Trust the Hand That Feeds You

March 16, 2007, may have marked the tipping point for the pet food industry, the day the general public began to question how pet food is manufactured and the reliability of the claims made regarding its wholesomeness and safety. One of the most important tenets of our social contract with our dogs is to provide them with food that's good for them. Many dog guardians believed they were doing just that by feeding their dogs some of the products removed from the shelves by the Menu recall. Even people who have long been concerned about the pet food industry and who don't feed their pets commercial food were surprised by the enormity of this recall. How could this have happened?

There are many reasons, starting with lax FDA oversight and the self-regulated, non-governmental nature of the Association of American Feed Control Officials, which sets nutritional standards, label requirements and feed-trial protocols for pet foods. Many of its members come from state agriculture departments as well as from within the industry itself. The pet food market is controlled by huge multinational conglomerates, and five companies dominate: Nestlé (Purina, Alpo, Friskies, Mighty Dog), Del Monte (Gravy Train, Nature's Recipe, Milk Bone), MasterFoods (Mars' Royal Canin, Pedigree, Sensible Choice), Proctor and Gamble (Iams, Eukanuba) and Colgate-Palmolive (Hill's Science Diet, Nature's Best). What seemed the most surprising to consumers was that some of the "premium" brands, such as Iams, Hills and Nutro-beneficiaries of greater consumer confidence-like the others, don't always produce their own food. Instead, their recipes and "formulas" are jobbed out to contract manufacturers, companies like Menu Foods, Diamond and Doane, who actually make the foods and purchase raw ingredients in cost-saving bulk. This is a much cheaper way of producing the food because each brand doesn't have to invest in expensive manufacturing equipment themselves. Which is how wheat gluten (a low-quality protein source) appeared in so many products, under so many different brands (co-packers like Menu also make store-brand pet foods for Wal-Mart and Kroger, among others).

So what is a responsible dog caregiver to do?

Beginning with our May/June 2007 edition, we will be taking a closer look at the issues we face as we make our pet food-buying, or feeding, decisions. Because Bark is a bimonthly publication, we can't be a source for late-breaking news, but luckily, outstanding work is being done by many other organizations and bloggers and we urge you to track the information being provided by these resources online. (See resources.) Look for Bark's ongoing series of interviews and investigations into this important topic.

Claudia Kawczynska
Editor-in-chief

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