The reason things went wrong...

[Beowulf]

I work at Back to Basics Food for Pets. I am not here to promote the product. I am here to share my knowledge of pet health and the pet food industry in general. I have nearly a decade of experience in pet food ingredients, nutrition, manufacture, marketing, standards, import/export regulations, etc. Allow me to be your window into the pet food world insofar as I have experienced it. I have nothing to hide for our company and fully believe in full transparency in both government and industry. I promise you not to dance around any question if I'm unsure, I'll tell you I'm unsure so you can move on and hope you will inform me when you find out. I don't have a degree in anything, but my 2 best friends are (I shit you not) a Veterinarian and a Food Nutritionist (no wonder I was destined to sling pet food). After years of listening to them and forming my own opinions, I can often go toe-to-toe with the both of em'. So this is what I bring to the table: I'm an uncertified professional in a business and personal life that is intimately tied to pets, nutrition and pet food operations... if for whatever reason you can't get over the fact that I'm a company "pawn", then I guess I have no chance of ever talking to you anyway. Cheers to Evolution!

In light of the growing number of recalls that are affecting the health of pets worldwide, I think it's very important to understand exactly why the pet food industry is vulnerable to things like this. The root of the problem isn't China or testing or regulations, those are only involved parties... the root of the problem is that there is troublesomely large demand by pet food companies for the low-quality ingredients they put into their bags. Low quality ingredients that are just not subject to the standards of human-grade foods. They do it to cut corners and make more profit, and I would not be surprised there is at least 1 US company involved and that China is being used as their scapegoat... I say this because it would not be the first time they have have followed this line of thought.

There is growing speculation by the FDA that the melamine was added intentionally, not to do harm, but to elevate the protein level reading for the ingredients. Understand that the fillers that have been contaminated are cheap, pet-grade ingredients to begin with and that increasing the levels of protein sadly increases their value to the commercial pet food market.

If the adding of the melamine was an intentional motive, it really is not much different from what pet food companies have been doing for decades: Using fillers, by-products and low-quality ingredients to formulate a "food" that reads well in percentages but that is comprised of junk. A good architect builds a structure of out of strong wood and metal, that same structure can be emulated with cardboard and tin but will always lack the integrity of a solid foundation.

Wheat Gluten, Rice Protein, and Corn Gluten have the current public focus at the time of this writing due to the direct and immediate effect the contamination has had on pets around the world. But these ingredients are just scratches on the surface of what pet food companies use to cut corners and increase porfits. A common word for these lackluster pet-grade ingredients is "Fillers" and they are absolutely prevailent in the commercial pet food industry. Corner-cutting tactics such as using these fillers in pet food and devising questionable methods to increase readable percentages are devious,dangerous and never have the health of your pet in mind.

The companies that have been involved in the recall certainly did not know that a dangerous contaminant like melamine would find it's way into these ingredients, but they can not be held totally blameless because these ingredients are based on bottom-line motives to begin with and not on quality health for your pets.

Luckily there ARE pet foods that refuse to buy into these shady practices and who offer a sound diet made with only real whole food ingredients. Just because the rejected/altered human food supply is available to the pet industry does not mean that all pet food manufacturers must use it. A respectable pet food will always make mention of the quality of it's ingredients and will acquire them from only Human-Grade food suppliers.

It is very easy right now to get caught up in the blame game, and there is a lot of blame to justifiably be dealt, but an immediate, responsible action that every pet owner can take to immediately reverse the tide of questionable ingredients in the market is to simply stop buying foods that contain them. A good rule of thumb when looking at an ingredient list is to question any ingredient that is preceded by or ends with anything other than "meal" or a descriptive term such as "ground" or "dried"... this is usually a good indicator that it is a food extract/by-product/derivitave and not the food itself. Real food ingredients are always safe and always healthy. It's almost silly to have to say it, but the fact of the matter is that what is best to eat is: Food.

-Mike

[Tommyboy]

Real nice post.

[Beowulf]

Thank you, I put a lot of thought into how I could best say it.

I've been dealing with the knowledge that pet foods use ingredients we can't for years and it's a true bane for the pet food companies out there who are trying to do things right. None of us, including the big companies involved, could have wished for something like this to happen, but because it HAS happened it's about time the whole world took a good long look at their pet food bags and made a choice.

There are plenty of honest foods available and there always have been, but we can't depend on our government to make the choice for us, it's up to us to diminish the demand of these ingredients by refusing to buy products that contain them.

-Mike

[lacy]

I would like to know the honest brands/companies you are referring to. I am trying my hardest day and night to try and find them. Anyone care to share who you think they are?? Please!! 

[Beowulf]

Well to start... give us a call at 1-800-219-2558 or check out our website at www.backtobasicspetfood.com
Beyond that, a very good resource for pet food info is The Whole Dog Journal. Every Feb. they list their favorite dry foods and they have a solid history of non-endorsement and unbiased reporting... much like these forums. Of all the favorite food lists I've seen, the foods on theirs have been for the most part unaffected by this recall.

You can email me at mikew@beowulfs.com with any questions

[Cindy Nevarez]

I am going to stick my neck out and say I think Evangers is one of those.

[lacy]

Thanks guys! I appreciate your feedback!

