GMOs in pet food

http://gmoguide.greenpeace.ca/browse.php

Greenpeace Canada has put out a really valuable GMO Guide, available on this link.

So guess which pet food companies are on the list for including genetically modified organisms in pet food?
The list includes:

Colgate Palmolive
Hills Prescription Diet Pet Food
Hills Prescription Diet Pet Food
Science Diet Pet Food

Effem Inc.
Maltham
Pedigree
Whiskas

Nestle
Alpo Chomps (dog)
Alpo Snaps (dog)
Dental Diet (cat)
Fancy Feast (cat)
Friskies (cat)
Friskies Alpo (dog)
Friskies Alpo Chew-Eez (dog)
Friskies Alpo for Puppies
Friskies Senior (cat)

Take a look through the list to make sure that you aren't purchasing any other products for your household with GMOs.

If you want to learn more about GMOs, see this film: www.thefutureoffood.com

Citizens continue with pet food product testing

http://www.pfpsa.org/

Even though there have been 160+ class action lawsuits in the United States and more than a dozen in Canada launched since the pet food recalls began last March, 2007, tainted glutens from China are still entering the food supply in the USA in both pet and human food.

This group has started on testing products and posting the results online. As you can see, as of January, 2008, there were still PFI products being tested positive for melamine and cyanuric acid. These glutens were destined for both human AND pet food products. Do you really want to be eating melamine?

How will the tentative settlement with Menu Foods address this issue?

How will the FDA change its regulatory policies to ensure the safety of the food supply for both pets and humans?

If you haven't already submitted your comments to the FDA, I would urge you to do so. This is part of a process that is supposed to result in new regulations within the next two years. Hopefully between the class action lawsuits and regulatory changes we will see unsafe products and ingredients stopped before entering the food chain.

FDA wants public comments about pet food

After endless months and delayed launch dates, the form is finally ready to receive public comments on the FDA website.

I suggest that you print out these step by step instructions; or open up a separate page of your browser so that you don't get completely lost trying to find the comment form. It took me several hours of trying to find it, over several days.

It's important that we all let the FDA know what we think needs to happen on the regulatory front, since the Pet Food Institute is lobbying hard to keep its self-regulatory powers intact. As we all can see so evidently, self-regulation is NOT working.

Meeting Being Planned to Obtain Public Input for Ensuring the Safety of Pet Food
Docket Number 2007N-0487

GO TO:

http://www.regulations.gov/search/index.jsp

In the Comments box type in "pet food"

This page will come up:

http://www.regulations.gov/search/search_results.jsp?css=0&N=0&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+matchall&Ne=2+8+11+8053+8054+8098+8074+8066+8084+8055&Ntt=2007N-0487&sid=11920417CA26

Type in the docket number: 2007N-0487

Another page will come up

Click on: "Send a Comment or Submission".

You can type your comments in here. You might want to get them ready in advance and either just send as an attachment, or copy and paste the info.

You will also want to sign up for the "Notification" part so you can keep updated on the submissions of the Pet Food Institute and other corporate multinationals who have taken the position that it's fine to continue to let the industry regulate itself.

Alternatively, you can email your comments to:

Walter Osbourne -- he's the head veterinarian at the FDA in charge of collecting these comments
email: walter.osborne@fda.hhs.gov

UPDATE April 8, 2008: Mr. Osbourne has informed me that due to instructions on posting being distributed online and by email, if members of the public want their comments posted they have to notifiy "Dockets" of this.

"My contact at Dockets has explained to me that individual comments from
consumers are not routinely posted for Internet viewing because the
agency has found itself having to remove them once commenters learned
that 'the whole world' can view them via the Internet. So, when
consumers specifically request that their comments be posted, Dockets
will honor that request. This morning, I have asked that your original
comment be posted, per your request. I suspect it should be viewable by
the end of the day."

A public forum for comments? Wasn't that the purpose of this to begin with? And shouldn't members of the public be able to see all these submissions from both individuals and the industry with respect to this important issue?

FDA allows contaminated glutens to enter into USA

See this report:
http://www.fda.gov/ora/fiars/ora_import_ia9929.html

Are 160+ class action lawsuits not enough? The Pet Food Industry must think that class action lawsuits are cheaper to settle than actually changing the suppliers and ingredient formulations in their pet food; and the FDA is seemingly turning a blind eye.

