2019 was a Bad Pet Food Year – Truth about Pet Food

January 7, 2020 Kar-Bay-Inc 0 Comments

2019 started off with a deadly recall from Hill’s Pet Food for excess vitamin D (January 31, 2019). Hill’s expanded the recall two months later. By years end pet owners learned that FDA sent Hill’s a warning letter stating the pet food manufacturer failed to test incoming ingredients which was a violation of their own safety plan. Hill’s faces multiple lawsuits for this recall. Vitamin premix provider to Hill’s – DSM Nutritional Products – also received a Warning Letter from FDA stating the company violated “FDA’s hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls requirements for animal food.”

Sunshine Mills Pet Food also received an FDA Warning Letter this year related to excess vitamin D recalls.

There were 4 recalls for pig ear treats this year, 2 raw pet food recalls, 1 recall for Purina cat food for rubber pieces, and 1 recall from Smucker manufactured Special Kitty cat food that was suspect of pentobarbital contamination (but Smucker has yet to disclose the cause).

Pentobarbital – the drug used to euthanize animals – continued to make news in pet food during 2019. In January 2019 we learned through Freedom of Information Act request documents that ingredient supplier JBS sold pentobarbital contaminated fat to Champion Pet Food. FDA issued a warning letter to JBS in April regarding the ingredient supplier’s processing of euthanized animals into pet food ingredients. And at years end (December), FDA issued another pentobarbital risk warning letter to another major ingredient supplier Valley Proteins. Valley Proteins responded to FDA that pentobarbital was “an unavoidable contaminant” in their ingredients.

The FDA issued two updates to their investigation into the potential pet food link to dilated cardiomyopathy in dogs, one in February and one in June. After 18 months of FDA investigation, by years end pet owners still have no information from FDA if pet food is linked to heart disease in dogs or what the potential link could be.

A lawsuit was filed against Taste of the Wild Pet Food in March of this year, claiming the pet food contained high levels of lead. A different kind of pet food lawsuit was filed this year by Answers Pet Food. This lawsuit was AGAINST regulatory authorities, a pet food manufacturer asking the court to force authorities to abide by law.

The FDA betrayed pet owners multiple times this year. We asked FDA for a public meeting with pet owners back in October of 2018. By the end of 2019, FDA continued to refuse to meet with pet owners. Another slap in pet owners face from FDA came from the Agency’s Memorandum of Understanding agreement with AAFCO. In January 2019 we asked to meet with FDA regarding the AAFCO agreement that allows pet food ingredient definitions and regulations to be hidden from pet owners (currently pet food regulations and ingredient definition laws are copyright protected, out of public view). FDA again refused to meet with us, renewing this illegal agreement with AAFCO (the agreement is illegal because it denies pet owner public access to pet food regulations and ingredient definitions) without discussion with pet owner advocates.

FDA responded to our Citizen Petition in April of this year (Petition was submitted to FDA in October of 2016), with the Agency refusing to enforce federal law in pet food. Our request to FDA: stop allowing pet food to contain illegal ingredients sourced from diseased animals or animals that have died other than by slaughter and to properly label pet products as either food or feed (dog food or cat food if the product meets the legal requirements of food, all others to be termed dog feed and cat feed). The FDA told us “No” to every request – stating “we do not believe that the use of diseased animals or animals that died otherwise than by slaughter to make animal food poses a safety concern…” and stating terming a pet product as a feed or food “would help consumers to know specifically how pet food differs from human food.” In June 2019 we filed our Petition for Reconsideration with FDA proving to the Agency their decision to allow pet food to violate federal food safety laws is dangerous and continues to be illegal. FDA did not respond to the Reconsideration request in 2019 – however 829 pet owners provided FDA their input on this ridiculous FDA allowance of illegal ingredients in pet food with no warning or disclosure to pet owners.

And 2019 ended with AAFCO’s ban of pet owners and pet owner advocates from meetings. With no cause, AAFCO banned every single pet owner and pet owner advocate that had attended a meeting over the past two years from attending and voicing any opinion in the pet food rule making process. We will challenge AAFCO’s illegal ban of pet owners from attending public meetings early in the new year. Pet owners can sign this petition to help.

Many pets died in 2019 – because manufacturers and ingredient suppliers were negligent, because regulatory authorities failed to enforce law. 2019 was a devastating year of regulatory bias against pet owners. This was a bad pet food year.

Out with the bad year – in with the new. A new year brings new determination that we WILL prevail for our pets. We WILL see law enforced in pet food, we WILL have a voice in the law making process (as our Constitutional rights demand).

TruthaboutPetFood.com wishes all pet owners and your furry families a Happy and Healthy 2020. My thanks to all of you that continue to support the truth.

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food

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