a guarantee of 87.5% moisture contains 12.5% dry matter; only half as much as a product with a 75% moisture guarantee
(25% dry matter).

Consumers should also be wary of how these levels are realized. Example: the amount of protein is not reflective of its worth: it is a protein’s digestibility and its biological value that are important. Protein can come from just about anywhere: often, from non-nutritious sources like by-products (leather, hair, feathers, chicken beaks, “poultry litter,” and other manufacturing debris), or that enigmatic meat substitute… gluten. Gluten is what remains from grains (wheat, corn or rice) after the all of the starchy carbohydrate is washed out. This rubbery protein residue can be considered as a sort of vegetable-based protein concentrate. Within protocols for “least cost mix” manufacturing, glutens represent an appealing means to cheaply boost claimed protein levels: the parent company may integrate glutens into its recipe in order to position its product at a certain price point.

[5]
NUTRITIONAL ADEQUACY STATEMENT

Any claim that a product is “complete,” “balanced,” “100% nutritious,” or that suggests a product is suitable for sole nourishment when it is not, in fact, nutritionally adequate for such purpose is a potentially unsafe product, and is misbranded.[16]

A “complete and balanced” pet food must be substantiated for nutritional adequacy by one of two means. The first is for the food to contain ingredients formulated to provide levels of nutrients that meet established AAFCO laboratory profile, and may be captioned as: “(Product Name) is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles.” The alternative is for the product (or: the “lead” member of a “family” of products) to be tested using the AAFCO Feeding Trial Protocol(s). Such products may bear the statement: “Animal feeding tests using AAFCO procedures substantiate that (Product Name) provides complete and balanced nutrition” to meet the needs of a healthy dog, at the specified life stage.

A product labeled as a “snack” or “treat” is not required to bear a nutritional adequacy statement. However, unless a product that does not meet either of the 2 methods is conspicuously labeled as a “snack,” “treat,” or “supplement,” it must state “this product is intended for intermittent or supplemental feeding only”; (See: “The Minimal Standards of an AAFCO Feeding Trial”).

The AAFCO nutrient level standard for “Complete and Balanced” dog foods are stipulated per 1,000 kcal (calories). That means: for each 1,000 kcal of dog food in your bag or can, AAFCO requires specific minimums of protein, fat, and certain vitamins and minerals. AAFCO regulations are the same for every adult dog, regardless if the dog is high activity (requiring more calories a day) or if the dog is low activity (requiring
less calories a day).

FEEDING DIRECTIONS

Feeding directions instruct the consumer on how much product should be offered to the dog. Minimally, they should include verbiage such as “feed (X) cups per (X) pounds of body weight daily,” and logically, are a spare guideline, (and many cases, properly be seen as encouraging overfeeding), since breed, activity level, physiological factors, and environment should be incorporated into the decision. Exceptions for puppies or nursing mothers are typically added.

CALORIES STATEMENT (not required)

Although not required for AAFCO approval, the American Veterinary Medical Association voiced support for mandatory calorie content statements on dog foods and proposed requirement of a “not evaluated by FDA” disclaimer on pet foods bearing health-related claims. Dog foods can vary greatly in calorie content, even among foods of the same type (dry or canned), or “formulated” for the same life stage. Manufacturer directions also vary, so the number of calories delivered in a daily meal of one (similar) food may be quite different from another. The best way to compare products is to know the calorie content.

The number of calories in a product roughly relates to the amount of fat, although varying levels of non-calorie-containing components, such as water and fiber, can manipulate this correlation. “Diet” or specialized “indoor” and “senior” animal formulations are commonly ordinary recipes that are reconfigured to have higher levels of indigestible fiber substituting for calories in a given quantity of food. The fiber is often wood pulp (sawdust) but labeled “cellulose.” Cellulose is a cheap binder, emulsifier, anti-caking agent, and can be used in diet foods to resemble fats. Extending a food in this way would necessitate altering additives, so that the nutrient profile remained constant across the new, less calorie-dense recipe; and the guardian should rightly question what the implications of those changes may be.

If a voluntary calorie statement is made on the label, it must be expressed on a kilocalories per kilogram basis. Kilocalories are the same as the calories on human food labels; while a kilogram is a unit of metric measurement equal to 2.2 pounds. Manufacturers may also express calories in familiar household units (example: “per cup”). Even without this additional information, however, you can make meaningful comparisons between products and pick the product best suited for your dog's needs.

