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I know a lot of folks on this forum care a great deal about what they feed their pets. There are numerous threads debating the merits of various foods.
After reading the review in Whole Dog Journal, I bought the book and read it straight through in one sitting. Now, I try to be careful about what I feed my animals and I thought I knew a lot about pet food production and the 2007 recall of melamine-adulterated foods. After reading this book I was amazed not only at what I didn't know about pet food and the recalls, but also at what I didn't know about the interconnections between pet food and human food. It's positively scary.
Many pet food companies don't actually manufacture their own foods. They develop a recipe and turn it over to a manufacturer to produce. The book documents the lax oversight that many companies have over the facilities that actually manufacture their pet foods. In some cases, the manufacturing facility knowingly introduced ingredients into a company's food that were not listed on the recipe and not listed on the ingredients label on the packaging. Company testing of the manufactured product was not timely nor comprehensive enough to catch the adulteration. Because the company had limited control and oversight over the manufacturing process, in most cases they didn't know where the ingredients in their pet foods came from.
I will now only feed my animals food that is manufactured in a facility owned by the company that owns the brand and that will tell me where it's products are sourced.
Some of the melamine-adulterated pet food was sold as pig food, chicken food and fish food. Before the recall some pigs that had eaten melamine-tainted food were slaughtered and eaten by consumers. The FDA initially stopped the slaughter and sale of the remainder of the animals that had eaten the tainted food, then released the pork, chicken and fish into the human food supply stating that the contamination was insufficient to cause human harm. This is the same ingredient that killed over a thousand cats and dogs and made many more ill.
What I learned from this is that it's up to me to do due diligence on what my animals and I eat and where food comes from.
I will now only feed my animals food that is manufactured in a facility owned by the company that owns the brand and that will tell me where it's products are sourced.
I wonder how many of the dog food companies are left that do that .
I don't know. I'm investigating. I'm feeding Merrick right now. Wellness won't tell me where their food is made, because it's "proprietary information"! I'm waiting to hear from Natura.
I don't know. I'm investigating. I'm feeding Merrick right now. Wellness won't tell me where their food is made, because it's "proprietary information"! I'm waiting to hear from Natura.
Oh no way! I'm currently feeding my dogs Wellness Wellbars .
I don't know. I'm investigating. I'm feeding Merrick right now. Wellness won't tell me where their food is made, because it's "proprietary information"! I'm waiting to hear from Natura.
I was the spokesperson for a couple of local dog groups during last year's Menu Foods recall, and I spoke with most of the premium brands to find out who manufactured their food. It was incredibly aggravating getting info from some of these companies.
Wellness told me the same thing, that it was "proprietary information". The only thing they were willing to tell me was that they use outside manufacturers, and some, but not all, of their canned food was made by Menu Foods (but not involved in the recall). They refused to tell me who makes their dry food.
If the info I got from these companies has not changed since last year, Natura manufactures their dry food at their own plants. Their canned food is made by Menu. Merrick told me they make all of their products themselves.
Of course, as we found out with Canidae now being made by Diamond, manufacturers can change, so the info I got last year might not be 100% accurate anymore.
Last edited by themudpuppy; 09-19-2008 at 10:25 PM..
They said that Natura owns and operates two manufacturing facilities, both of which are AIB rated as Superior, organic certified, APHIS registered, and ISO 9001:2001 compliant. Dry food is made in those plants. Canned food is made by Menu, but Natura maintains final review and strict approval of all formulations including type and quality of ingredients.
They said there is a worldwide shortage of some vitamin premix components so they do have to rely on Chinese supplies to ensure balanced nutrition. They are making progress in sourcing ingredients from the USA and/or Europe. Despite their pledge in March not to source product from China, they now realize that it will be impossible for them to guarantee that their foods are free from Chinese-sourced ingredients for the near term. They are ensuring they have detailed information about the exact origin of each ingredient and certificates of analysis to guarantee the purity of each product. They contine to test for cyanuric acid and melamine.
Natura makes EVO, Innova, California Natural, Healthwise, Mother Nature and Karma foods.
I swear by Blue Buffalo food for my dog. Of course, I did work for the company at one time (just a weekend rep, but they're a really caring, great company). I know they were using outsourcing to produce their food, but they were going to change to inhouse after the melamine fiasco. I just emailed them to see who they use.
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Just heard from Natura...
