Consider This Before Feeding Merrick

[tahitigirl]

I don't want to upset anyone, but I used to feed my dog Merrick, and have stopped.

Do a little research on a company called Tejas Industries and you will begin to see why.  I called the "plant" telephone number for Tejas Industries and talked to a supervisor working out in the plant.  I asked him if they made pet food and he said yes.  I asked which brands they make and he told me they make both Merrick 5 Star and Beef'n More pet food.  He said they use the same ingredients in both foods.  Beef'n More is a food that sells at Sam's Club for 49 cents for a large can.  Tejas Industries is a rendering plant owned by Garth Merrick.  You do the math.

[Tommyboy]

Now that is some pro-active truthdigging. Cheers to you.

[Cindy Nevarez]

Thanks for the info. I appreciate the concern.
I am already aware though of the "double dealings" of Merrick as we had an extensive discussion about them back on the original blog. I chose them because of the USA ingedients, "made in-house criteria" I had at the time of the original recall. Mind you, I wouldn't buy everything they make, since I am wary of the apparent loose laws regarding what can be said is in the food and what is actually in the food. So I decide when I'm reading the ingredient list what these things 'might really' be. Likely, I will again make changes in the future regarding choosing their food as this recall works its way through. I am always mindful of that. Again, thanks.

[cookiesweetie]

   How can i find out more info on Merrick and if they are using 4d animals in their foods?
how can we believe anything any companies are telling us?
cookiesweetie

[tahitigirl]

Hi cookiesweetie.  I don't think we can find out 100% for sure.  They won't tell you.  You can call them, but they will himhaw around that question.  I have called them.

Tejas Industries
Plant Phone # (806) 364-0951

I also found out they have a service (company name Hereford Services, same telephone number) that will come out to people's farms and pick up dead or dying animals.

If you call the number on the Merrick Pet Foods website and start asking questions, you will be transfered to a woman named Ruby.  I talked to her and she denied knowing anything about a rendering plant.  How can you not know when the building is adjacent to the building you work in?  Same address, 110 Merrick Lane.  If she had just been honest, I would feel better about their company.  But if they try to hide something that is so easy to find out, what else are they hiding?

Also, here is a direct quote from Garth Merrick that appeared in the Pecos Enterprise:
Merrick uses the things that are not fit for human consumption. "So we do the tails and ears the noses and the chins and the hooves and different bones," says Garth Merrick, president of the company. "It's all processed in such a way that is totally sanitary and safe for anything that would eat it. We're in the middle of cattle country, of course, so it's our hope to continue to utilize everything but the moo."
The url for this article is http://www.pecos.net/news/arch2001/021301o.htm  You have to scroll down to the Pet Toys article.

4D animals are allowed by the FDA to be used in pet food.  For information on this, you can call FDA Vet, Randall Lovell - (240) 453-6857

To be safe, I no longer feed Merrick.  I'm not intested in feeding my Yorkie "Everything but the Moo".

You just have to decide what you personally feel is best for your pet.

[garypen]

Unfortunately, without products made by Menu and American, that leaves very few canned food choices. There is Evangers, who also manufactures for Canidae/Felidae, and a few others. But, my cats didn't care for Evangers and Felidae, and vomited from both. (I thought they looked bad, as well.)

I think I will stick with Merrick until Natura opens their own facility. The Merrick feline varieties that I have tried, Pot Pie, Thankgiving, and Turducken, are filled with chunks of what certainly appear to be real meat, in addition to vegetables. It smells good. Looks good. My cats love it. And, they appear healthy.

Do I have doubts about the absolute quality and source of Merrick's meat content? Quite frankly, yes I do. But, they are minimal based on my above experiences. However, I will probably at least try, and possibly switch to, the California Natural canned food, once Natura opens their canning facility.

[cookiesweetie]

   i did call Tejas plant. He said the meat they use in Merrick foods are usda approved. No downers or 4d meat is ever used. the meat in beef n more is different than the 5 star merrick cans.