PRODUCTS:
Wheat Gluten
Rice Gluten
Rice Protein
Rice Protein Concentrate
Corn Gluten
Corn Gluten Meal
Corn By-Products
Soy Protein
Soy Gluten
Soy Meal
Mung Bean Protein

PROBLEM:
Poisonous or Deleterious Substance
Unfit For Food
Unsafe Food Additive

"Despite its investigation into the matter, FDA has
been unable to determine who, in fact, the actual
manufacturer(s) are."

"As of April 26, 2007, FDA had collected approximately 750
samples of wheat gluten and products made with wheat gluten
and, of those tested thus far, 330 were positive for
melamine and/or melamine related compounds. FDA had also
collected approximately 85 samples of rice protein
concentrate and products made with rice protein concentrate
and, of those tested thus far, 27 were positive for melamine
and/or melamine related compounds. FDA's investigation has
traced all of the positive samples as having been imported
from China."

"The samples of vegetable proteins that have tested
positive for the presence of melamine and melamine
analogs have, thus far, been traced to two Chinese
firms, Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development
Co. Ltd. and Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Co.
Ltd. Records relating to the importation of these
products indicate that these two firms had
manufactured the ingredients in question. There is
strong evidence, however, that these firms are not the
actual manufacturers. Moreover, despite many weeks of
investigation, it is still unknown who the actual
manufacturer or manufacturers of the contaminated
products imported from China are."

"All of the contaminated wheat gluten has thus far been
traced to Xuzhou Anying. According to the General
Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and
Quarantine (AQSIQ) of the Chinese government, Xuzhou
Anying purchased its wheat gluten from 25 different
manufacturers and Xuzhou Anying may just be a
supplier. Press statements by Xuzhou Anying state
that it did not manufacture the wheat gluten it had
shipped to United States that has been associated with
the outbreak, but that it received that wheat gluten
from other sources not named in the press statements."

One point that hasn't been made in the mainstream media is that although these glutens are imported from China, some of these companies are reputed to be American-owned operations who have set up operations in China. From this report, it's even unclear who are the real manufacturers of the wheat gluten. Where was the wheat or corn grown? In China? or the US? Was it GMO wheat and corn, as has been suggested by some veterinarians critical of the PFI?

Now, do you think that would stop Fox News from blathering on (as they did last year during the recalls) about "communist wheat gluten" if they simultaneously reported that these companies were owned by Americans?

China's contaminated products are an ongoing problem to be sure. But if US companies are going to continue to do business with them by setting up companies in China and importing these contaminated products, the risk to our health, and our pet's health continues unabated.

I'd like to see the list of companies who were waiting to receive these shipments. And how many of them are American-owned.

How will the US class action settlement with Menu Foods affect the industry?

Press releases and news reports abounded yesterday with the April Fool's Day announcement that Menu Foods had reached a tentative agreement to settle the 116 class action suits in the United States.

According to a press release from the Menu Foods Income Fund:

"The definitive terms of settlement, together with a motion for preliminary approval thereof, are scheduled to be filed with the U.S. District Court on May 1, 2008, with the hearing scheduled to occur at 11:00 a.m. on May 14, 2008. The scheduling for Canadian court approval has not yet been determined, but is expected to occur in a similar time frame.

The settlement amount will be funded by the defendants, including Menu Foods and its product liability insurer. Menu Foods' estimate for recall costs remains unchanged at Cdn.$55 million."

Let's see what further details emerge over the next few weeks, if the negotiated settlement is a joke or if there is any real justice for the thousands of pet owners who were deceived by claims of "healthy and balanced" pet food products. You can see what my kitty Makena thinks of Menu Foods (her pic is above).

Will it result in a change of pet food formulations? Set the stage for changes to FDA regulatory changes involving the listing and inspections of ingredients at pet food company plants? Will it stop the formulating of carbohydrate-laden, species-inappropriate "formulations" that are being pushed by veterinarians so aggressively that have caused so many illnesses in our cats? Or will it merely mean that Menu Foods will be getting their glutens from another supplier?

