NEWS

The Pet Food Dilemma

by Robyn Grant

Welcome to globalization! Who would've guessed that the pet food you thought to be "natural" wholesome ingredients, promising a lifetime of health for your pet, is manufactured in Canada, with ingredients sourced from indeterminate origins (in this case, China, who also outsourced materials). THEN, when the product was shipped, was labeled as a "non-food", escaping FDA inspection. The product – a melamine-tainted wheat gluten, serving as a cheap protein additive – somehow escaped quality control and was added to more than a hundred different recipes that the company manufactures for various labels, all branded as "exclusive".

If you fed the foods in question, there is a good chance that your pet ate poison. Such recalls are more the rule than the exception. Memories are short. How quickly we forget. Do you remember the last pet food recall? It was only last year. Since mid-March when this story exploded, not only have other pet foods been recalled for different reasons, but the recalls pertaining to the melamine poisonings are expanding to include foods being fed to chickens and pigs, and now to farm fish.

In this case, aside from the terrible tragedies, the story of the current massive pet food recall uncovers facts behind the “business as usual” ways and means of production. It reveals how any one of a number of final products is brought to market.If we are what we eat, what is it we are eating? Is it OK to say that what we don't know won't hurt us? Most of us don't want to know about slaughterhouses, offal, and byproducts. Nor do most of us want to know about cost-cutting efficiencies realized by outsourcing. Consider, too, what the ethics of industrial farming practices are. Add questionable practices of today's global agribusiness collectives. To tell the truth, the truth hurts. What is our responsibility in this? The present recall suggests that no matter what our global or local concerns, it's important to do homework, follow-up, and follow-up again.

We can no longer assure ourselves that the regulating agencies are there for us. In fact, they are governed not "by the people and for the people," but by and for the corporations. Powerful lobbyists and congressional cronies’ interests seem not necessarily in line with health or safety. Is it any wonder that the recent claim by the FDA – that they have neither the manpower nor the resources to ensure against such massive recalls – is more or less true?

What's to be done when the fox is in the hen house?

In response to the present recall, a “food czar” will be appointed. Do you think that such an appointment will solve the problem?

• Consider: It's logical to turn to your vet, yet veterinarians know health issues, not nutrition. Unless she is a nutritionist, don't be afraid to challenge your vet's expertise. It's a well-kept secret that many veterinarian-recommended special diet foods may be of questionable quality. Most veterinarians often unwittingly become marketers of certain products themselves, selling products about which they know only as much as their distributor sales reps have provided. Just as pharmaceutical companies woo doctors, pet food manufacturers woo veterinarians with incentives such as a percentage of sales. A few years ago, I opened a can of veterinarian-recommended food. I found an entire chicken foot with a metal band tied to a string. Where is the quality control in that? The manufacturers would have you believe that the highest standards are adhered to. Obviously, they aren't always.

• Safe Action: Do your own homework. Go to the American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition web site at www.aavn.org; www.api4animals.org; or go to the American College of Veterinary Nutritionists at www.acvn.org.

• Consider: The massive pet food industry ($16 billion annually) is represented by well-funded interests telling the story that animals should never eat people food, suggesting pets will be healthy only if they eat the nutritionally balanced products packaged for you.
• Did you know that until 1950, there was no pet food industry? Most every dog and cat ate what their family ate.

• Safe Action: Many excellent homemade diets exist. All you need are recipes and time to make them.

• Consider: Most pet food retailers know nothing about what they're selling. Large chain stores are fine, but how much do the sales associates really know? Pet boutiques give wide choice for pet fashion, but most, like vets, know nothing about the food they sell. Also consider that too much of a good thing might not be such a good thing after all. Many of us think that when we find a good food to stick with it. Well, yes – and no. Just imagine if you, whose biology is not all that different from dogs, had to eat the same thing every day for the rest of your life.

• Safe Actions:

1. Find a few different foods which agree with your pet. By rotating diets every few months, you not only introduce beneficial dietary changes, you also help prevent against possible toxic buildups that come from eating the same foods repeatedly. In fact, this is how many allergies develop. Also, should the food be subject to future contamination recall, chances of toxic build up in your pet’s system are less. Also, switching to another food will be an easier option. If your pet food provider isn't well-informed about ingredients and manufacturing processes, move on.

2. Learn how to read labels. If you can decipher what has meaning and what doesn't, you can understand the difference between the marketing message and what you're actually feeding your pets. Learn what nutritional balance is best for your pet. Commercial? Homemade? Raw? Plain? Supplemented? A very good resource for labeling information and education is found in an article titled, "Pet Food: The Lowdown On Labels," by Linda Bren. Information is also available at www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2001/301pet.html.

Terrible stories are common, are they not? They are, after all, everyday news. Nonetheless, when the story is the death of a loved one that comes to soon, when its cause was preventable, when political and corporate indifference is inexcusable, it is then that we can't quite fathom the loss. It is then that the common story becomes uncommon. It is then, in our helplessness, we feel not only a sense of outrage, but the shock of betrayal. In our heart of hearts, our instincts tell us that yet another social contract has been broken.

The silver lining in a crisis is a chance to step back and take stock of ourselves and our choices. As the I Ching reminds us, "there is no blame." After all, what good comes from pointing and blame? Remember, there are "opportunities to be found in adversity.” Use this adversity to become aware of your choices. Pay attention as this recall is unlikely to be the last.