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Meat and animal
derivatives
What does this term
mean?
what species are used
in this?
what organs are used
- hoof, guts, feet, beaks ????
what province of
China does it come from?
AAFCO = Association
of American Feed Control Officials
AAFCO feeding
trials consist of at least eight dogs being fed the same diet for 26
weeks. During this time, 25% of the dogs (so, two animals) can be
removed from the test and the dogs eating the food can lose up to 15% of
their weight and condition; the food will still pass the test and be
labelled "complete and balanced."
The AAFCO protocols were NOT designed to "examine nutritional
relationships to long-term health or disease prevention" If a
dog lives for six months with no noticeable ill effects on a kibble,
then the food is considered 100% complete and balanced nutrition, even
though long-term nutritional deficiencies may occur several years down
the road.
AAFCO add a
little further insight into pet-food manufacture in the following
document:
http://www.aafco.org/Portals/0/Public/Q-AND-A-REGARDING-PETFOODREGS.PDF
I particularly
like the paragraph 4:
"4. Am I
correct that parts from sick, dying, or dead animals are allowed?
Doesn't this pose a
health risk to pets?
Animal by-products which may
include materials from animals which died by means other than
slaughter are explicitly defined as
adulterated unless the materials are rendered in compliance
with animal health and protein product
regulations to destroy any potential microorganisms which may
be in the products. The processes used are deemed to be adequate to
control risk of disease."
This should
reassure you knowing that when foods are made using animals that died from
disease, the bits are cooked at high temperature to kill off all the bugs!
Is this actually
dangerous to your pet? I guess the answer is "who knows" - if
you don't know what is in the product, you really cannot say it is free
of risks - nor can you say that there is a risk - but do you want to
chance it? Read about the Melamine poisoning episode in the USA from
contaminated foodstuffs from China. What I think is so significant is that so
many food companies were all using a common adulterated source.
A
$24-million payout to settle class-action suits stemming from melamine
poisoning in pet food last year is hung up by two court appeals, a
lawyer for plaintiffs said Wednesday.
“There were several objections to the settlement, and all those
objections were denied by the trial court judge,” said Russell Paul,
lead co-counsel for the class. “However, two of the objectors have
appealed. Those appeals have to be considered.”
Meanwhile, claims administrators have received more than 23,000 claims
and counting, said Paul, who works in the firm Berger & Montague PC
in Philadelphia.
The settlement covers claims by pet owners and consumers in the United
States and Canada. U.S. plaintiffs had to submit their claims by Nov.
24, but Canadian claimants have until Jan. 26 to apply for reimbursement
of their economic damages. The settlement was approved in Canadian court
in late November, more than six weeks following U.S. approval.
Paul said he does not know the total value of claims submitted but said
each will be evaluated for reasonableness. “The claim forms and
attached documentary evidence will be vetted carefully,” he said.
“There are clearly fraudulent claims sometimes.”
The accounting and consulting firm Heffler, Radetich & Saitta LLP in
Philadelphia is handling claims administration.
Eligible expenses for reimbursement include the cost of veterinary
treatment, death-related expenses, the cost of the dead pet or its fair
market value (whichever is higher), and the cost of a new pet, according
to information on the website www.petsettlement.com
Paul said the appeals were filed by plaintiffs who have legal objections
to the settlement as approved. He could not estimate when the appeals
will be decided, nor how long it will take claims administrators to
review all the applications.
He said claimants are unlikely to receive any communications about their
claims until the awards are decided.
The settlement addresses more than 100 class action lawsuits filed after
the industrial chemical melamine turned up in wet pet food last year.
Investigators found that suppliers in China of wheat gluten, a vegetable
protein, had added nitrogen-rich melamine to falsely inflate the
gluten’s apparent protein content.
The melamine, along with the chemical byproduct cyanuric acid, together
formed crystals in the kidneys of cats and dogs that ate the tainted
food, leading in some cases to renal failure and death. Some 150 brands
of pet food were affected. The long list of defendants include Menu
Foods, Nestle Purina PetCare Co., Walmart, PETCO, PetSmart, Target, Iams,
Del Monte, Mars, Inc., Nutro Products, Inc. and Costco.
Allergies Another
concern I have regarding meat and animal derivatives involves allergies and food
intolerances. Protein that has been heat-treated to a high temperature has its
proteins 'denatured' (that is the whole point of high temperature treatment).
This may alter its allergenicity i.e. its potential to cause an allergy. When we
talk about 'beef allergy' or 'chicken allergy' we never consider whether the
chicken is fresh, raw, cooked, or high-temperature rendered, yet common sense
suggests that rendered meats are much more-likely to be foreign to the body (and
hence allergenic). Moreover, we have no idea how many different animal species
are present in any particular batch of 'derivatives'. If
you wanted to create a protein mix that is allergenic as possible, a brew of
rendered mixed animal species and organs might be a good contender!
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