If you haven't read the third amended legal brief by the Florida law firm that launched the US national class action on the basis of misleading advertising, you can read it here.

http://www.mflegal.com/petfoodlawsuit.html

Really, as Don Hamilton, DVM and author of "Homeopathic Care for Cats and Dogs -- Small Doses for Small Animals" says, raw diet is really the "only solution" for feeding safe and healthy food for your beloved pet.

The industry has failed us. Just because they are being forced to pay for the pain, suffering, illnesses and deaths caused to thousands of pets doesn't mean that everything is fine on the pet food front.

If you haven't switched to a good veterinarian that is trained in homeopathy, now is the time to do so. At least you won't have to argue with your vet about feeding a raw meat diet -- homeopaths understand the importance of diet in pet health and longevity, unlike many mainstream vets who unquestioningly believe the biased and untruthful pet food industry propaganda training they received in vet school.

What's really in cat food -- wet or dry?

Commercial cat food products are filled with the garbage and remnants that the leading multinational pet food companies need to dispose of. The pet food industry is an industry that "regulates" itself. How effective has that been?

Since there is no effective or comprehensive regulation or inspections concerning what goes into pet food, companies get away with using pet food as a dumping ground for contaminated and cheap ingredients.

If you haven't read Justine Patrick's article, read it here. Take an hour or so and make your way through it -- it's a thoughful, provocative piece that points out precisely where the regulatory problems are.

Justine Patrick is now a lawyer with a Pittsburgh law firm. This was part of her graduating thesis from Harvard.
http://leda.law.harvard.edu/leda/data/784/Patrick06.html

Cat guardians have learned -- often the hard way -- the dangers of feeding grain and carbohydrates to obligate carnivores such as cats -- over the long term, they develop FD, CRD, IBD and cancer since there are no long term tests done on any of these commercial products, which are laden with questionable preservatives and chemicals to make them "shelf stable." Feeding tinned foods for a lifetime can cause hyperthyroidism, which is documented in this article in the Science Daily.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070815122354.htm

The globalized, multinational companies that constitute the the Pet Food Industry want to convince members of the public that they should never, ever consider just feeding basic ingredients: ie a raw natural diet. They have spent extensive money lobbying against natural diets. In fact, at the time of the tainted pet food recall in March, 2007, the PFI, along with the FDA, was targeting the small and burgeoning raw food industry.

Tins themselves carry Bisphenol A which causes cancer. Aluminum poisoning is also an issue with eating anything from a tin over the long term. Cats are extremely sensitive to chemicals in our environment -- anything we can do to prevent their exposure to toxins, additives and chemicals is critical for maintaining a healthy and happy cat.

What's even worse are the ingredients in wet cat food and many jerky products: 3D and 4D meat. What is that, you might ask?

3D = dead, diseased, dying animals -- this can include (yes) roadkill, cats and dogs or any other animal
4D = decaying

Now any cat, in their natural habitant in the wild, would refuse to eat dead, diseased, dying or decaying (rotten) meat. But after the PFI gets through cooking it and adding chemicals in the lab to trick a cat into eating it they do.

Other poor quality ingredients, routinely dumped into wet food and cooked:
--stale bread (with the plastic and styrofoam wrapping still on it)
--wood chips
--dirt
--gravel
--sawdust

In tests done on pet food products during the recalls the following ingredients were identified:

--pentobarbital
--salmonella
--e. coli
--endotoxins
--melamine
--cyanuric acid
--acetaminophen
--acrylamide
--lethal amounts of glycoalkaloids
--BSE (mad cow disease)
--BHA and BHT -- preservatives used in packaging, rubber, petroleum products
--ethoxyquin - a rubber stabilizer

Note that the FDA asked the pet food industry, in 1997, to reduce the use of ethoxquin, which studies have linked to sterility, deformed offspring, cataracts and lesions of the liver, bladder and kidney in animals. Of course, reducing this toxin was only VOLUNTARY on behalf of the manufacturers. It has never been tested for safety in cats.

Commercial cat food is full of adulterated chemicals, additives, toxins and contaminants.

The price may be cheap -- 50 cents a tin -- but how cheap is it to feed your cat something that in the long term, causes health problems such as cancer? The vet bills alone are staggering, as the thousands of people affected by the class action suits can attest to.

