Do-you-know-what-"By-Products"-are?Where-do-you-think,euthanized-cats/dogs-end-up?

flintmccullough

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How-many-shelters-you-know,have-a-creamatory?Think-they-bury-them.....where-exactly?

Think-they-put-them-in-the-trash?That-many?Think-somebody-might-notice?

Where-exactly,do-you-think,all-the-shelter-euthanized-cats-and-dogs-end-up?

They-end-up,as-"By-Products"-in-pet-food,which-would-include....their-collors.....and....what-was-given-to-them,to-put-them-down.

Just-something-to-think-about.


http://truthaboutpetfood2.com/the-worst-horror-of-pet-food-confirmed-in-spain
 

Willowy

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I agree that pet food is made out of some fairly nasty stuff. But I don't necessarily agree with everything that article says. Like, it says that it's illegal to put any dead animal in a landfill. But during hunting season here, they have free dropoff for butchered deer carcasses at the landfill so that the hunters don't dump the carcasses in ditches. Maybe because it's a sanitary landfill and not an open landfill? The Humane Society has a crematory now, but I was told they used the landfill previously. Hmmm.

And 4D or rendered animals aren't allowed in "by-products", but are allowed in "by-product meal". Confusing!

I'd like to see an independent DNA test done on pet foods. I suspect most of the pet animal remains go into livestock feed (and then WE eat the livestock!:eek:) but probably some makes it into pet food too.
 
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ldg

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Yes, I am. The regulations surrounding what's allowable in pet food is why I make my own.

For further information;

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/249117/a-strange-question-about-by-products-meals-and-4d

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/239691/nutritionally-complete-assurances-for-our-pet-food

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/245614/...by-products-meal-or-rather-not-think-about-it

http://leda.law.harvard.edu/leda/data/784/Patrick06.html


Of course, as Willowy points out, 4D animals (dead, disabled, downed or diseased) animals can only be used in rendered products. So if something says "by product" it does not have 4D animals in it. Meal is a rendered product, so any meal (meaning any kibble!) can have 4D animals in it.

But from the Harvard paper linked above:

In addition to the “waste material,” six to seven million dogs and cats killed every year in animal shelters make their way into rendering vats.[170] The city of Los Angeles alone sends 200 tons of dogs and cats to a local rendering firm every month.[171] Road kill that is too large to be buried roadside, expired grocery store meats, and dead zoo animals are also thrown into the mix.[172] Recall from the discussion of the AAFCO ingredient definitions that meat and bone meal must exclude hair and stomach contents “except as may occur in good manufacturing processes.”[173] Considering that a 40 lb bag of dog food costs only $15-$17, that price cannot possibly cover the amount of time necessary to remove all the hair and stomach contents from the thousands of diseased and euthanized animals thrown into the rendering vats, not to mention the Styrofoam and saran wrap packaging from expired grocery store meats.[174] In fact, it seems downright impossible. The rendering industry readily admits that meat wrappers are mixed in with its raw materials, their inclusion betrayed by the presence of polyethylene (used to make saran wrap) in rendered products.[175]

Although pet food companies claim they don’t buy meat and bone meal from rendering plants that accept cats and dogs, the rendering industry acknowledges it would be impossible for a manufacturer purchasing products from rendering firms to know the exact raw materials of what they’re buying.[176] An employee of the rendering industry points out that cats and dogs can easily be included in chicken by-product meals because of the similar protein content.[177] Moreover, a rendering executive claims that Ralston purchased meat meal from his rendering facility for years, which included dogs and cats.[178] Although somebody at the rendering plant finally revealed the true contents of the meat meal, the industry executive is quick to point out that only Ralston stopped purchasing from them, implying that the facility continues relationships with other pet product manufacturers.[179]

The exact proportion of cats and dogs to cows and pigs in any given rendered production batch is difficult to determine. One rendering company estimated that it “rendered somewhere between 10,000 and 30,000 pounds of dogs and cats a day out of a total of 250,000 to 500,000 pounds of cattle, poultry, butcher scrap and other materials.”[180] Some states have attempted to establish precautions against this quasi-cannibalism. For example, California law requires that rendered dogs and cats be labeled as “dry rendered tankage,” a product which is rarely used in pet food.[181] However, due to the uncoordinated efforts of the pet food regulation system, such precautions are practically useless when pet food manufacturers operate on a national and often global scale. Consider that it is perfectly legal for tankage shipped outside of the state of California to be labeled as meat and bone meal.[182] Moreover, California does not inspect meat and bone meals imported from outside the state.[183]

While the rendering industry and even FDA officials defend the practice of rendering deceased pets as the most effective way to dispose of the animals and just another form of recycling, [184] it is telling that none of the celebrated “benefits” seem to include nutrition for our pets. In fact, the exact opposite appears to be true. Despite claiming that the “pets probably constitute a very small percentage of a day’s production at a renderer and an even lower percentage of the ingredients in a package of dry food,” the practice of the rendering industry (grinding the materials as soon as the vat is full) ensure that production batches vary significantly. Furthermore, although the actual percentage in each individual bag of pet food might be low – the industry ignores the impact of its promotion of feeding pets the exact same product every day, 2-3 meals a day for its entire life. How much, then, is a “small percentage” when considered cumulatively?
 

ldg

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From the AAFCO Nutritionally Complete and Balanced Assurances thread:


Well, I don't mean to further focus on the ... failings of the ingredients allowed by the AAFCO... but, well, this is a 44 second piece of an interview with Hersh Pendell, who, at the time, was President of the AAFCO.

