FDA Investigation of Nutro Pet Food

FDA Confirms Probe of NUTRO Pet Food Deaths, Illnesses, Menu Foods earlier revealed it was the target of a federal probe

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs. com
Copyright 2009 © All Rights Reserved

April 20, 2009
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has confirmed that the agency is investigating NUTRO pet food, following a series of unexplained illnesses and deaths. Consumers have been complaining for more than two years that their pets have become ill after eating NUTRO products; many have recovered when they were switched to other foods. The company has steadfastly denied that its food is to blame.

Until now, the FDA has been mum about whether it was actively investigating the company. Today, the FDA’s Division of Freedom of Information confirmed the agency has an ongoing investigation into NUTRO — and said that investigation could be criminal or civil in nature. The office did not elaborate on the nature or focus of that investigation.

The investigation came to light when the FDA denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by ConsumerAffairs.com seeking a list of complaints and lab results the agency has collected regarding NUTRO pet food. The agency denied the request and said that releasing the information could hamper “prospective or ongoing” action by law enforcement.

“The document(s) constitute record(s) compiled for law enforcement purposes, the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings,” wrote the FDA’s George A. Strait, Jr., assistant commissioner for public affairs.

see more info------
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/04/nutro_foia.html

US Pet Food/Treat Distributor told Chinese Supplier to add Melamine

US pet owners have believed that Chinese companies are solely to blame in the numerous cases of tainted pet foods over the last several years. New information provided to TruthaboutPetFood.com tells a slightly different story. It has been reported that one US pet food and pet treat distributor instructed a Chinese manufacturer to add melamine to dog treats.

Click on title above to read more;
http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/334/1/US-Pet-FoodTreat-Distributor-told-Chinese-Supplier-to-add-Melamine/Page1.html



See also;

ConsumerAffairs.com Reports FDA Investigation of Nutro Pet Foods

The ConsumerAffairs.com website is reporting they have confirmed with the FDA an investigation into Nutro Pet Foods causing numerous pet illnesses.

http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/333/1/ConsumerAffairscom-Reports-FDA-Investigation-of-Nutro-Pet-Foods/Page1.html



Help Your Favorite Shelter win $20,000!

The Animal Rescue Site is hosting a contest to find Your Favorite Animal Shelter; the winner will receive a $20,000 donation. It’s simple to vote for your favorite.

http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/335/1/Help-Your-Favorite-Shelter-win-20000/Page1.html





Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,



Susan Thixton
Truth about Pet Food
Petsumer Report

www.TruthaboutPetFood.com



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What Kind of Dog Food will the First Pup be Eating?

It’s official, the Obama family have their new dog. Senator Edward Kennedy gave the

First Family a six month old Portuguese Water Dog. Several websites have reported the puppy’s arrival at the Whitehouse, none have reported what type of food the First Dog will be eating.

The Washington Post reports that Senator Edward Kennedy has given the First Family a six month old Portuguese Water Dog the Obama girls named Bo. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/11/AR2009041102484.html?sid=ST2009041102652

While it is reported the White House wanted to keep the new puppy news under wraps for a few more weeks, the Washington Post seemed to have all the news on Bo. “Bo's a handsome little guy. Well suited for formal occasions at the White House, he's got tuxedo-black fur, with a white chest, white paws and a rakish white goatee.”

“Some issues remain to be resolved. Where, for instance, will Bo sleep? The White House has plenty of rooms to choose from, but the great question of whether he'll get to bunk with one or both of the girls remains undecided. The feeding and walking schedules are also still to be hammered out -- a "family decision," the source said. All of this is new to the first family. Sasha and Malia have never had pets. And neither the first lady nor the president had dogs growing up.”

While the Washington Post feels the ‘great question’ will be where Bo sleeps, I’m more curious of what food Bo will eat. I’ve sent an email to the White House requesting information about Bo’s food.

Just imagine, if the President and First Lady, like so many other American families, allow their children the responsibility to help choose a dog food for Bo. Imagine if perhaps the unknowing children and parents, again just like so many other families, choose a pet food based on clever and heartwarming advertising. What if by chance that dog food contained ingredients such as Meat and Bone Meal and/or Animal Fat; two common pet food ingredients determined by the FDA to be of risk to contain a euthanized animal.

Take this step one further, and imagine the young Obama girls feeding Bo daily, a responsibility given to children everyday. Handling and touching a dog food that could contain lethal drugs and diseased euthanized animals. It’s not a pleasant picture is it?