“Unqualified” Claims

AAFCO certification concerns nutrient claims. “Quality” as a descriptive term is not identified by AAFCO, and in its Official Publication, (AAFCO Regulation PF7 Nutritional Adequacy) pet food labels may include “an unqualified claim, either directly or indirectly,” without the need to be backed by any scientific data. These claims are “advertising puffery,” or: statements that consumers would know are not meant to be taken literally.

In fact, AAFCO rules would prohibit a manufacturer who used ingredients to the standard for humans (USDA inspected and approved: instead of feed grade meat that can include meat that’s expired, diseased or contaminated with drugs) to caption them as such in the ingredient list of a product: (AAFCO Regulation PF5 requiring that “[a] reference to quality or grade of the ingredient does not appear in the ingredient statement.” AAFCO thus makes it illegal for the highest-quality pet food manufacturers to differentiate their ingredients from those of poorer quality on the label. Clearly, this regulation protects the interests of companies that use lower-quality ingredients.

The FDA, in its regulatory role, works to ensure that a food is safe, free of contaminants, and truthfully labeled. Many pet foods are labeled as “premium,” and even “super” or “ultra premium”; others flaunted as “gourmet” items. The FDA has no standards to protect consumers from misleading unqualified claims of superiority using such expressions, and consumers should be especially vigilant when considering the true value of high-end dog food.

Although it may be generally true that more expensive foods are made with higher quality ingredients, such terms have no AAFCO designations and products labeled this way are not required to contain any different or higher quality ingredients; nor are they held up to any higher nutritional standards for AAFCO labeling compliance.

“Structure-Function” Claims: UN-naturally “Natural”?

The term “natural” is often used on dog food labels as an especially potent marketing tool, although it has no official definition, and is substantially meaningless. AAFCO stipulates that “natural” only means an ingredient that is not subject to a chemically synthetic process.

According to the FDA: “From a food science perspective, it is difficult to define a food product that is ‘natural’ because the food has probably been processed and is no longer the product of the earth. That said, FDA has not developed a definition for use of the term natural or its derivatives. However, the agency has not objected to the use of the term if the food does not contain added color, artificial flavors, or synthetic substances.”

For a low-quality dog food, a statement “has everything needed for a healthy skin and shiny coat” requires no scientific substantiation. It is a structure-function claim governed by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994. This act, amending the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, required the FDA to permit claims that foods “help,” “maintain,” and “support” body structure or functions, so that dietary supplements were allowed greater leeway in making health claims. As such, structure-function claims are generally left to the discretion of manufacturers.[17]

The AAFCO has developed a feed term definition for what types of ingredients can be considered “natural,” and “Guidelines for Natural Claims” for pet foods. Those categories marketed as “holistic,” “ultra healthy,” and “premium” often emphasize the use of “human-grade” meat sources only, without meat by-products. Similarly, AAFCO has no official definition of this term, and wrote to pet food manufacturers in 2004, advising that using it is “false and misleading.” It is important to note that, AAFCO only governs its own approval for the dog food packaging itself, and has no authority over websites or advertising. Also, the growing awareness of the realities of pet food manufacture subsequent to the 2007 recalls has led vendors to misuse the term “human-grade” without revealing that while indeed intended for human consumption, ingredients may in fact be rotted, moldy, and vermin infested salvage of
“human grade” warehouses.

Of three kinds:

1) artificial
flavoring,
2) artificial
coloring, and
3) artificial
preservatives.

Artificial flavoring is rarely used to make dog food, because those words would be noticed by the alert consumer, and, regulatory loopholes offer alternatives to the necessity of using such terms.

“Animal Fat” is Just Another Commodity…

The Conundrum of Carrageenan?

Carrageenan is an additive used as a thickener and emulsifier (a stabilizer: as a gelling agent, preventing moist processed ingredient components from separating, as they bind to food proteins), in nearly three quarters of canned dog and cat foods. It is extracted with alkali from a combination of red seaweed (Rhodophyceae, Chondrus crispus) and red algal species. Essentially, carraggeenan is used as a substitute for fat.

