An Estimated 27 Million Pounds of Condemned Animal Material – Truth about Pet Food

March 26, 2024 Kar-Bay-Inc

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The FDA and each US State pet food regulatory authority allows condemned poultry and livestock animals, as well as non-slaughtered animals (that died prior to slaughter) to be processed into pet food with no warning or disclosure to pet owners. In April of 2019, the FDA CVM stated: “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 we intend to continue to exercise enforcement discretion.”

Besides not requiring disclosure of pet food’s use of condemned or non-slaughtered decomposing animal material on pet food labels, FDA does not disclose how much of this material is used in pet food. But the USDA gives us clues – four times a year.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal agency responsible for the safety of meat in the US. USDA inspectors are on-site at every slaughter facility to assure the meat produced abides by federal food safety laws. The USDA provides the public – every quarter – with details to the number of animals that passed inspection, and the number of animals that failed inspection (were condemned).

The most recent data released by USDA – for the time frame October 2023 through December 2023:

The USDA disclosed that during this three month time frame 53,605 livestock animals (cattle, hogs) were condemned, and 1,474,140 turkey and chicken carcasses were condemned.

If we average the weight of the livestock animals at a conservative 300 pounds each – 300 lbs X 53,605 condemned animals = 16,081,500 lbs of condemned animal material that pet food regulatory authorities allow to be disposed of into pet food.

If we average the weight of the poultry animals at a conservative 8 pounds each – 8 lbs X 1,474,140 condemned animals = 11,793,120 lbs of condemned animal material that pet food regulatory authorities allow to be disposed of into pet food.

This totals to an estimated 27 million pounds of condemned slaughtered animals…in just three months time. (This total does not include the estimated millions of pounds of animals that died on farms – ‘died otherwise than by slaughter’ – also allowed into pet food without disclosure.)

Fact: more than 27 million pounds of condemned animal material has to be disposed of every three months. And even though these 27 million pounds has been classified as unfit for consumption by one regulatory authority (USDA), it is classified as ‘suitable for use in animal food’ by another regulatory authority (FDA)…without disclosure to pet owners.

Ask your pet food manufacturer if meats are sourced from USDA inspected and passed animals. Please know that some manufacturers will state ‘Our meats are sourced from USDA inspected facilities’. Condemned animal material is ‘sourced from USDA inspected facilities’. Make sure the manufacturer directly answers your question (or find another pet food that will fully respond to your questions).

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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