Did you catch this pawesome interview with food policy expert Marion Nestle? (Her book "Pet Food Politics" is one of my faves.) She talked about the new famous four-legger Bo, the First Dog, and how we're gonna get safe pet food in the White (Dog) House.

It's on the blog Obama Foodarama -- check it out for some useful (and interesting) tips and tidbits! Read full post.

I got a nice email from supporter Ann who asked what's up with my pet food testing, and I realized I haven't updated you guys in a long while. I guess Cleo's right ... I am pretty forgetful sometimes. Read full post.

Now we move on from something there often isn't enough of in pet food (protein) to something that there tends to be way too much of: grain.

The majority of the grain that goes into pet food is considered unfit for human consumption. Pet food manufacturers like grains because they're a cheap source of calories, but those calories are mostly empty.

Pet food manufacturers can list each type of grain in lots of different ways, depending on which part of the grain they're using and how it's prepared, but whichever way you slice it it's still grain. Most pet foods have more than one grain-based ingredient. Read full post.

I asked my fellow pet crusaders for some delicious and healthy pet treats, and my email inbox filled up with tons of yummy concoctions. Below are some of the best recipes as tested by me and Cleo.

So the next time you get bummed out by the icky ingredients on pet food labels, don't despair--put on your chef hat! Read full post.

This morning the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine released their latest Veterinarian Newsletter with these recalls that our furry and feathered friends should know about. Forgive me for listing the cat vitamin recall first; I am a bit partial to my own species!

Cats & Kittens: salmonella in Hartz Vitamins

Hartz Mountain Corporation of Secaucus, NJ, is carrying out a firm-initiated Class I recall of 888 bottles of Hartz Vitamin Care for Cats and Kittens chewable tablets. The product, which was distributed nationwide, tested positive for the presence of Salmonella. Read full post.

Today's topic is meat meal. It's a common ingredient in dry pet foods, where it might be labeled "meat meal" or "meat by-product meal."

It's made at rendering plants, where animal carcasses are cooked in vats at very high temperatures. The grease is skimmed off (and added back in later, as fat), and what's left is dehydrated until it's a dry product. Then, the rendering plant ships the meal to brokers, who sell it to pet food manufacturers, who mix it with other ingredients, package it, and send it off to your food bowl.

If we could trust that all the meat making it into the rendering vat was up to AAFCO's standards, this ingredient might not be so bad. Their definition is a little vague -- for example, it requires meat meal to be "exclusive of any added" hooves and hair and horns and whatnot -- but that's nothing compared to the reality of rendered meat meal. Read full post.

Let's begin our foray into the world of commercial pet food ingredients. I'll feed it to you in small bites, because it's a lot of information! Read full post.

Ever noticed that box full of phrases and numbers called a guaranteed analysis? Every pet food has one, but I for one never knew what it meant until I started doing this research.

AAFCO asks pet food manufacturers to list guaranteed amounts for certain nutrients. Under their model regulations (which are actually just recommendations), pet food manufacturers are expected to list guaranteed minimum amounts of protein and fat, and maximum amounts of fiber and moisture. The idea is to give consumers a way to compare pet foods and know that their pet's food contains plenty of the core nutrients they need.

But here's the big problem: AAFCO's nutrient profiles don't guarantee the source or digestibility of ingredients. Just because a pet food contains a minimum of 8% protein doesn't mean a cat can actually digest it or access its important amino acids. In fact, in a documentary I watched a couple of weeks ago, one woman made a "pet food" out of sawdust, motor oil and old shoe leather. And that slop would meet AAFCO's requirements! Gross.

On top of that, AAFCO doesn't ask or expect products to meet their nutrient profiles. All manufacturers have to do is list how much of each nutrient their product contains.

Manufacturers can choose to include other guarantees based on AAFCO's nutrient profiles. For example, cat foods often list a guaranteed maximum for ash. Ash is left on meat after it's been cooked at high temperatures, and it's made up of important minerals, but for years scientists thought it was bad for feline urinary tracts. The link between ash and urinary crystals isn't as strong as the scientists used to think, but some people still choose low-ash food. Manufacturers are also instructed to include guarantees for vitamins or minerals in any pet food that's marketed as a vitamin or mineral supplement.

Sometimes pet foods contain nutrients that AAFCO hasn't investigated, and they may want to put these in the guaranteed analysis. For example, omega-3 fatty acids might be very good for pet health, but they aren't recognized by AAFCO. When manufacturers put omega-3s on the guaranteed analysis, they have to include a note saying that the nutrient is "Not recognized as an essential nutrient by the AAFCO Dog (or Cat) Food Nutrient Profiles."

So, while it's good to know what percentage of your pet food is fat and protein and how much is filler, it's just as important to know what the source of those nutrients is, and that's why you have to look at (wait for it. . .) the ingredients. That's the subject of my next Pet Food Confidential post, so stay tuned!

Photo by dawgfanjeff.

You want answers!

That has been the overwhelming response to my Pet Food Confidential series so far. You're happy about all the information I'm digging up about pet food, but in the meantime, what are you supposed to eat?

The thing is, I'm still doing my research -- and I've got a lot of research to do! I'm learning everything I can about different ingredients, like "meat by-product" and "brewer's rice," and I'm also researching food additives and preservatives. I'm even going to cover different kinds of diets pets can eat.

With all that research left to do, I can't recommend any specific brands of pet food right now. I just don't know enough.
But I can tell you this:

Choose pet food without the chemical preservatives BHA, BHT and ethoxyquin, vary cats’ diets to limit their exposure to mercury in seafood, and choose organic or free-range ingredients rather than “by-products.”

I'll keep revising my recommendations and getting more specific as I do my research. There's so much to find out! I hope you'll hang in there and learn along with me.

Wags,
Eddie

Photo by wmsch_kiwi.

Pet food labels are a lot like fast food commercials. They make the product look downright mouthwatering, but once you've got the real thing in front of you it doesn't look the same at all. What's that about?

To find out, I had to do some pretty heavy reading. The American Association of Feed Control Officials publishes what they call a "model bill" for pet food labeling. The model bill itself doesn't carry any weight, but it provides recommendations which many states use in their regulations. The recommendations also apply to pet food companies, but there's no guarantee that any particular manufacturer follows them.

Fifty pages later, I can tell you this: A lot more thought goes into labeling pet food than I ever imagined! It starts off great, but then it takes a turn for the worse. Here are the highlights. Read full post.