Carrageenans are highly sulfated polysaccharides: non-nutritive carbohydrates such as starch, cellulose, or glycogen, whose molecules themselves consist of bonded sugar molecules with different molecular structures. There are differing types, which vary in solubility and ability to bind and form gels under different conditions; and are generally classified by weight, with “food grade” carrageenans being “high molecular weight.” Food-grade carrageenan is classified by viscosity, but the inflammatory, “low molecular weight” type poligeenan is still present in varying percentages, and exposure to the processes of digestion (heat, acid, digestive enzymes, and bacteria) increases the detectable amount of poligeenan (it can be absorbed).

One review also suggests that there may be no substantial difference between “food-grade” (undegraded) and degraded carrageenan, since the latter is present in the former, perhaps
as much as 25%.

A 2013 report from The Cornucopia Institute described that “Degraded carrageenan [poligeenan] is such a potent inflammatory agent that scientists routinely use it to induce inflammation and other disease in laboratory animals, to test anti-inflammation drugs and other pharmaceuticals.”

The report, further updated in 2016, discusses that, for decades, peer-reviewed research (including publicly funded scientific literature) has demonstrated that carrageenan increases presence of free radicals, (toxic byproducts of oxygen metabolism that can cause significant damage to living cells and tissues in a process known as oxidative stress), disrupts insulin metabolism, and, because they are recognized as invaders, trigger an immune response that induces inflammation, a precursor to degenerative joint diseases, and cancers.

The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011

The pet food industry is gearing up to meet the requirements of newly passed (January 2011) Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA), which grants the FDA broader authority to regulate and supervise the growing and production of food. It is considered the first major piece of federal legislation addressing food safety since 1938, and was prompted by a number of food contamination cases in the 2000s. FSMA aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus of federal regulators from responding to contamination to preventing it.

Expected to influence the general environment is the growing criticism the FDA has endured owing to its perceived lack of focus as it investigates illness and death of dogs from imported chicken jerky treats. In February of 2013, FDA abruptly released its inspection report of the Denver, CO plant of Kasel Associated Industries, and warned the company that it would invoke its new mandatory recall authority: Food Safety Advocates suggested this was a a defensive reaction to that withering appraisal.

Through this new jurisdiction, FSMA imparts to the FDA authority to recall food in the case of contamination or illness. This may be subsequent to a Prehearing Order to Cease Distribution and Give Notice, or a “423(a),” the “last chance” letter. Additionally, farms will be required to track their food and implement strategy to deal with recalls or outbreaks of disease, and give FDA officials access to their records in this instance. The bill will also require food importers to verify that they meet US food safety standards. Small farms that sell locally or sell less than $500,000 a year are exempt from these new rules. Also exempt: facilities that produce food solely for non-human animals.

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point

Part of the bill is the requirement for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), which is discussed in an industry website, petfoodindustry.com, as creating “apprehension” among manufacturers concerned about the economic impact of implementing HACCP in their plants. Its seems fair to criticize that even despite the 2007 recalls, the pet food industry does not have such a plan already in place, as part of ordinary business practice.

Its also worth noting the contradiction: while the Pet Food Institute—the industry’s aggressive lobbying arm with the US Congress—claims that “Pet food products are among the most highly regulated products in grocery stores,” those in the business acknowledge otherwise, and finally: in print. In the October, 2010 pet food industry publication EXtru-Technician (a publication focused on extrusion form manufacturing of pet food pellet/kibble), an article provides manufacturers details for establishing their HACCP plans: “it is important to remember that currently there is no legislation for safety in the petfood processing industry. FDA simply states now that petfood suppliers must produce Salmonella-free products.”

The Petfood Forum and Petfood Workshop is held annually. According to a press release in 2011 from Pet Food Industry Magazine (WATT Publishing: Mount Morris, IL; an affiliate member of The Pet Food Institute): “This leading industry event offers more expert content and networking than ever—plus, learn about new safety requirements during Petfood Workshop.” Also: “This seminar will help you understand and prepare for the new US food safety regulations by bringing you face-to-face with experts on: How to prepare for—and survive—an FDA inspection; (and) Creating and improving a HACCP program.”

Interestingly, WATT Publishing, after consulting with its “owners, advisors, and business partners,” about “what kind of risk does it pose,” has refused to allow the press, representatives of consumer groups, or the public access to the annual conference, (even as US$1,700 paid attendees), stating that: “they” (the manufacturers, ingredient suppliers, and importers) “are very protected.” So while consumers support the industry (US$29.88B in 2017, in the US), the industry is reluctant to reveal to consumers what goes on inside, where exhibitors at the Forum speak about what buyers of their products are feeding their animals.

