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!