Insight into Pet Food Recalls

by Linnea on 06/20/13

Pet food recalls seem to be happening more and more often and for owners who have food sensitive pets, it can cause a real problem trying to find a new food.  2007 will stay in my memory for a long time, not because my dog (I only had 1 at the time) ate any of the recalled food, but because I was a vet tech at the time and remember running lots of bloodwork on pets who had been eating one of the many recalled foods.  For those unaware, 2007 was a year when pet foods were literally killing dogs and cats.  China-based ingredients were contaminated with melamine, a substance used to make (inferior) plastics.  According to the FDA's website on the matter:

"Melamine can be used to create products such as plastics, cleaning products, glues, inks, and fertilizers. Under certain conditions, melamine mixed with wheat gluten can make the product appear to have a higher protein level than is actually present. Melamine has no approved use as an ingredient in human or animal food in the United States. Wheat gluten is a natural protein derived from wheat or wheat flour, which is extracted to yield a powder with high protein content. Pet food manufacturers often use wheat gluten as a thickener or binding agent in the manufacture of certain types of pet food."

It was essentially destroying the kidneys of pet's who were trying to filter the melamine out of their bodies, causing permanent kidney damage or even death in some cases.

Now the worst part, which many don't realize, is that even though food companies KNOW their product is causing health problems, it doesn't automatically mean their product is recalled.  The FDA has certain steps and procedures to recalling a product as there are 3 different types of recalls: Recalls may be conducted on a firm's own initiative (this is voluntary), by FDA request, or by FDA order under statutory authority.  Many companies will recall their product voluntarily because product testing will show that they may be contaminated with something.  Voluntary recalls like this are good Public relations .... in the company's eyes, this shows the consumer that the company cares enough about the possibility of a pet getting sick and therefore, will lose money on taking their product off the shelves, to prevent further illness.  Then on the other spectrum, FDA ordered recalls mean that a product has been shown to have problems, the company has chosen not to pull their product off the shelves, so the FDA HAS to step in essentially saying 'your product is pretty bad, and we will take it off the shelves since you are choosing not to.'

Now, recalls WILL happen... human food or pet food. When you're taking once-living ingredients (meat, fruit, veggies) that are meant to rot, and mass producing them in large factories, and cooking them at extreme temperatures ... you are bound to have problems now and then.  (Anyone remember our spinach recalls in 2006 or our ground turkey recalls last year? I certainly didn't stop eating those foods alltogether, I just waited until they were safe to eat again.)

Recently, there have been known issues with chicken jerky treats stemming from China.  The FDA hasn't recalled these treats because they haven't been able to find the reason why so many pet's are getting sick from these treats.  So they have been able to stay on store shelves - being sold to unknowing pet owners.  Additionally, pet food companies can be sneaky about labeling their products - while they can label their products as "Manufactured in the US" this does not mean their products are sourced from the US ... it can simply mean the product/ingredients come from other countries but are made/manufactured in the states. Sneaky sneaky... And unfortunately, this is the case for LOTS of companies.  So it is legal for them to say their final product comes from the US, individual ingredients could be coming from all over the world.  Always find out where your ingredients are coming from.

The pet food industry is also overseen by AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) so it makes it a little tricky when you have two programs (FDA & AFFCO) keeping an eye on one industry (pet food).  It means pet food is not as well regulated as human food (imagine having two managers doing the job of one manager ... co-managing can make things difficult).

So what this all means is that no matter what, keep a close eye on recalls, you can even sign up with your email at Dog Food Advisor, or follow them on facebook for recall news.  Additionally, you might be interested in doing some research on your pet's treats - you may be buying treats that have been known to be causing illness in hundreds of pet's, but have not been officially recalled by the FDA (seriously, if you have store-bought chicken jerky treats, PLEASE look into this - I am choosing not to name brands here, but am hoping you will look into where your treats are coming from.)

Here is the FDA's main page for pet food/treat recalls.

Here is Dog Food Advisor's page for pet food/treat recalls.