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While chatter of major pet food manufacturers using the rendered fat and meat from stray dogs and diseased animals has been circulating among concerned pet parents for many years, police in Spain have just stumbled upon proof that this practice actually exists.
Police in Galician town of As Neves in Spain uncovered a warehouse filled with over 15 tons of dead stray dogs which, they claim, were to be processed into animal feed. Similar discoveries have been made elsewhere in the North of Spain, too.
Spanish newspaper, El Mundo, reported that an investigation has been underway since March, 2012, after an industry insider alerted police to the use of dead stray dogs in animal feed and pet food. The discovery affects the entire food chain, not just the animals given the food, which tend to be mostly cattle and other human and pet food sources.
In a separate report by another Spanish newspaper, La Voz de Galicia, it is revealed that many of the businesses purchasing the illegal animal feed products “have international presence and some are among the most prominent of the animal feed industry,” meaning that the foods we humans ourselves are eating and the foods we’re feeding our pets originated from these same sources.
Skeptics have shrugged off the idea that dead dogs are commonly used in animal feed, saying that it’s illegal and unethical and therefor unbelievable. Susan Thixton and Truth About Pet Food explain,
Yes, actually it is illegal per U.S. federal law for any food – animal or human – to be sourced from or contain any part of an animal that was not slaughtered. Section 402 (a)(5).
However, the FDA has provided the animal food and pet food industries loopholes to avoid federal law. These loopholes are known as Compliance Policies. Compliance Policy Guide (CPG) 675.400 says it all (however there are many more): “POLICY: No regulatory action will be considered for animal feed ingredients resulting from the ordinary rendering process of industry, including those using animals which have died otherwise than by slaughter, provided they are not otherwise in violation of the law.”
The names of the businesses (specifically, pet food manufacturers and farmers using the animal feed produced in Spain) have yet to be revealed to the public. Our fingers (and paws!) are tightly crossed in hopes that dog food brands currently lining store shelves in America are not on the list.
In 2008, former president of AAFCO (American Association of Feed Control Officials) admitted in the video below that American’s pet food could very likely contain the rendered product of cats and dogs.
You simply can’t trust the colorful marketing and fancy advertising of every dog food brand sold in your local stores. As dog owners, it is our responsibility to research and find foods that are safe and healthy for the pets who’s life and vitality rest squarely in the decisions we make. Find manufacturers with complete and total transparency regarding the sourcing of their ingredients and choose those that hold the health and safety of our pets in the highest regard.
For more details including links to FDA documents supporting these facts, please visit TruthAboutPetFood.com.
Amelia Rush
says:There has been proof for years when certain brands were tested and traces of euthanasia drugs and drugs were found in the precursor “slop” that eventually becomes the final product. No one wanted to believe it and no one wanted to listen.
“You Tube” about pet food and find out.
Its the stuff of urban legend – dogs being rendered for dog food. I hadn’t really thought about what went into rendered product before, the more I learn, the more ignorant I feel. That is an interesting clip of the President of Aafco – do you know what the extract was taken from? I would love to see the whole interview.