It will be interesting to learn what brand of dog food or what style of feeding the Obama’s choose for the new First Dog Bo. It will VERY interesting if we learn the choice of dog food for Bo will be one that contains Meat and Bone Meal, Animal Fat, or other ingredients that are actually prohibited in any food by Federal laws (an FDA policy provides pet food manufacturers the opportunity to recycle trash into pet foods – this ‘policy should be illegal, it doesn’t over ride Federal law, but no one of authority to enforce Federal law seems to care). What would happen if the President and his family happen to feed Bo a dog food that technically violates Federal law?

If I happen to receive a response from the White House on the brand of food chosen for Bo, you’ll be the first to know.

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Truth about Pet Food
Petsumer Report
www.TruthaboutPetFood.com
---------------

Upon reading the part in this article that indicated the prez wanted to keep the news about the new dog quiet for awhile, I am wondering, could the reason be to allow him time to think of a good excuse to tell the AR people as to why he broke his promice to them to adopt a shelter dog?

http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/327/1/What-Dog-Food-will-new-First-Dog-be-Eating/Page1.html

Euthanised Pets in Animal feed / Pet Food? Oh yes Indeed.

Rendering Plants

Recycling of Dead Animals and Slaughterhouse Wastes

Huge mass killing in modern slaughterhouses create a big pile of carcasses. Rendering plants are developed to get rid of them and other stuff from various sources. Let's take a peak at them...

Rendering Plants:

Rendering plants perform one of the most complementing functions for modern slaughterhouses. They recycle dead animals, slaughterhouse wastes, and supermarket rejects into various products known as recycled meat, bone meal, and animal fat. These products are sold as a source of protein and other nutrients in the diets of dairy animals, poultry, swine, pet foods, cattle feed, and sheep feed. Animal fat is also used in animal feeds as an energy source.

Besides, without running rendering plants nearby each modern slaughterhouse, our cities would run the risk of becoming filled with diseased and rotting carcasses. Fatal viruses and bacteria would spread uncontrolled through the population.

One estimate states that some 40 billion pounds of slaughterhouse wastes like blood, bone, and viscera, as well as the remains of millions of euthanised cats and dogs passed along by veterinarians and animal shelters, are rendered annually into livestock feed. This way they turn dairy cows, other cattle and hogs, which are natural herbivores (vegetarians), into unwitting carnivores (non-vegetarians).

This is a multibillion-dollar industry, and these facilities operate 24 hours a day just about everywhere in America, Europe and other parts of the world. They have been in operation for years. Yet so few of us have ever heard of them.

Raw Material:

The dead animals and slaughterhouses waste which rendering plants recycle includes:

Slaughterhouses waste such as heads and hooves from cattle, sheep, pigs and horses, blood, bones, etc.

Thousands of euthanised cats and dogs from veterinarians and animal shelters

Dead animals such as skunks, rats, and raccoons

Carcasses of pets, livestock, poultry waste

Supermarket rejects

Along with the above material, the rendering plants unavoidably process toxic wastes as indicated below.

Toxic Waste:

The following menu of unwanted ingredients often accompany with dead animals and other raw material:

Pesticides via poisoned livestock

Euthanasia drugs that were given to pets

Some dead animals have flea collars containing organophosphate insecticides

Fish oil laced with bootleg DDT

Insecticide Dursban in the form of cattle insecticide patch

Other chemicals leaked from antibiotics in livestock

Heavy metals from pet ID tag, surgical pins and needles

Plastic from:

Styrofoam trays from packed unsold supermarket meats, chicken and fish

Cattle ID tags

Plastic insecticide patches

Green plastic bags containing dead pets from veterinarians

Skyrocketing labor costs are one of the economic factors forcing the corporate flesh-peddlers to cheat. It is far too costly for plant personnel to cut off flea collars or unwrap spoiled T-bone steaks. Every week, millions of packages of plastic-wrapped meat go through the rendering process and become one of the unwanted ingredients in animal feed.

Recycling Process:

The rendering plant floor is piled high with 'raw product' all waiting to be processed. In the 90-degree heat, the piles of dead animals seem to have a life of their own as millions of maggots swarm over the carcasses.

