They Call Us “Concern Trolls” – Truth about Pet Food

July 11, 2023 Kar-Bay-Inc

The PetFoodIndustry.com blog recently shared an insulting to pet food consumers post. The author classified consumers, advocates and even manufacturers that alert pet owners to the documented risks of pet food as “concern trolls”.

“Concern trolls have created documentaries, books, blogs and other online media to stoke fear of fillers, toxins, by-products and low-quality ingredients in pet food.”

“Concern trolling involves feigned concern about a particular issue or topic, while actually attempting to undermine or provoke others. Concern trolling distracts people from real treats by setting up a scary paper tiger.”

One of the examples the industry states concern trolls misinterpret is by-products.

“While by-products are disparaged by some pet food marketers, other companies rebrand by-products as upcycled. By either name, making use of otherwise wasted products benefits the economy and the environment. Ecological degradation endangers people and their pets far more than poultry meal, but concern trolling makes the lesser threat seem greater.”

The problem that industry neglects to discuss or disclose on labels – is there are two VERY different types of by-products that are upcycled into pet food.

One type of by-product would be human edible quality ingredients not commonly consumed by humans – such as particular organ meats. If the organ meats were sourced from USDA inspected and passed animals, this is a quality by-product that should be utilized in pet foods.

The other type of by-product – commonly used in pet food with no disclosure to the consumer – is condemned animal materials including “diseased animals and animals that have died other than by slaughter” (allowed as pet food ingredients by FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine). The FDA and each state pet food authority choose to ignore federal and state laws that classify these upcycled by-products as an adulterated food.

These types of upcycled by-products are illegal and should not be used in pet food.

Maybe…instead of resorting to name calling (“concern trolls”) the industry can better spend their time working on transparency.

Since they are so proud of their use of upcycled by-products, maybe they will disclose to consumers if by-products are sourced from USDA inspected and passed animals and transported/warehoused per human food safety regulations OR if their by-products are sourced from condemned animal material, diseased animals, or animals that died other than by slaughter – transported in un-refrigerated trailers, dumped on the ground, and bulldozed into a pit and rendered.

Since they are so proud of their use of upcycled by-product, maybe those that call us ‘concern trolls’ will tell us if their upcycled ingredients look like this?

Or this?

Or maybe they aren’t so proud of their upcycled by-products after all. Maybe they know if they were transparent about the quality of their upcycled by-products, they wouldn’t sell pet food.

Time will tell.

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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