Mainstream vets do not think of commercial food as a leading cause of illnesses in cats -- but they are happy to keep running the bill for test after test, or string you along with ineffective and costly "treatment" plans. Remember, vets are trained by pet food companies and the only nutritional information they receive as vet students are that from these corporate multinationals. Obviously veterinarian curriculum needs to be revamped -- PFI companies should not be tallowed any access to or way to influence veterinarian students. Since veterinarian colleges are publicly-funded institutions -- this is where the public has a role in writing letters and raising concerns to your local vet college or university.

A lawyer for one of the class action suits here in Canada was astounded by the veterinarian bills that resulted from the pet food recall. Note that these recalls are still ongoing. This is a firm that charges $750 an hour. Now, can you imagine? A lawyer being astounded by high bills?

I know people who have run up vet bills in the range of $5,000, $8,000, $10,000, $40,000. All trying to save their cat from the effects of poisoned cat food -- wet and dry.

My own bills for trying to save my beautiful 10 year old Siamese came to more than $5,000. Nothing the vets told me to do worked. None of them identified poisoned pet food as the cause of her illness and subsequent death.

Here's some info from Stats Canada on the Pet food industry:

"Canadian pet food imports substantially exceed exports and supply roughly one-half of the total Canadian pet food market.  Total imports of dog and cat food (HS230910) in 2004 amounted to US$290 million.  Imports from the United States alone totaled US$286 million, which accounted for 98% of the import market in 2004.
 
Total exports in 2004 of dog and cat food were US$137 million.  The United States is Canada’s largest export market for dog and cat food, with exports to the U.S. totaling US$102 million in 2004.  Japan was the next closest country for exports at US$9 million, followed by the Czech Republic at US$7 million and Germany at US$2 million."

Due to NAFTA, anything can get across the border into Canada. Virtually anything. Most of the pet food we have on the shelves here in Canada comes from the US.

Do you really want your cat eating 3D or 4D meat that is in most tinned foods? If you knew that, would you even buy it?

Raw Food Recipe with Real Bones for Cats - Chicken, Turkey, Duck, Cornish Hen, Rabbit

I've been told by many people visiting this site: great blog -- would love to see the recipe.






The recipe I am using comes from Anne at http://www.catnutrition.org

Anne's website completely changed my thinking about what I was feeding my cats. After reading her site, I stopped feeding all commercial cat food products. That was more than 1 year prior to the pet food recall scandal of March 2007. Obviously many cats have been getting sick from commercial pet food for a lot longer than when the companies finally, reluctantly, started recalling tainted pet food from their shelves.

If you can find a local butcher who will grind up a whole chicken, turkey, duck, hen or rabbit for you -- great. If not, you'll need to invest in a grinder to be able to make your own food at home. Getting a grinder is also relatively inexpensive. I have the Tasin 108 from www.onestopjerky.com. It's a strong enough grinder to handle grinding the bones.

The time and money you invest in feeding fresh real food to your cats will pay off in the long term. There is a bit of organization and a new routine to ensure your cat is always eating fresh -- or fresh unfrozen food -- but you will be amazed at the results. Your cats will be strong and healthy and will not suffer from any of the difficult to diagnose illnesses caused by commercial pet food. You will not have big vet bills and a sick cat to deal with, nor any of the attendant stress that goes along with that.

Remember there are no long term studies guaranteeing the safety of commercial cat food. There is no regulation of pet food ingredients in either Canada or the US.

By feeding a raw diet, all you need to do is look to nature: 40 million years of cats eating and thriving as obligate carnivores clearly makes the point. Cats do not need -- and cannot tolerate -- rice, soy, corn, wheat, fruits or veggies. Any cat food that has these items in it -- or anything called gluten -- is not something that they would search out and consider to be food. To counter this, the PFI companies spray chemicals and meat-flavoured digests on kibble to get cats to eat it.

Print out a copy of this recipe and put it on the counter every time you get ready to make food. Get all your supplements ready and at hand before grinding the meat -- that way you are organized and ready. I can make this recipe in less than 1 hour and that includes travel time to and from the butcher.

Remember if you are using this recipe to make rabbit, adding extra taurine is essential. Don't leave it out -- it's an essential amino acid for cats and rabbit is low in taurine.

Here's the recipe.