First the raw material is cut into small pieces and then transported to another auger for fine shredding. It is then cooked at 280 degrees for one hour. This process melts the meat away from bones in the hot 'soup.' This continuous batch cooking process goes on non-stop for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

During this cooking process, the soup produces fat of yellow grease or tallow (animal fat) that rises to the top and is skimmed off. The cooked meat and bone are sent to a hammermill press, which squeezes out the remaining moisture and pulverizes the product into a gritty powder. Shaker screens remove excess hair and large bone chips. Now the following three products are produced:

Recycled meat

Yellow grease (animal fat)

Bone meal

Since these foods are exclusively used to feed animals, most state agency spot check and test for truth in labeling such as: does the percentage of protein, phosphorous and calcium match the rendering plant's claims; do the percentages meet state requirements? However, testing for pesticides and other toxins in animal feeds is not done or is done incomplete.

Recycled Products and Usage:

Every day, hundreds of rendering plants across the United States truck millions of tons of this 'food enhancer' to dairy industry, poultry ranches, cattle feed-lots, hog farms, fish-feed plants, and pet-food manufacturers. This food enhancer is mixed with other ingredients to feed the billions of animals.

Rendering plants have different specialties. Some product-label names are: meat meal, meat by-products, poultry meal, poultry by-products, fishmeal, fish oil, yellow grease, tallow, beef fat and chicken fat.

A 1991 USDA report states that approximately 7.9 billion pounds of meat, bone meal, blood meal, and feather meal was produced by rendering plants in 1983. Of that amount:

12 percent was used in dairy and beef cattle feed

34 percent was used in pet food

34 percent was used in poultry feed

20 percent was used in pig food

(this report does not mention the amount of animal/meat by-products used / recycled through the pharmacidical industry....but that is a whole 'nother story that needs further exploration, as you would be amazed) Here is only a partial listing of animal by-products used in pharmacidicals;

Pharmaceuticals
Glands
Adrenal -- epinephrine is extracted from the adrenal medulla and adrinocortical extract from the adrenal cortex.


Ovaries -- used as a source of estrogens and progesterone.

Pancreas -- yields insulin and trypsin.

Parathyroid -- parathyroid hormone extract is used to prevent large scale muscular rigidity.

Pituitary -- source of ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone).

Testes -- source of hyaluronidase.

Thyroid -- source of thyroxine and calcitonin.


Tissues and Organs
Blood -- source of albumin and amino acids.
Bone -- source of calcium and phosphorous.

Intestines -- surgical sutures and condoms.

Liver -- liver extracts and bile extract, which can be used to make cortisone.

Lungs -- heparin

Spinal cord -- source of cholesterol, which is used to manufacture vitamin D.

Stomach -- rennet (from calves), mucin (from pigs), and pepsin (from pigs).


Other by-products

Fetal calf blood -- used for cancer and AIDS research.
Aorta values -- for replacement of defective human heart values.

---------------


Scientific American cites a dramatic rise in the use of animal protein in commercial dairy feed since 1987.

The Story of North Carolina

In an article entitled "Greene County Animal Mortality Collection Ramp", states that: "With North Carolina ranking in the top seven states in the U.S. in the production of turkeys, hogs, broilers and layers, it has been recently estimated that over 85,000 tons of farm poultry and swine mortality must be disposed of annually.

To meet this disposal need, in 1989 the Green County Livestock Producers Association began using an animal carcass collection site. Livestock producers bring the dead animal and bird carcasses to the ramp and drop them into a water-tight truck with separate compartments for poultry and other livestock parked behind the retaining wall.

A local farmer, contracted by the Livestock Association, hauls the animal and bird mortality to the rendering plant each day and maintains the collection site. The rendering plant pays the Livestock Association each week based on the current prices of meat, bone, feather meal, and fat.

During the first 16 weeks of operation in 1989, over 1 million pounds or a weekly average of 65,000 pounds of dead animals and birds (mortality) were collected and sent to the rendering plant.

The end result of this very successful project is that Greene County livestock and poultry producers have a convenient, safe, and economical alternative to disposal of animal and bird mortality.

Now it must be very evident that the dairy cows are no longer vegetarian animals. The dairy industry feeds them recycled meat products, which is derived by recycling slaughterhouses waste and other dead animals such as millions of euthanised cats and dogs from veterinarians and animal shelters. Hence the milk produced by cows contains non-vegetarian elements.

Please send your feedback to author, Pravin K. Shah:
pkshah1@attglobal.net