Pet Food Safety Progress between U.S. and China?

The U.S. Health and Human Services announced June 18, 2008 progress between China and the U.S. stating "strong and sustained cooperation by both nations to strengthen the safety of food products exported to the United States from China." The news release mentions a ´cooperative mechanism´ between both countries related to ´safety or the gross deception of consumers´. Interesting since ´gross deception of consumers´ is exactly what caused the pet food recall last year.

In my opinion, pet food manufacturers have NO business utilizing glutens or any other form of grain to boost their analysis of protein – dogs and cats deserve real meat proteins, but that´s beside the point here. Progress in quality of Chinese exports and the eventual trust of U.S. pet owners is the issue at hand. I have far too many doubts to believe China has the capabilities to improve quality any time soon.

For starters, U.S. chefs for the Olympic teams found such a high level of steroids in chicken purchased from Chinese markets they were concerned the athletes would test positive for drug use if food from China was served to our athletes. For the first time in history, the U.S. Olympic athletes will have a separate dining hall serving food from U.S. suppliers.

Then pet owners have the concern of the FDA´s limited ability to properly inspect all imported shipments of pet food ingredients. Currently less than 1% of all import shipments are inspected. Even if the FDA had the manpower to properly inspect all imports, existing testing methods have proven they are weak at best. According to journalist Noreen O´Leary in her article The Global Diet a former FDA employee states "The FDA kept finding shipments of apple juice that was watered down" and insisted this be addressed, explains Hubbard. Instead, the company "added inulin, which is a chemical compound that appears to be the same as apples. It fooled the FDA lab test and came back as 100 percent apple juice." Under the current system that beverage could still be labeled and sold as 100 percent juice, he adds." This was in reference to a Chinese exporter.

Until many changes take place, pet foods utilizing imported ingredients from China remains at risk for another tainted ingredient causing a recall. The pet food industry could take a lesson from McDonalds or Walmart. This year McDonalds implemented a "See what we're made of" initiative that provides consumers with origin information of their ingredients. Walmart has introduced a Food Miles Calculator, which computes an item's total food miles to the consumer.

I doubt pet owners will see any such conscientious action from the majority of dog food and cat food manufacturers. However from the results of an informal pole, pet owners have overwhelmingly told me that an ingredient information system would definitely influence their pet food purchases. Listen up pet food producers…pet owners want to know where the ingredients in their dog's food and cat´s food comes from!

Until we get that (don´t hold your breath), examine every bag or can of pet food before you open it. You are looking for tears or possible contamination of the packaging. Examine the product after you open it. Any change in smell or appearance just might be a sign there is a problem with the food. If you notice any change - before you feed it to your pet, call the manufacturer. Keep a close eye on your pet as well for any changes in behavior. If you notice changes, contact your Veterinarian.

Wishing you and your pet the best,

Susan Thixton