On Sept. 21, 1897, 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Sun asking if there really was a Santa. Francis Pharcellus Church wrote the newspaper’s reply, which is now firmly embedded in Christmas folklore here in the Colonies.
If you scan pet-oriented social media, you’ll see that a common belief is that pet food is unregulated and that pet food companies have free reign to use road kill, dead zoo animals, euthanized pets and other unsavory ingredients in a greedy grab for the pet food buck.
To put pet owners’ minds at ease, I often discuss the topic of pet food regulation and safety, hoping that eventually said minds will, indeed, be put at ease. Still, many pet owners remain skeptical, but that’s a good thing. To me, that sort of skepticism is more like a curiosity.
If you’re curious about something, you’ll look into it, and the knowledge you gain only helps. As Ronald Reagan put it, “Trust but verify.” I scoured the website of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration looking for information pertaining to pet food regulation, and the rest of this column, mostly copied and pasted from the website, reports on the results.
The FDA regulates that can of cat food, bag of dog food, or box of dog treats or snacks in your pantry. The FDA’s regulation of pet food is similar to that for other animal foods.
The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act requires that all animal foods, like human foods, be safe to eat, produced under sanitary conditions, contain no harmful substances and be truthfully labeled. In addition, canned pet foods must be processed in conformance with the low-acid canned food regulations to ensure the pet food is free of viable microorganisms.
FDA ensures that the ingredients used in pet food are safe and have an appropriate function. Substances such as sources of minerals, vitamins or other nutrients, flavorings, preservatives or processing aids may be generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for an intended use or must have approval as food additives. Coloring must have approval for that use.
Pet food labeling is regulated at two levels. The current FDA regulations require proper identification of the product, net quantity statement, name and place of business of the manufacturer or distributor, and proper listing of all the ingredients in the product in order from most to least, based on weight.
Some states also enforce their own labeling regulations. Many of these regulations are based on a model provided by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). FDA also reviews specific claims on pet food, such as “maintains urinary tract health,” “low magnesium” and “hairball control.” Guidance for collecting data to make a urinary tract health claim is available in Guideline 55 on the CVM portion of the FDA internet site.”
I might add that most companies require testing of ingredients before shipping, upon arrival at their plant, and before the finished product is bagged. Their equipment features sensors along the production line that, among other things, check for Guaranteed Analysis compliance and detects contaminants and bacteria.
Based on information reported in my Oct. 22 column, I wonder if the same can be said of the pet foods imported from Europe.