(These numbers continue from the previous page of this essay):

[12] The three major co-packers in North America are: American Nutrition (Ogden, Utah), Evangers (Wheeling, IL), and Menu Foods (Pennsauken, NJ).

Reports indicate that Menu Foods, which had been producing 95 brands, received word of a possible contamination with some of its products as early as December of 2006. The company, however, did not acknowledge receiving the first complaints of sick pets until February 20, 2007.

On February 26 and 27, the Chief Financial Officer of Menu Foods, Mark Wiens, sold approximately half of his Menu Foods stock, referring to that timing as a “coincidence.” On February 27, 2007, the company began internal testing of its food, which it later described for press inquiries as ordinary “taste testing,” denying that it was owing to accumulating complaints. When the test animals began dying, the company began investigating possible problems on March 2, 2007; and on March 16, 2007, issued a US nation-wide recall for dog and cat foods produced at two of its facilities between December 3, 2006, and March 6, 2007.

The Veterinary Information Network estimated that 30,000 to 50,000 animals were affected. Based on reports received by the FDA (with acknowledged underreporting), the US Attorney’s Office identified deaths of 1,950 cats and 2,200 dogs.

The poisoned product was imported by ChemNutra Inc. (Summerlin, NV) into the US and purchased by Menu Foods (brands from: Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Mars, Inc., Nestlé Purina PetCare Co., Royal Canin, The Iams Co. and Procter & Gamble). Known through advertising as “The China-Source Experts,” ChemNutra imports ingredients for pet food, animal feed and pharmaceuticals from China for North American manufacturers.

In 2008, a US federal grand jury indicted ChemNutra Inc. and its owners and its owners, Sally Qing Miller, 43, and Stephen S. Miller, 57, of Las Vegas, NV. In 2009 the Millers and the company pleaded guilty to one count each of distributing adulterated food and selling misbranded food: Class A misdemeanors. The Millers were each fined $5,000 and given three years probation in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, MO; ChemNutra was fined $25,000. In addition to ChemNutra and the Millers, two Chinese companies and their leaders — Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co., Ltd., and Mao Linzhun; and Suzhou Textiles, Silk, Light Industrial Products, Arts and Crafts I/E Co., Ltd. and Chen Zhen Hao — were indicted in the US. However, federal prosecutors were not able to proceed, as the US does not have an extradition treaty with China. More than 100 class-action suits arose out of the incident, against defendants Menu Foods, Nestlé Purina PetCare Co., Wal-Mart, PETCO and others. Menu Foods was accused of fraud for intentionally delaying notification to consumers for months. Those cases were consolidated and addressed by a $24 million settlement in 2008: reduced to a $12.4M distribution to claimants. Menu Foods was bought out by Simmons Pet Food in August, 2010.

[13] A ruminant is a mammal (example: cattle) that has a four-compartment stomach, differing from monogastrics, (examples: people, dogs, and pigs), who have a single-compartment stomach.

A ruminant digests plant-based food by initially softening it within its first stomach, then regurgitating the semi-digested mass, cud, and chewing it again. Ruminating is the process of re-chewing the cud to further break down plant matter and stimulate digestion. In the first two chambers, the rumen and the reticulum, the food is mixed with saliva and separates into layers of solid and liquid material; solids clump forming the cud, the cud is regurgitated, chewed slowly to completely mix it with saliva, breaking down the particle size. Fiber, especially cellulose (sawdust) is primarily broken down into the three volatile fatty acids (ethanoic, propanoic, and 3-hydroxy butanoic) by microbes of bacteria and fungi; protein and unstructured carbohydrates are fermeted. The degraded digesta, (now in the lower liquid part of the reticulorumen), then passes into the next chamber, the omasum, where water and inorganic mineral elements are absorbed into the blood stream. It then is moved to the true stomach, the abomasum, (the equivalent of the monogastric stomach), where it is digested here in a similar way. Finally, digesta is moved into the small intestine, where the digestion and absorption of nutrients occurs.

[14] By-products are ground, rendered, and cleaned slaughtered meat carcass parts such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, unborn fetuses, bones, heads, and intestines (and a small amount of feathers in the case of chicken). The AAFCO definition for Meat by-products: “The non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth and hoofs. It shall be suitable for use in animal food. If it bears name descriptive of its kind, it must correspond thereto.” Despite this, in 2015, Mars Inc. had to defend its Pedigree dry food, admitting that the “wires” consumers were complaining about were actually pig hair, and arguing that they were nutritious and that dogs liked eating them; (in 2018, consumers complained about metal shards in the same product).