I also talked to a lisa is customer service. Her supervisor said Garth Merrick is a private investor in a rendering plant. He uses these animals only in making of hides.
I spent 6 hours yesterday trying to find out the truth. Lisa said I could eat the canned food safelyl and she feeds it to her animals. She said no way do we want to ruin our reputation.

I still don't feel 100% ok about Merrick.

[tahitigirl]

Hi cookiesweetie.  I'm not sure what to think.  When I called Tejas Industries, the man I talked to was very forthcoming about giving me the information - Unitl I mentioned 4D animals, then his attitude changed and he didn't want to talk anymore.  He told me the beef in both Merrick and Beef'n More was the same beef.

One thing I know for sure, Tejas Industries is a rendering plant.  According to the Texas Cattle Feeders Association, Garth Merrick is the president and sole owner.  Tejas Industries is the parent  and holding company to Merrick Pet Care.  These facts are easily documented.

Here is a quote from the Texas Business Report:
"Tejas Industries, the holding company for Merrick Pet Care, is investing about $900,000 in a 35,000-square-foot shipping facility next to its manufacturing plant in HEREFORD."  http://www.texasbusinessreport.com/newexpandedmanufacturers.html

Who knows whether or not they use 4D animals in their pet food.  It's very possible they don't.  But what do they do with all the meat they pick up?  Do they throw it away?

Also, I wonder why Garth Merrick tried to convince the FDA to allow him to use SRMs (Specific Risk Materials - Materials known to transfer mad cow disease) in pet foods.  https://web01.aphis.usda.gov/regpublic.nsf/168556f5aa7a82ba85256ed00044eb1f/b5773ca9a76035d487256edf00540410/Body/M2?OpenElement

I want to believe Merrick pet food is the best, healthiest pet food on the planet.  I want to believe Garth Merrick is the most honest, ethical person ever born.  After all, I fed tons of this stuff to my Yorkie.  However, with everything I've found out, and what I was told by the Tejas employee, I just can not, in my heart, trust this company.

If you feel you can trust them, then do so.  I hope they are as wonderful as they claim to be.

I don't want to be responsible for harming the reputation of a company who is doing things right - (only using the highest quality meats, etc.)  However, I also don't want to be responsible for feeding my pet something that might hurt them or cause them health problems.  I personally do not know what exactly goes into Merrick pet food.  I have never been there and have not seen their operation.  I only made my original post because I felt people should be aware of the stuff I had uncovered.  I believe knowledge is power.  The more we know, the better decisions we can make for our pets.

[cookiesweetie]

Hi tahitigirl,
thanks for all the leads. I went to the pecos news, and I can't find the specific ariticle that you are referring to.

This is such upseting news.....
thanks,
cookiesweetie

[Cindy Nevarez]

In this whole back and forth thing with Merrick...going back nearly 2 months now, this is the most forthcoming of info from them yet, which is kinda saying a lot considering that it's not really that much info.

However, I'm starting to form a theory about them; It's Merrick Senior and Merrick Junior right? What if Senior and Junior don't necessarily see eye to eye on how to run a pet food company (this is usually true anyway between fathers and sons in family business)? What if they came to an understanding that if the 'family's dirty laundry' were aired that that would hurt their business more than anything else? At least that would be true before the recalls hit.

So if this is the case, then they are in a dilemma right now. They are in a trap because if they tell the world that they are running the 2 plants on different philosophies from one another, that will pretty much kill them. Dad looks like the evil one. Son looks like the evil one for putting up with it.  But both are running their businesses within their rights...that is until now. Now they'll have to make choices for change especially if the end result of this whole debacle is a drastic change in regulation.

I guess we'll see what really happens eventually.

[tahitigirl]

Cookiesweetie - On the Pecos Enterprise article, there are several unrelated articles on the web page.  The Merrick article is the 4th article.  http://www.pecos.net/news/arch2001/021301o.htm

1st article - Marriage inTV land
2nd article - Constitutional Minute
3rd article - Maxey park colors
4th article - Pet toys from Hereford's used cow dealer - This is it.

