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.
 

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.  


Suggested Resources for Feeding Your Pet

http://www.avma.org/aa/menufoodsrecall/products.asp
The American Veterinary Medical Association's comprehensive pet food recall list

http://www.fda.gov
Official Web site of the Food & Drug Administration

http://data.tennessean.com/DB/petfood2007/petfood2007.php
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