"Nutritionally Complete" assurances for our pet food?

LDG said:

...and just because our pet food has problems because of regulatory problems in our food chain, doesn't mean it's something that shouldn't be addressed by the animal feed regulatory-related agencies...

(IMO)

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LDG said:

Edited to add: Well, now you're FORCING me to do the work to find out the extent to which heavy metals are regulated in people food.

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The Food Quality Advantage


Launched in 1993, Food Quality was the first publication to exclusively target the food quality and safety market. Nearly two decades later, Food Quality remains the established authority in the market as the science-based news magazine focused on quality, assurance, safety, and security in the food and beverage industry. A catalyst that unites industry professionals, Food Quality examines current products, technologies, and philosophies used in laboratories; tracks the deployment of tools that processors and the food service industry use; reviews regulatory and sanitation issues; and provides industry news and commentaries.

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Heavy metals can be toxic for humans when they are not metabolized by the body and accumulate in the soft tissues. Depending on the heavy metal in question, toxicity can occur at levels just above naturally occurring background levels, meaning that consumption of food with a high heavy metal concentration can cause acute or chronic poisoning. Poisoning can result in damaged or reduced mental and central nervous function as well as damage to blood composition, lungs, kidneys, liver, and other vital organs. Long-term exposure to heavy metals may result in slowly progressing physical, muscular, and neurological degenerative conditions as well as cancer.

Arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), and inorganic tin (Sn) are the most toxic heavy metals that account for most heavy metal poisoning cases. Poisoning is usually a result of environmental pollution or chronic intake of foods high in these metals. Levels of arsenic are usually high in fish and seafood because these organisms absorb and accumulate arsenic from the environment. Cadmium, found in soil because of insecticides, fungicides, sludge, and commercial fertilizers, can contaminate agricultural food products. Some foodstuffs are naturally rich in cadmium, such as liver, mushrooms, shellfish, mussels, cocoa powder, and dried seaweed. Mercury is generated naturally in the environment from volcanic emissions. It is then dispersed across the globe by winds, returning to the earth in rainfall and accumulating in aquatic food chains. Mercury can also contaminate crops sprayed with mercury-containing pesticides.

Food Safety Legislation

Driven by consumer demand and quality, many food agencies have introduced directives that stipulate maximum allowable concentrations for heavy metals in foodstuffs. The European Commission directive 1881/2006 specifies maximum levels for Cd, inorganic Sn, Hg, and Pb in a variety of foodstuffs, with, for example, 0.02 mg Pb/kg allowable in milk products and up to 1.5 mg Pb/kg allowable in bivalve mollusks.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) enforces action levels for poisonous or deleterious substances in human food and animal feed, including cadmium, lead, mercury, and others....

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This booklet lists action levels established by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for poisonous or deleterious substances in human food and animal feed. Action levels for poisonous or deleterious substances are established by the FDA to control levels of contaminants in human food and animal feed.

Action levels and tolerances are established based on the unavoidability of the poisonous or deleterious substances and do not represent permissible levels of contaminantion where it is avoidable. The blending of a food or feed containing a substance in excess of an action level or tolerance with another food or feed is not permitted, and the final product resulting from blending is unlawful, regardless of the level of the contaminant.

Action levels and tolerances represent limits at or above which FDA will take legal action to remove products from the market. Where no established action level or tolerance exists, FDA may take legal action against the product at the minimal detectable level of the contaminant.

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LDG said:

OK, first results of quick search: http://www.foodquality.com/details/...ng_Heavy_Metals_in_Foodstuffs_.html?tzcheck=1
An article about improved technology for rapidly detecting heavy metals published by an industry magazine, Food Quality:
From the article:

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LDG said:

So they DO exist for people food, but not for pet food.

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The only regulatory levels for arsenic in foods in the U. S. are the tolerances which have been established for its residues in specified foods, resulting from the application of arsenical pesticides on food and feed crops and from animal feed additives. FDA has monitored for arsenic in its Total Diet Survey since the inception of this program. The data from this program indicate that the average daily intake for arsenic (as AS203) has decreased from about 130 gg/day in 1968 to about 20 ,ug/day in 1974. Most of the arsenic is found in the meat-fish-poultry food class of the total diet. In individual foods, the highest levels were found in fish, with a mean level of about 1.5 ppm (as AS203) in the edible portion of finfish. Much lower levels were found in all the other food types analyzed; of these, the highest levels found were a mean level of 0.08 ppm in chicken and 0.16 ppm in rice. FDA toxicologists do not believe that the average daily intake of arsenic, or its levels in the different food commodities, pose a hazard to the consumer.

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Tolerances for total combined arsenic residues (calculated as As) resulting from these uses are given in the Code of Federal Regulations,
Title 21, part 556.60. Essentially, the tolerances are as follows: 0.5 ppm arsenic in eggs; 0.5 ppm in the muscle of chickens, turkeys, and swine;
and 2 ppm in edible by-products of chickens and turkey and the livers and kidneys of swine. The tolerance for arsenic in other edible by-products in
swine is 0.5 ppm. A 5-day withdrawal period is required when arsenicals are used in these species to allow for excretion, so that residue levels in the tissues will not exceed these tolerances.

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LDG said:

Essentially, the tolerances are as follows: 0.5 ppm arsenic in eggs; 0.5 ppm in the muscle of chickens, turkeys, and swine;
and 2 ppm in edible by-products of chickens and turkey and the livers and kidneys of swine. The tolerance for arsenic in other edible by-products in
swine is 0.5 ppm.

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mschauer said:

 


And the levels found in the dry dog food were between 23 and 212 ppb (.023 and .212 ppm).

Interesting but just a start...

I thought you had real work to do? :lol3:

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Auntie Crazy said:

Once upon a time, long before I started all of this research, eating was a pleasure. *sigh*

AC

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LDG said:

Yeah, but that's an apples-oranges comparison. The regulated amounts are in sources - and assuming we eat grains and veggies and meat, all the "sources" add up, which is why the levels in human tissue were higher. This is obviously why the Spectroscopy study focused on control products - being semi-comparable (canned) human foods meant for consumption. They should have included Spam.

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LDG said:

....and here's the summary of that NIH article: ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1637422/pdf/envhper00485-0085.pdf )

The only regulatory levels for arsenic in foods in the U. S. are the tolerances which have been established for its residues in specified foods, resulting from the application of arsenical pesticides on food and feed crops and from animal feed additives. FDA has monitored for arsenic in its Total Diet Survey since the inception of this program. The data from this program indicate that the average daily intake for arsenic (as AS203) has decreased from about 130 gg/day in 1968 to about 20 ,ug/day in 1974. Most of the arsenic is found in the meat-fish-poultry food class of the total diet. In individual foods, the highest levels were found in fish, with a mean level of about 1.5 ppm (as AS203) in the edible portion of finfish. Much lower levels were found in all the other food types analyzed; of these, the highest levels found were a mean level of 0.08 ppm in chicken and 0.16 ppm in rice. FDA toxicologists do not believe that the average daily intake of arsenic, or its levels in the different food commodities, pose a hazard to the consumer.

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LDG said:

Sorry, the number wasn't in human tissue, but daily human intake level (in 1974).

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Auntie Crazy said:

Meat and bone meal was already on the list of ingredients to avoid, so the info I posted was just added weight for staying away from it. 

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