Cindy - You are right about it being father and son.  It is possible that Tyler (son) has different views about what should go into a pet food than his father does.  I hope so.

One thing that still bothers me is the fact that the first time I called Tejas Industries, the man who answered the phone told me that the same exact ingredients are put into Beef'n More (49 cents per can) as Merrick 5 star, when I was paying $2.00 a can for what I thought was a special premium food.

After they told Cookiesweetie the ingredients were different, I decided to call again this morning.  This time, another man who answered the phone did not say "plant phone" when he answered.  Instead he said "County Services".  I said "what?  Is this the rendering plant?"  He told me it was, but that he was the guy in charge of scheduling the pick up of dead/dying animals.  When I asked him about the pet food, he said he could not tell me anything and that I would have to talk to the pet food customer service people.  I asked him what they do with the animals he picks up.  He said they are rendered and the bones are used in fertilizer and the tallow (fat) is sold as grease.  I asked him what they do with the meat.  He said they get rid of it.  He would not tell me how they get rid of it.  I asked if they put it in the pet food and he said no.  Because this guy sounded so different in his anwers than the first guy, I wonder if they have been told what to say now.  I hope this second guy was telling the truth.

I wish someone else on the board would call too and see what kind of answers they get.

I guess right now, I'm just scared.  I have 11 cans of Grammies Pot Pie sitting in my pantry gathering dust.  Since I found all this out, I have been cooking for my Yorkie instead of feeding any commercial food.

[garypen]

 

[jenny]

Just sent an email to Merrick:
Hi - I have been thinking of feeing my three cats your canned cat food, but keep seeing rumblings on the internet about your companies relationship to the rendering plant, what products from the rendering plant are used in your canned food, etc.  Here are some of the questions that people are asking - if you could answer these it would make me more comfortable using your food: 

* A forum poster was told by Merrick that the Beef'n More food associated with Garth Merrick has the exact same ingredients that are used in the 5 star dog food (which is much more expensive). 
* Relationship to Tejas (holding company) and associated Hereford services that picks up dead/dying animals (4D).  Are these used in your pet food?
* From an article in Pecos Enterprise as a quote from Garth Merrick that seems to imply you use these parts in your food, but do not disclose it as by-product on your labels: Merrick uses the things that are not fit for human consumption. "So we do the tails and ears the noses and the chins and the hooves and different bones," says Garth Merrick, president of the company. "It's all processed in such a way that is totally sanitary and safe for anything that would eat it. We're in the middle of cattle country, of course, so it's our hope to continue to utilize everything but the moo."
* Letter from Garth Merrick to FDA where it appears that Garth Merrick tried to convince the FDA to allow him to use SRMs (Specific Risk Materials - Materials known to transfer mad cow disease) in pet foods. 
https://web01.aphis.usda.gov/regpublic.nsf/168556f5aa7a82ba85256ed00044eb1f/b5773ca9a76035d487256edf00540410/Body/M2?OpenElement
Thank you for your response!  Many of us would like to believe that your product is as good as it appears to be, but are distressed about these finds!

Thanks!!

[bixlo]

Good luck getting a reply.  I have now sent them 3 emails.  4/19, 4/25 and again this morning.  All I asked about was their grains sources in light of the recalls and about the rumors of 4D animals.  No reply whatsoever to this day. 

Although I continue to feed my dogs and cats the wet and the dogs the dry food I am having reservations as the unanswered email days multiply.  I can't understand a company not even sending out a generic reply.  I've been completely ignored.  So as of this week the dogs are on Evangers wet but Merrick dry.  Cats are on Felidae dry and Kumpikat dry and Merrick wet.  They refuse the Felidae wet.  Nothing left to feed in the wet department (evangers uses vitamin k so I won't feed that). 

In any case, I am really upset by Merrick's utter avoidance of answering emails.  What is up with that?

[reddancer]

As posted elsewhere ( might have been here or on Itchmo), Evangers has stopped using menadione as of August last year. Someone sent them an e-mail asking about it and they replied that anything dated Aug 2011 or later does not have menadione in it. They are just using up the labels.