[Beowulf]

Yep! Evangers made the 2007 list... not quite the decade long track record we have (wink wink) but a commendable accomplishment regardless. I just checked out their dry dog food ingredients and it looks good from top to bottom with my only question being why Chicken "meal" is not first on the list... in my experience, not listing a meat "meal" source as the first ingredient can be misleading. Let me explain:

"Meal" means that it has been broken down into the form required to go into a kibble and that the water content has been removed.
This is important because 70% of meat in it's whole state is water weight. AAFCO allows for the ingredient to be weighed in either form and put into the ingredient list based on that weight. Because ALL meat eventually becomes "meal" if it's going into a kibble... I question the honesty of anyone listing a main meat source that is not followed by that word.

So here is what I naturally think when reading a list like Evangers: "Chicken, Ground Brown Rice, Chicken Meal..."
I assume that Brown rice (a good ingredient) is actually the dominant ingredient in the bag. I assume this because it's possible that the "Chicken" listed first is largely weighed with water so it can be placed first on the list, once it has been produced I would not be surprised to see it actually drop much lower.

This is not the worse thing in the world, especially when considering the obviously well thought list of ingredients that follows, but it IS one of the tricks pet food companies use to trick the public and I can't support it.

[Tracy]

My name is Tracy and I work for Evy at Kumpi pet foods.  I do not have your background and cannot talk chemistry at all, but I know Evy and watch her.  You talk about the Whole Dog Journal and I have been getting it for a long time since I like dogs.  They are like politcally correct or something and too many of the foods that they promote have the watery meat listed first.  Now that I know more about pet food I am surprised at what they recommend.

Evy really cares and anyone can call her at 303.699.8562 and talk with her and ask her questions.  She knows a lot and what she does not know, she calls her nutritionist and asks him.  I get lost sometimes when I get on the phone and listen to the two of them talk!!

But I can tell you that she is not into this for the money and she is not an all fancy kind of person.  She is down to earth and cried the other day when she remembered about losing her dog and how her company got started and everything.  It is fun for me now when I watch news on tv and sometimes I know I am seeing Kumpi dogs working and it is a very satisfying feeling for me.

The Whole Dog Journal thing.  I want to start telling people not to trust it so much.  It is better to go to websites and read and call the companys and talk with the people.  Do not trust everything you read, but it is still good to see what a company has to say.

You talked too about the 'whole' thing and that is a lot of why Evy feels so safe and good about her foods.  They are pure and whole and she uses all the right words she is supposed to use on her label.  What do you think about the dried beet pulp and then saying sugar removed after it?  I know it is wrong for companys to do that.

Tracy

[willyagogo]

A LOT of the posts in THIS topic are really starting to read like a "Pet Food Catalogue"..........

If advertising your products.....why not just start a new topic to do just that!

Sorry if I seem terse.....but really.....

[Tommyboy]

I think Beowulf DID start this topic, right?  Read this article, if you already have not.


http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/50747/?page=1

[Tracy]

Dear Willyagogo ~

I am very sorry.  I never want to do anything to make anyone mad.  I just thought because Mike said he was from a company that I could post here too.  I did not mean anything wrong and when you get to know Evy it is hard not to sound like a commercial.  Oooops, I will stop now.  Again, I am sorry, I do not want to do anything for you to not like her.

Tracy

[willyagogo]

Tommyboy:......I realize Beowulf started this topic...really I do!!

I read the article....I found it interesting.

As I posted..."I'm sorry if I am being terse,"........but it just rubs me the wrong way when I read about people's products.....more than once......

As I said...I do know...that Beowulf DID start this topic!..

[Mary K]

Tommyboy, I enjoyed the article you recommended we read. Would like to see more of that in our newspapers!
As for advertising here at the Forum, I think about this every day. It is a double-sided coin, or maybe triple-sided.
You have the folks who don't want advertising here because we would like to do our own research and not be influenced by any companies that come here to promote their products. We have been running away from that. We don't like advertising anymore. We are sensitive right now. And we feel we have been taken advantage of; that's understandable.
Then you have companies who are reputable and taking the blame along with the ones who are not. Those people feel this Forum is a great place to make their stand, where all the pet folks are talking about what to buy next. They, too, have been hurt! I can understand that!
Then you have some pet owners who also work in the industry and perhaps feel torn with their obligations and responsibilities. They can't help but say something about what they know. I am glad I am not one of those!!
Therese has opened the Forum to everyone as long as we all get along and don't fight like cats and dogs.     So if we don't want to hear it we can always not read these particular threads.  I think I can live with this set-up. There, I just had to summarize it for myself, and I feel better!  I finally got it figured out 

[garypen]

Obviously, fillers and non-meat sources of protein are a big problem with pet foods. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have thousands of dead and sick animals from eating tainted glutens. But, that is NOT the reason things went wrong. It is one reason why pet owners should avoid the big, mainstream, and/or cheap pet foods. But, the real reason is bigger.

There is no real regulation of the pet food industry when it comes to ingredients, labelling, manufacturing, or nutrition. The FDA lets AAFCO, a pet food industry consortium, set the standards for pet foods. That is like letting the prisoners run the prisons.

The pet food industry needs serious regulation and enforcement, as we have for human foods. You can get rid of all the glutens, fillers, amd such from pet foods, and they could still be using rendered carcasses, road kill, 4D animals, etc. They could be using brown rice, a good grain, imported from China, which could mean it's embedded with harmful fertilizers and pesticides.

Of course, we should avoiid these fillers. But, until the safety of all ingredients can be insured, as well as the manufacturing process, any food can end up being unhealthy for our animals.

And, lets not forget people who can't afford the better foods. They may only be able to afford foods using non-meat proteins and fillers. There are plenty of people like that. That's just the way it is. They need to know those ingredients are safe as well.