AAFCO regulations not fair to healthy foods

[Beowulf]

Hey all, Mike with B2B here again...

I just wanted to vent on a problem that us higher-quality pet food companies have to deal with everyday.
AAFCO (The American Association of Feed Control Officials) are the semi-official regulators of the pet food industry. While the FDA and USDA have their own limited involvement, it is mostly AAFCO who makes the recommendations to them for pet food labeling laws, regulations, etc. ALL pet foods must adhere to their regulations, and while most of them are in place to assure that minimum requirements are met, there is a lot of restriction in what we are allowed to say regardless of the fact that the statements are absolutely true.

There is no real way for us to distinguish "Quality" of ingredients used on a pet food ingredient label. Granted, the lowest grade ingredients have to be marked as "by-products" and confusing extracts/derivitaves have to be marked as such, but what about the pet food companies that go out of their way to obtain ingredients from dependable, high-quality suppliers?

Our case in point: We and a few others are made entirely of ingredients supplied by "Human-Grade" food suppliers. We have all of the documentation to prove it and pay a lot more to produce because of it. We also use USDA certified and inspected manufacturing facilities, who for the same reason are more costly to manufacture. We go the extra mile to provide a healthier food for your pets, but how can we tell you?

We've been fighting for years with AAFCO about being able to list "Human-Grade" ingredients for what they are. We get knocked down every time. Their line is that it will be confusing to consumers and people may think it's okay for human consumption.. BS!!! it's a kibble!

Meanwhile, companies like Timberwolf Organics use the term "Organics" in their brand name when not a single ingredient in their food is Organic... We try to get the truth through the AAFCO system and are blocked, but they can use loopholes in the regulations to trick consumers. Timberwolf is a damn fine food that I would honestly feed my own pet, but their tricky marketing schemes make me raise an eyebrow.

Anyway, I hope to see AAFCO doing more to support the good guys and a little less to defend the bad ones, especially in light of what has been going on. Oh, and to buy a copy of the official ingredient definitions and regulations, you'll have to give AAFCO 50 bucks... It is my opinion that this information should be freely available so that any consumer can read the "official" ingredient definitions themselves.

Pet foods have been allowed to be far less than they should be for too long and it's about time everyone made a choice to do better.
Support your favorite High-Quality pet food and know that they have always had your pet's health in mind, they offer a balance of quality ingredients in a convenient kibble/other form so that you don't HAVE to prepare meals yourself, and most of them do it better than most average consumers ever could anyway.

-Mike

[Lisa C]

Mike,

I have a question for you.  I've really only been researching pet food since the first recall, and as you can imagine, all of the info out there can get overwhelming.  Particularly, the rules regarding pet food labeling are just about impossible to figure out.

Regarding "human grade," I know that the Honest Kitchen's dog foods have "human grade" on the packaging.  So I'm confused as to why your food can't.  What exactly are the rules regarding that terminology?  Thanks for any help you can give me on this!

[Geff]

I'm not surprised, the larger companies making junk food are likely donating more to the Republicans then you are.

A similar situation in human food is that wild Seafood (i.e. caught in the ocean) can not be labled organic............

[Mary K]

Oh, and to buy a copy of the official ingredient definitions and regulations, you'll have to give AAFCO 50 bucks...

Mike, Can one of us order this list of definitions and post them here for everyone, or is there a copyright that you know of? Thanks for your help, here, Mary

[Tracy]

Mike -

I know what you mean about the small company thing.  I work for Evy at Kumpi and there are so many things that go on in the industry that I never knew about.  Many things are unfair and I watch her just keep on plowing through.  Back in January I was looking for a job and now I have a purpose or that is what it feels like anyways.  It has been disillusioning sometimes to learn about pet food and how crooked some of the companys are.  I do not like the Whole Dog Journal any more and I am suspicious of it, I really am.  It started out one thing, but now it is getting so political it seems and like everyone should live and die by the Whole Dog Journal.  They recommend a lot of foods that have a lot of grain in them.  I don't trust it any more.

I can tell everyone that Evy really cares a lot and she is always telling people about how she was not trying to start a pet food company and that is true.  We work in the spare bedroom of her house and I did a lot of work at the warehouse last week. 

Anybody who has any questions about pet food, she has been on the phone for hours talking to people.  Call her and find out yourself.  And since she does the money buy back guarantee she teases people into buying larger bags of food to save money, like not buying just the four pound bag, but buy the twenty or larger since she gives you back your money anyways so why not just go for it.  She is funny.  And it feels good to me to work for someone like her.

Call Evy, check out Kumpi.com and kumpikat.com and it is great food.  I have a viszla female and she shines!!!  I also have a couple of cats and their coats are really soft and shiny.

I started out, mostly because I can relate to you about working for a company that cares.  But the Whole Dog Journal does not know what they are talking about I think.  One year they even said that by products were okay and then they changed their minds. 

I hope everyone is having a good Sunday 

Tracy