[15] Normal redox regards the biological system's ability to readily detoxify reactive intermediates or to repair the resulting damage. Disorder in the normal redox state of tissues can cause toxic effects through the production of peroxides and free radicals that damage all components of the cell, including proteins, lipids, and DNA.

[16] In October of 2018, the US District Court in St. Louis sentenced two companies, the Feed Division of Wilbur-Ellis Co. (San Francisco) and Diversified Ingredients (Ballwin, MO), to pay combined fine of $7 million for shipping adulterated and misbranded pet food ingredients to pet food manufacturers. In April, Wilbur-Ellis pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce. Diversified Ingredients, Inc., a commodities broker, merchandiser, and distributor, pleaded guilty in July to one misdemeanor count of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce and one misdemeanor count of introducing misbranded food into interstate commerce.

“Chicken meal” and “turkey meal” dog food ingredients shipped from a Wilbur-Ellis facility in Rosser, TX were adulterated and misbranded through the use of cheaper substitute ingredients, such as feather meal and feed grade chicken bone by-product meal, and adulterated and misbranded by omitting premium ingredients, such as turkey meal, from products identified as turkey meal.

The complaints arose from the 2014 suit filed by Nestlé Purina against Blue Buffalo Co., Ltd. for false and misleading advertising: “Through Blue Buffalo’s advertising and promotional efforts in which it advocates its products as made with “only the finest natural ingredients” and free from “less than desirable” ingredients such as chicken/poultry by-product meals, corn, and preservatives, Blue Buffalo has become a pet food brand that consumers have come to associate—falsely—with very high, “ultra-premium healthy” pet food,” (4:14-cv-00859).

Within days, Blue Buffalo counter-sued Purina with a false and misleading advertising lawsuit. The dispute evolved into multiple lawsuits including a consumer class action lawsuit that resulted in a $32 million dollar settlement, and eventually, the criminal charges with fines and penalties.

While it may appear that the FDA recognized the importance of preserving the integrity of the food supply for animals, the reality is that it is not illegal to feed dogs pets feathers and bones (waste of human food industry)…the companies were disciplined only only they did not disclose feathers and bones were in the ingredients. As such, the ingredients were not properly labeled, and are termed “misbranded” thereby, and “misbranded” pet foods are, by definition, “adulterated.” The interests of consumers—being denied reasonable access to definitions of dog food products (they are owned by AAFCO)—were not a concern of the court.

[17] Marion Nestle, Pet Food Politics (The Chihuahua in the Coal Mine), 163, Univ. of CA Press, 2008.

[18] Ted Kerasote, Pukka’s Promise, “Should Wolves Eat Corn?” 199, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013; also (among others), National Renderers Association, Disposal (Rendering) of Deceased Animals from Los Angeles Country Animal Shelters, Fact Sheet, April 8, 2004.

N.B.: This essay is written for informational purposes. We are not medically trained, nor legal experts. Our goal is to build awareness of concepts and define common terminology to stimulate creative thinking, so that you may effectively conduct your own research. We draw your attention to concepts, issues or authors that are or may be important to the subject at hand, but do not consider that our interpretation or sourcing is necessarily complete. This essay is by nature, narrowly focused: there are numerous scholarly books on this topic which we would encourage you to seek out.

“… She waits for me to finish up what I'm doing before we go outside;
for me to finish talking with someone during our walk; for me to figure out when she is hungry.
She waited for me to finally realize where she liked to be rubbed.
And for me to finally begin to figure her out.
Thanks for waiting, kiddo.”

—Alexandra Horowitz, (Inside of a Dog)

N.B.: This essay is written for informational purposes. Our goal is to build awareness of concepts and define common terminology to stimulate discussion. We draw your attention to issues and concepts that are or may be important to the subject at hand, but do not consider that our interpretation is necessarily complete. Links are in blue & will illuminate when you pass your mouse over them. Nothing in this page is intended to be interpreted as advice or endorsement of any product. Any person who intends to rely upon or use the information contained herein in any way is solely responsible for independently verifying the information and obtaining independent expert advice if needed.