PET FEED

This document is provided to pet food consumers as a resource to better understand pet food regulations,and the lack of enforcement of those regulations. Provided by Susan Thixton, pet food consumer advocate;

TruthaboutPetFood.com and AssociationforTruthinPetFood.com.

All pet foods and treats fall into two different classifications:

Provided by Susan Thixton, pet food consumer advocate; TruthaboutPetFood.com and AssociationforTruthinPetFood.com.

Human Grade Pet Foods

● Human grade pet foods are “food” - required toabide by all U.S. Federal food safety laws.

● All ingredients and supplements are humanedible.

● Manufactured by the same safety standards ashuman food.

● Formulated for pet consumption, but are heldto the exact same food safety laws as humanfood.

● Labeled with the term “Human Grade” alertingpet owners all food safety requirements havebeen met.

● Raw pet foods are not allowed to be labeled asHuman Grade. Raw pet foods meet the legalrequirements of the claim IF they aremanufactured under USDA inspection (emailthe manufacturer for verification).

Feed Grade Pet Foods

● Feed grade pet foods are not required to abideby U.S. Federal food safety laws. In fact, theFDA allows feed grade pet foods to violate U.S.Federal law.

In April of 2019, the FDA stated:“We do not believe that the use of diseased

animals or animals that died otherwise thanby slaughter to make animal food poses asafety concern and we intend to continue toexercise enforcement discretion.”

● Ingredients and supplements are NOT requiredto be human edible.

● NOT required to be manufactured by foodsafety standards.

● Formulated for pet consumption only, not heldto U.S. food safety law.

● NOT labeled with any term or disclosure toalert pet owners to feed grade quality and/orpotential use of illegal inferior ingredients orinferior manufacturing conditions.

● All styles of pet food can be feed grade; dry,can, raw, dehydrated, etc.

All pet foods and treats fall into two different classifications:

The legal definitions (fromAssociation of American Feed ControlOfficials - AAFCO) of theseclassifications are:

“Feed Grade: Material that hasbeen determined to be safe,functional and suitable for itsintended use in animal food, ishandled and labeled appropriately,and conforms to the Federal Food,Drug and Cosmetic Act unlessotherwise expressly permitted by theappropriate state or federal agency(Suitable for use in animal feed).”

“Human Grade: Every ingredientand the resulting product are stored,handled, processed, and transportedin a manner that is consistent andcompliant with regulations forcurrent good manufacturing practices(cGMPs) for human edible foods asspecified in 21 CFR (Code of FederalRegulations) Part 117.”

On the surface these twoclassifications of pet food oringredients don’t seem that different.But…with further information, you’llsee they can be as different asdaylight and dark.

Human grade pet foods are simple toexplain, they are food. When a petfood label includes the words“Human Grade” (ignore websiteclaims, more on this to follow), this

means that all ingredients andsupplements are required to be thesame quality you’d purchase in agrocery for your human family, theyare human edible quality. Humangrade pet foods are alsorequired to bemanufactured by thesame food safetystandards that humanfood is manufactured by.The diets are formulatedfor cats and dogs, buteach ingredient qualityand manufacturingstandards are the exactsame as for human food.

Feed grade pet foodsdiffer from human gradepet foods in that theycould be manufactured with humanedible quality ingredients and perhuman food safety standards, but theFDA does not require them to be.When you read the definition of feedgrade carefully, it states that feedgrade pet foods or ingredients abideby law – unless they don’t; “conformsto the Federal Food, Drug andCosmetic Act unless otherwiseexpressly permitted by theappropriate state or federal agency.”In other words, feed grade petfoods/ingredients abide by federallaw, UNLESS they are permitted toviolate law by state or federal petfood authorities. What is “expressly

permitted” by state and federal petfood authorities in feed grade petfoods/ingredients is shocking.

In April 2019 the FDA stated:

In October 2016, the pet foodconsumer group Association for Truthin Pet Food filed a formal requestwith FDA asking the Agency toprohibit their allowed use of diseasedanimals and non-slaughtered animalsinto pet food. The FDA responded2 ½ years later with the abovestatement, refusing to prohibit thesedangerous and illegal ingredients intopet food. FDA continues to “exerciseenforcement discretion”, allowing petfoods to include illegal ingredients.

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U.S. federal law has no definition offeed grade (the only definition is theAAFCO definition). In fact, federallaw clearly defines pet food as“food”.

The Federal Food Drug and CosmeticAct (Title 21, Chapter 9, SubchapterII, Section 321 Definitions; generally)defines a food as:

“(f) The term "food" means (1)articles used for food or drink forman or other animals, (2) chewinggum, and (3) articles used forcomponents of any such article.”

U.S. federal law also clearly definesan adulterated or illegal food, whichhappens to be word for wordopposite of what FDA allows intofeed grade pet foods.

