You’re Paying for Real Meat but You’re Getting Meat Powder – Truth about Pet Food

July 23, 2020 Kar-Bay-Inc 0 Comments

Some pet foods are using dried powdered meat labeling it as ‘Made with Real Meat’. And no regulatory authority is doing anything about the deception.

Pet owners are all too familiar with the marketing on many pet food labels and websites alluding to whole fresh foods included in their pet food. Below are just a few examples…

So…what if you learned that some pet foods were making these “real meat” claims but including NO real meat in their pet food? How do you feel about pet food manufacturers using dried powdered meat in their pet foods and not disclosing this significant ingredient change to pet owners?

Is this pet food fraud?

Below is a screen shot of a Dried Powdered Meat Ingredient supplier’s website:

The above ingredient supplier tells potential customers:

“Would you like your label to include real chicken? Dried chicken and meat powders have a more consistent nutrient profile than fresh or frozen meats. Using dried chicken meat powders as alternatives to fresh or frozen meats reduces storage and handling requirements; reduces contamination between wet and dry areas; improves yields; and reduces labor, waste, and energy use.”

Is a dried powdered chicken “real chicken”?

What is FDA’s stance on dried powdered meats in pet food labeled as whole food ingredients? Questions were sent to ASK CVM (FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine) on 7/19/20, the Agency has not responded.

What are the regulations and labeling laws regarding dried ingredients? Questions were sent to the AAFCO Animal Protein Ingredient Investigator Stan Cook (Missouri Department of Agriculture) on 7/21/20, Mr. Cook has not responded.

Currently, there are NO definitions for dried powdered meat pet food ingredients even though these ingredients are commonly used and not labeled as a dried ingredient.

Pet food regulations REQUIRE every single ingredient to be defined by AAFCO before they are ever sold to industry. But somehow, AAFCO and FDA has just looked the other way with dried powdered meat ingredients. While AAFCO hasn’t bothered to define these dried powdered meat ingredients, the organization has defined many other dried animal feed/pet food ingredients. The legally defined dried ingredient list includes: “Dried Apple Pectin Pulp, Dried Apple Pomace, Dried Bakery Product, Dried Beans, Dried Black Soldier Fly Larvae, Dried Bovine Colostrum, Dried Buttermilk Feed Grade, Dried Cheese, Dried Cheese Product, Dried Chicory Root, Dried Chocolate Milk, Dried Citrus Meal, Dried Citrus Pulp, Dried Corn Syrup, Dried Cultured Skim Milk, Dried Cultured Whey, Dried Cultured Whey Product, Dried Whey Product Concentrate, Dried Whey Solubles, Dried Fermentation Biomass, Dried Fermentation Product, Dried Fish Protein Digest, Dried Fish Solubles, Dried Hydrolyzed Casein, Dried Hydrolyzed Whey, Dried Insects, Dried Kelp, Dried Lactalbumin, Dried L-Lysine Fermentation Product, Dried Meat Solubles, Dried Milk Feed Grade, Dried Milk Protein, Dried Potato Products, Dried Poultry Litter, Dried Poultry Waste, Dried Poultry Waste NPN Extracted, Dried Ruminant Waste, Dried Seaweed Meal, Dried Shellfish Digest, Dried Skimmed Mil Feed Grade, Dried Spent Hops, Dried Swine Waste, and Dried Tomato Pomace“. But again, no definition for dried powdered meat.

Without a legal definition, a pet food containing a dried powdered meat ingredient (disguised as a whole food ingredient) could easily be considered adulterated, mislabeled.

Human food labeling laws DO ALLOW a dried ingredient to be declared as a whole food ingredient on labels. Such as: “Dried whole eggs, frozen whole eggs, and liquid whole eggs may be declared as “eggs”.” And “Milk, concentrated milk, reconstituted milk, and dry whole milk may be declared as “milk”.” BUT, pet food isn’t regulated the same as human food, so these labeling laws allowing a dried ingredient to be labeled as a whole food ingredient cannot be applied to pet food. Pet foods using a dried meat ingredient labeled as a non-dried ingredient could be/should be considered adulterated, mislabeled.

But the biggest mislabeling issue is the pictures. Pet food regulations state “A vignette, graphic, or pictorial representation on a pet food label shall not misrepresent the contents of the package.” Any pet food’s pictorial representation of fresh meat is blatantly misleading pet owners if the meat is actually dried powder.

Which pet food manufacturers are using dried meats without disclosing the truth to pet owners? We don’t know. Because FDA and AAFCO have done absolutely nothing regarding defining or controlling the use and disclosure of these dried meat ingredients, pet owners don’t know which manufacturers are using a dried meat while advertising a fresh whole food meat.

Thanks to an insider tip we are told that many pet foods do not include fresh or roasted meat as their advertising claims, instead they are using dried powdered meat ingredients and NOT DISCLOSING the use to pet owners. It appears to be about saving money, not quality of ingredients. As the supplier’s website stated, dried powdered meats saves manufacturers money for the cost of freezers; “Using dried chicken meat powders as alternatives to fresh or frozen meats reduces storage and handling requirements.” We are told that most pet food manufacturing facilities have NO refrigeration or freezer units – none. Refrigeration or freezer units are required for ‘real meat’, the meat would go rancid without them. The insider shared “they don’t have freezers, just ask them“. So…

We need to ask every single pet food manufacturer to:

Show me the freezer!

Pet food manufacturers that include fresh/frozen meats in their pet foods will have refrigeration/freezer units within their manufacturing facility, we can safely assume they will be proud to show us pictures of freezers to validate. Any pet food that refuses to provide consumers evidence of freezers, we can safely assume are using dried meat powders.

So let’s ask them.

Please ask your pet food manufacturer to ‘Show Me The Freezer’. Email them, Tweet them, message them on Facebook. Ask them to provide you photographic evidence of freezers in their pet food plant(s). We all deserve to know which pet foods are using ‘Real Chicken’ (and any other meat) and which pet foods are using an undefined dried powdered chicken. #ShowMeTheFreezer

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food

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