Raw Food Diet Recipe Made WITH Real Bones for Cats
2 kg [4.4 pounds] raw muscle meat with bones (chicken thighs and drumsticks or, better, a whole carcass of rabbit or chicken amounting to 2 kg; if you don't use a whole carcass, opt for dark meat like thighs and drumsticks from chicken or turkey)
400 grams [14 oz] raw heart, ideally from the same family of animal (in other words, don't use beef heart with a chicken recipe, use chicken heart with chicken; if no heart is available, substitute with 4000 mg Taurine)

200 grams [7 oz] raw liver, ideally from the same family of animal (in other words, don't use beef liver with a batch you're making of chicken; use chicken liver with a chicken batch; if you can't find appropriate liver, you can substitute 40,000 IU of Vitamin A and 1600 IU of Vitamin D--but try to use real liver rather than substitutes)

NOTE: If you cannot find the heart or liver and decide to substitute with the Taurine/Vitamin A and D, then remember to REPLACE the missing amount of organ meat with the equivalent amount of muscle meat. In other words, if you cannot find heart, you add another 400 grams of the meat/bones. If you can't find the liver, add another 200 grams of meat/bone.

16 oz [2 cups] water

4 raw egg yolks (use eggs from free-range, antibiotic-free chickens if you can)

4 capsules raw glandular supplement, such as, for example, multigland supplement by Immoplex

4000 mg salmon oil (see note at bottom of recipe*)

800 IU Vitamin E ("dry E" works well)

200 mg Vitamin B complex

(optional: 1/4 tsp. kelp and 1/4 tsp of dulse -- 1/2 tsp total; skip these two ingredients altogether if you're using free-range, 'organically raised' meats, as the nutrients they are meant to supply are amply available in the bone of truly healthy, non-conventionally-raised, so-called 'organic' meats)

(optional: 4 tsp. psyllium husk powder (8 tsp. if using whole psyllium husks; see note at bottom of recipe**)

NOTE: If you will not be using the food immediately and freezing for more than a week or two, toss in 4000 mg of additional Taurine to make up for what may get lost during storage. It is also not a bad idea to sprinkle extra Taurine from a capsule on the food as you're serving it two or three times a week, just to be certain your cat is getting plenty of this critical amino acid.

1. Remove the skin from the muscle meat. Chunk up (i.e., cut) as much of the muscle meat (minus most of the skin if using chicken or turkey, but leave skin on if using rabbit) as you can stand into bite-sized (nickel-sized, approximately) pieces. Save the chunked meat for later. Do not grind it.

2. Grind up the raw liver, any skin, raw meaty bones, and raw heart. Once ground, stir this meat/bone mixture well and return to refrigerator.

3. Fill a bowl with 2 cups of water and whisk everything (non-meat) except the psyllium. If you had to replace liver with Vitamin A/D or replace heart with Taurine, add the substitutes now. Add psyllium at the end--if you're using it-- and mix well. Finally, put the three mixtures together--the "supplement slurry" that you have just mixed, the ground up meat/bone/organs, and the chunks of meat that you cut up by hand. Portion into containers and freeze.

Don't overfill the containers. The food expands when frozen and you don't want lids popping off. Thaw as you go. The food shouldn't be left thawed in the refrigerator more than 48 hours before serving. To serve, portion into a 'zipper baggie' and warm under hot water in the sink. NEVER microwave the food. Cats like their food at something approximating "mouse body temperature."

*Every two or three days, I suggest sprinkling a few drops of fresh salmon oil from a newly-opened capsule on to the cats' food. The Essential Fatty Acids in salmon oil are extremely fragile, and since we do not know exactly how much gets lost during freezing, I think it's wise to use a bit of fresh salmon oil directly on the food a few times a week. Most cats love the flavor.
**Not all cats require additional fiber (psyllium) in their diet. If your cat has been eating low-quality commercial food for several years, especially dry food, she may have lost bowel elasticity and may benefit from the extra fiber. As a general rule, I recommend using psyllium when an adult cat first gets raw food. I rarely add much psyllium to my adult cats' diet. Bear in mind that some cats seem to get constipated without additional fiber, whereas other cats seem to get constipated if they get too much fiber. Each cat is unique, and you'll have to judge what works best for your cat.