The Federal Food Drug and CosmeticAct (Title 21, Chapter 9, SubchapterIV, Section 342 Adulterated food)defines an adulterated or illegal foodas:

“A food shall be deemed to beadulterated” (in part) “(5) if it is, inwhole or in part, the product of adiseased animal or of an animalwhich has died otherwise than byslaughter;”

Per the Federal Food Drug andCosmetic Act, diseased animals andanimals that have died otherwisethan by slaughter are adulterated,illegal in ANY food. But, per theFDA’s own words and AAFCO’sdefinition of feed grade, feed grade

pet foods are allowed to containillegal ingredients.

And the worst part of this - no petowner is warned or alerted. Pet foodlabels are not required to disclose iftheir products contain illegalingredients, no pet foodmanufacturer is required to disclosetheir use of illegal ingredients.

From February 3, 2017 through May31, 2019 - more than 91 millionpounds of pet foods were recalledbecause they containedpentobarbital, a drug used toeuthanize animals. The fact that thismuch pet food was recalled becauseit contained ‘an animal that diedotherwise than by slaughter’(euthanized animal) should not giveconsumers comfort. All 91 plusmillion pounds of pet foods wererecalled because of the actions of apet owner and a TV station journalist- NOT from regulatory surveillanceof the pet food industry for illegalingredients.

On New Years Eve 2016 a pet ownerin Seattle, WA fed her five dogs a canof Evanger’s Hunk of Beef dog food.Within minutes of consuming the petfood, the dogs began staggering andfalling down. The dogs were rushedto an Emergency Clinic, but one dog -Talula - had eaten more of the foodthan the others. Talula died.

This pet owner had a necropsyperformed on Talula. “A toxicology

report later revealed the cause of herdeath. A drug called pentobarbital, aeuthanasia agent, was found in boththe dog’s stomach and the Evanger’sdog food. ‘If this sample camedirectly from a can,’ the toxicologistwrote, ‘this is an urgent matter.’ “

The lab results were provided to FDAand a recall of the pet food occurreda month later on February 3, 2017.

Television station WJLA journalistLisa Fletcher interviewed the Seattlepet owner and multiple consumeradvocates regarding the euthanasiadrug discovered in pet food. Thetelevision station tested 62 cans ofpet food across 24 brands. Theirresults found pentobarbital in 15cans of dog food. The televisionstation provided their results to FDAand a recall of multiple varieties ofcanned Gravy Train, Kibbles n’ Bits,Ol’ Roy and Skippy dog foods wasissued shortly after.

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Provided by Susan Thixton, pet food consumer advocate; TruthaboutPetFood.com and AssociationforTruthinPetFood.com.

In October 2018, Dr. StevenSolomon, Director FDA Center forVeterinary Medicine stated in aspeech to industry (obtained throughFreedom of Information Act request)“Most of us probably think thatpentobarbital comes from a couple ofbad actors that use a euthanizedanimal when they know they aren’treally supposed to. New evidence isshowing that it may be a much morepervasive problem throughout theanimal food supply than originallythought, and we have reason tobelieve rendered products can be asource for pentobarbital, if notcontrolled.”

There is no certain answer to thisquestion. The only thing we have tobase a response on is informationthat has come to light thus far.

The typical procedure FDA followsafter a recall is to perform a traceforward and trace backwardsinvestigation with the pet foodmanufacturer. Trace forwardinvestigation is to document all retail

and wholesale locations the recalledpet food was shipped to; efforts toassure that all recalled pet foods areremoved from store shelves. Thetrace backwards investigation is todetermine the source of theproblem. As example, in the tracebackwards investigation of the GravyTrain, Kibbles ‘n Bits, Ol’ Roy andSkippy recall, the FDA andmanufacturer Smuckers determinedthe source of the pentobarbital was afat ingredient purchased from asupplier in Pennsylvania (JBS/MOPACin Souderton, PA).

When the source of the pet foodproblem is determined through tracebackwards, a similar trace forwardand trace backwards investigation istypically performed at the ingredientsupplier. In the case of the GravyTrain, Kibbles ‘n Bits, Ol’ Roy andSkippy recall investigation at supplierJBS/MOPAC, authorities learned thatJBS/MOPAC also shippedpentobarbital contaminated fats toKentucky pet food manufacturerChampion Pet Foods.

Unlike previous pet food brands thatrecalled pet foods due topentobarbital contamination(Evangers, Gravy Train, Kibbles ‘nBits, Ol’ Roy and Skippy), ChampionPet Food did not recall it’s productseven though the pentobarbitalcontaminated pet foods “was furtherdistributed to the store/consumerlevel.”

What we have evidence of,ingredients sourced from animals

that have died other than byslaughter have been documented inboth kibble and canned pet foods,and from low price ranged grocerystore type pet foods to high priceranged pet store type pet foods.