[VIDEO][/VIDEO]
This is the at-the-time President of the AAFCO discussing dead dogs and cats winding up in pet food.
 

sevenwonders

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Laurie, do you have a link by chance?

I tried to play the video and got a message that says:

"This Video is Private" and it wouldn't play.
 

sevenwonders

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"An employee of the rendering industry points out that cats and dogs can easily be included in chicken by-product meals because of the similar protein content." 

Ok, if that is true, that is extremely disappointing.

I thought "Chicken Meal" would ONLY include Chicken.   


I know that the word "Natural" is meaningless according to industry standards,

wonder if "Pure" means anything? From the California Natural Dry Chicken & brown Rice description:

"California Natural Chicken and Brown Rice Cat and Kitten Dry Cat Food provides pure and simple ingredients...

California Natural Chicken and Brown Rice Cat and Kitten Dry Cat Food has no high risk ingredients, so you can offer it to your pet with confidence."

Ingredients:

Chicken, Chicken Meal, Brown Rice, Rice, Chicken Fat, Natural Flavors, Sunflower Oil, Flaxseed, Vitamins, Potassium Chloride, Minerals, Taurine, DL-Methionine, Rosemary Extract

Upon further consideration, even if "pure" does have any significance, it might not matter much,

as it doesn't say "only (pure and simple ingredients)."  
 
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ldg

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:dk: I really don't know.

As to the video, I'm not finding it. Too bad I didn't think to download it. It's just a 44-second clip from a TV interview. There are other videoes of euthanized pets being rendered... but they're just gruesome. And it isn't the same as hearing the AAFCO President saying "Yes, it's possible Fluffy is in your cat's food." :barf:
 

mrblanche

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The animals euthanized by our shelter go to the landfill.  Maybe our laws are different from yours.
 
 

Willowy

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Granted, I read it quickly, but this seems to be relatively good news:

"The results demonstrated a complete absence of material that would have been derived from euthanized dogs or cats."
Well, yeah, but the gist of the article was "hmmm. . .do we really believe that? Where are the barbituates coming from then?"

Really, you don't want to know what goes into livestock feed (candy, expired processed food, chicken poop, the rendered meals too bad to be used in pet foods, etc.). Livestock used for human consumption. I think that the content of pet food is the least of our concerns, really. Or maybe just a symptom of the larger issue.
 
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sevenwonders

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Well, yeah, but the gist of the article was "hmmm. . .do we really believe that? ...
I think that the content of pet food is the least of our concerns, really. Or maybe just a symptom of the larger issue.
Indeed... pesticide DNA in our Genetically Modified veggies, Pink Slime, Meat Glue...

when you consider what the FDA and USDA allow HUMANS to eat,   


there is no telling how bad Pet Food really is.   
 
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carolina

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Chicken meal and chicken by-product meal is ok, as you are getting parts of chicken.
The biggest problem is Meat meal and meat by-product meal - when it is not specified :barf:
 

sevenwonders

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Thanks for posting the video Laurie!

So, to summarize and clarify, do we believe that the below statements are true?

Chicken Meal and Chicken by-products should contain only Chicken, but it could be 4D Chicken.

The above statement should apply to other SPECIFIED meals such as Salmon Meal.

(But, unless you are buying food made with Organic chicken, salmon or whatever, it is likely loaded with anti-biotics anyway.)

Meat by-products (not rendered) could contain virtually any meat that is typically consumed by humans.

This also could include 4D animals, but NOT Cats & Dogs.

Meat Meal or Meat by-product meal could contain ANY type of animal, including 4D animals and Euthanized Cats & Dogs.
 

ldg

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Meat by-products (not rendered) could contain virtually any meat that is typically consumed by humans.
Yes
.

This also could include 4D animals, but NOT Cats & Dogs.
No, "by-products" (like in canned food) cannot include 4D animals. Only rendered products e.g. any "meal" or any fat, can include 4D animals. Most kibble contains meal of some kind, which is a rendered product. Fats are by definition a rendered product, and animal digest is a rendered product.

So anything that isn't a specified protein, and is a rendered product, could conceivably include cats and dogs (though they most likely wind up in animal feed as opposed to pet food).
 

sevenwonders

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Ok, thanks again Laurie.   


I want to try one more time to summarize, so it is easier for people to understand without having to sort through so many posts.

Specified Meals, such as Chicken Meal or Salmon Meal should contain only the specified animal, but it could be 4D.

(But, unless you are buying food made with Organic chicken, salmon or whatever, it is likely loaded with anti-biotics anyway,

and has likely been fed with feed that contains genetically modified ingredients.)

Specified by-products such as Chicken by-products should contain only Chicken, and should not contain any 4D Chickens.

Meat by-products could contain virtually any meat that is typically consumed by humans,

but not 4D animals, or Cats & Dogs.

Meat Meal or Meat by-product Meal, (as well as Animal Digest)

could contain ANY type of animal, including 4D animals and Euthanized Cats & Dogs.

Fats, being rendered, could also contain 4D animals.

Anything else we should add to this summary?

I'd like to save it for future reference.
 
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