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Summer 2007
The Pet-Food-Recall Wakeup Call
BY VERNA AUSTEN
Like most pet owners, I believed that purchasing premium brands like Iams
and Science Diet would give my pets better nutrition and longer and happier
lives. But with the pet food recall, I learned that these companies, whose
products cost two to three times more than grocery store brands, use the
same wheat processed in the same production facilities where the cheaper
food is made.
Worse yet, Menu Foods and Iams knowingly fed food containing the poisoned
wheat gluten to animals in their own labs for "quality-control" tests.
The Center for Veterinary Medicine, a division of the Food & Drug
Administration, is the formal body under which pet food regulation falls.
The agency's mission is to serve as "a consumer protection organization that
fosters public and animal health by approving safe and effective products."
Looks like someone wasn't doing their job. But does the FDA have
jurisdiction over the Canadian and Chinese plants if their product is
shipped to the United States? And if they do, when exactly do inspections
take place? No one seems to have the answers.
This spring, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) held a hearing in Washington to urge
the FDA to investigate circumstances surrounding the issue. Why had Menu
Foods waited nearly a month after receiving reports that animals were dying
to notify the FDA? Why did the FDA wait so long to post updates about the
recall on its Web site?
The FDA said it couldn't be certain all the tainted food was off store
shelves, and that after a month, they still hadn't discovered which
ingredient had killed thousands of pets in North America.
Sen. Durbin proposed the creation of one "food safety administration" to
oversee pet and human food supplies. He stated that problems with food
safety for both pets and humans are growing and that the government must act
to protect the health of its citizens.
That's all well and good, but do we trust the government to follow through
and protect us all to the best of its ability? We, the people, have
forgotten that we are the true government. As Thomas Jefferson said, "We in
America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the
majority who participate."
And participate we must. We must stay informed to find political candidates
who value the same things we do. Bookmark the Web site www.congress.org,
where you can search for your elected officials by ZIP code. Find out the
names and addresses of all of your representatives, local, state and U.S.
Remember, we put them in office, and they work for us.
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Tips for feeding your pets
What is a pet owner to do? We've always been told not to feed our pets table
scraps, that canned food is specially formulated for their nutrition needs.
I don't believe that anymore. Everyone I know who feeds their dogs a
home-cooked diet of boiled chicken with vegetables and a starch like pasta
or rice has dogs who live into their late teens and longer. It's really not
that much more expensive, but it does require time and planning. And guess
what? Wheat gluten is a "filler" and not a good ingredient for pets in the
first place.
I've been cooking for my own dog, Mollie, who got sick from eating a
so-called "premium brand" dog food. She is now taking three medications and
has to have monthly blood tests to check her liver, which was damaged by the
poisoned food. My two cats are trickier though. They live up to their
reputation of being finicky, and, luckily, I found an organic canned food
that contains no wheat gluten or preservatives.
There are several ways to make sure your pets remains healthy if you do
decide to feed them canned or dry food.
First, check the Web site below daily to make sure your brand is not
recalled.
Second, read the labels. The first four or five ingredients should be types
of meat only, not corn or wheat or "animal by-products."
Lastly, research the company. Find out the parent company and the
grand-parent company and make sure they are humane in all their business
activities. I've found that companies that do not harm animals do not harm
the environment and proudly state so on their Web site. Steer away from
products and companies who offer no such claim.
Since reading Ellen Anderson's article "Prescription for Prevention" in the
Spring 2007 issue of New Southerner, I've been trying to live according to
the ideas she writes about. I haven't been able to get out of my mind her
point that rice is "sprayed with mega-doses of pesticides," and that washing
and even soaking produce with natural cleaners that are supposed to remove
all traces of them can hardly work if the poison is already inside the
vegetable's DNA.
I'm trying to go completely organic. No, I can't afford it, so I'll buy less
and waste less or else do without. You do the same. Fight the good fight and
raise your voice for those who don't have one to raise. The New America is
just around the corner. I'll see you there.
Verna Austen, of Berwyn, Ill., earned a master of fine arts in writing at
Spalding University in Louisville, Ky.
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Suggested Resources
for Feeding Your Pet
The
American Veterinary Medical Association's
comprehensive pet food recall list
Official Web site of the
Food & Drug Administration
A searchable pet food database from
The Tennessean
Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck
Throw Me A Bone: 50 Healthy Canine Taste-Tested Recipes by Sally
Sampson
The Whole Pet Diet by Andi Brown
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