Based on historical evidence andFDA’s open permission for any feedgrade pet food to utilize ingredientssourced from diseased animals oranimals that have died other than byslaughter, the answer to the question‘what type of pet foods use theseillegal ingredients’ is:

Any feed grade pet food couldcontain ingredients sourced fromdiseased animals or animals thathave died other than by slaughter.Pet owners have no guarantee of thequality of ingredients with feed gradepet foods.

Information provided in a 2017 FOIArequested document - the FDAinspection report of a Mars Petcareplant in Columbus, Ohio stated:

“Inspectional Observations1. Failure to inspect, segregate,or otherwise handle rawmaterials and ingredients used inmanufacturing under conditionsthat will protect the animal foodagainst contamination andminimize deterioration.”

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“2. Failure to take effectivemeasures to exclude pests fromyour plant and protect againstcontamination of animal food bypests (Discussion Item from10/27/2016 EI).”

The FDA determined Mars Petcarefailed to protect ingredients fromcontamination and deterioration. Aswell, the FDA inspection showed thatMars Petcare failed to prevent pestcontamination of the pet foods madethere.

But...the FDA did not require MarsPetcare to recall the pet foods madein this plant, deterioration ofingredients and contamination of petfoods by pests were ignored -because...this is a feedmanufacturing plant not held to thesame safety standards as humangrade standards.

No. Some feed grade pet foods useonly edible ingredients andmanufacture in clean conditions. Theproblem for pet owners is there is nomethod to deterime whichmanufacturers are using safeingredients and producing in cleanplants and which are not.

Association for Truth in Pet Foodformally requested FDA properlylabel pet products as food or feed tobetter inform pet owners about thequality of ingredients andmanufacturing standards they arepurchasing. Unfortunately, theFDA response stated they didn’tbelieve a feed/food labeling of petproducts “would help consumers toknow specifically how pet food differsfrom human food.”

Human grade pet food labels aremarked with the words “HumanGrade”. Feed grade pet food labelsare not marked as feed grade.

Ignore any website claims (or othermarketing material) for human gradeclaims; regulatory authorities do notscrutinize pet food websites ormarketing materials for false ormisleading claims. Many pet foodsmake claims of human gradeingredients on their websites -including images of human ediblefoods. Many of those human gradeclaims could be false. The onlyverification pet owners currentlyhave is the pet food label - look forthe words “Human Grade” printedon the label.

Any style of pet food can be feedgrade (kibble, can, raw, dehydrated,and so on). Currently only cooked,dehydrated and raw pet foods areavailable as “Human Grade”. Raw petfoods however are not allowed tomake the human grade claim ontheir label. Raw pet foods that are

manufactured in a USDA facilityunder inspection meet the legalrequirements of “Human Grade”.

Feed grade pet products areregulated by the exact same lawsand contain the exact sameingredients as cattle feed, chickenfeed, and pig feed; all products thatare meant to be stored in a barn -not brought into homes.

Human grade pet foods areregulated by the same laws ashuman food and contain the sameingredients as human food.

At the very least, we believe that allpet owners should be provided withfull disclosure on the pet food label ifthe product is a pet ‘food’ abiding byall food safety laws or if the productis a pet feed that could contain illegalingredients. We encourage all petowners to ask the FDA to issue a petfood/pet feed labeling standard forpet products. Pet owners can emailthe FDA at: AskCVM@fda.hhs.gov

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1 - Page 10 https://www.aafco.org/Portals/0/SiteContent/Regulatory/Committees/Ingredient-Definitions/Minutes/Ingredient_Definitions_Minutes_2016_Midyear_Isle_of_Palms.pdf

2 - See “Final Response Letter from FDA CVM to Association for Truth in Pet Food” https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=FDA-2016-P-3578

3 - https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title21-section321&num=0&edition=prelim

4 - https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title21-section342&num=0&edition=prelim

5 - FDA Enforcement Report records https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/enforcement-reports

6 - https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/02/08/this-seemed-impossible-dog-food-recalled-after-euthanasia-drug-found-in-can/

7 - https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/news-events/fda-alerts-pet-owners-about-potential-pentobarbital-contamination-canned-dog-food-manufactured-jm

8 - https://wjla.com/features/7-on-your-side/fda-to-investigate-after-abc7-exposes-euthanasia-drug-in-dog-food

9 - FOIA received document https://truthaboutpetfood.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Solomon-speech-2018-8268_CVM-Complete-Response_ENC.pdf

10 - FOIA records https://truthaboutpetfood.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/FDAFOIA-Champion-Petfoods-FEI-3011918744-PADA-Notification-Letter-5-23-18-6-Pages-CK.pdf

11- FOIA records https://truthaboutpetfood.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/FDAFOIA2108-9409encl2.pdf

12 - FOIA records https://truthaboutpetfood.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/MarsEIR2017.pdf

13 - https://truthaboutpetfood.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Addendum-to-Citizen-Petition-FDA-2016-P-3578-0004-3.pdf

Provided by Susan Thixton, pet food consumer advocate; TruthaboutPetFood.com and AssociationforTruthinPetFood.com.