Let's start with what usually
appears as the protein source and the primary ingredient in pet food: Meat
byproducts or meat meal. Both are euphemisms for the parts of animals that
wouldn't be considered meat by any smart consumer. The well-known phrase "meat
byproducts" is a misnomer since these byproducts contain little, if any,
meat. These are the parts of the animal left over after the meat has been
stripped away from the bone. "Chicken by-products include head, feet,
entrails, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, liver, stomach, bones, blood,
intestines, and any other part of the carcass not fit for human
consumption," writes Henry Pasternak in Healing Animals with
Nature's Cures.
Meat meal can contain the boiled
down flesh of animals we would find unacceptable for consumption. This can
include zoo animals, road kill, and 4-D (dead, diseased, disabled, dying)
livestock. Most shockingly, this also can include dogs and cats. That's right, your pets could be cannibals. Fast
Food Nation author Eric Schlosser writes, "Although leading American
manufacturers promise never to put rendered pets into their pet food, it is still legal
to do so. A Canadian company, Sanimal Inc., was putting 40,000 pounds of dead
dogs and dead cats into its dog and cat food every week, until discontinuing
the practice in June 2001. "This food is healthy and good,"
said the company's vice president of procurement, responding to critics, ''but
some people don't like to see meat meal that contains any pets."
Harmful components (and ingredients) found in Pet food:
Unfortunately, harmful chemical
preservatives and other artificial additives are the norm in most pet foods. Some
are intentionally added by the manufacturer, while others come from the
herbicides, insecticides, and pesticides used by farmers to boost crop yields.
Many pet foods advertised as "preservative-free" do, in fact, contain
preservatives. As the law is currently written, manufacturers don't have to list
preservatives that they themselves did not add. Many preservatives make
their way into pet food at rendering plants before the meat is even sent to the
manufacturer. An analysis of several pet foods labeled "chemical
free" or "all natural ingredients" found synthetic antioxidants
in all samples. With continued use, low levels of these synthetic antioxidants may
build up in the tissues; inges-tion of small doses over time may be just as
toxic as a single large dose. About 60 percent of all herbicides, 90 percent of
all fungicides, and 30 percent of all insecticides are considered to be cancer
causing in and of themselves.6-7
Healing Pets With Nature's Miracle Cures By Henry Pasternak DVM CVA, page 11
Healing Pets With Nature's Miracle Cures By Henry Pasternak DVM CVA, page 11
Under AAFCO guidelines, acceptable meat by-product can include animal lungs, spleens, kidneys, brains, livers, blood, bones, low-temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. Livers can be infested with worms (liver flukes) or diseased with cirrhosis. Lungs can be filled with pneumonia. If an animal is diseased and declared unfit for human consumption, the carcass is acceptable for pet food. Even parts of animals, such as "stick marks,"—the area of the body where animals have been injected with antibiotics, hormones, or other drugs—are cut from the carcasses intended for human consumption and used for meat by-product for pet food.
Food Pets Die For by Ann N Martin, page 153
Commission warned that a series of mysterious dog ailments at kennels in Michigan may be the result of fluoride contamination of pet foods. They noticed a high incidence of deformed puppies and pointed out that chronic effects of fluoride poisoning may not be noticeable for a long time.
Fluoride The Aging Factor by John Yiamouyiannis, page 16
After 45 weeks of producing fertile
eggs plagued by hunger, debeaking, detoeing, decombing, toxic ammonia, and
diseases, these breeder chickens are "liquidated" and turned into
human animal "food" and nonhuman animal "feed" and pet food
products.
Prisoned Chickens Poisoned Eggs by Karen Davis PhD, page 93
Prisoned Chickens Poisoned Eggs by Karen Davis PhD, page 93
She sees the problem all the time in
older canines and felines, "usually those eight years or older." She blames the commercial pet foods and owners'
irresponsibility for most of it. "There is just too much sugar in
everything. You can't buy a decent brand of [pet] food anymore without there
being some kind of sugar in it. An animal's system will rebel just like the
human body does when excess sugar is taken into it. The same autoimmune
disorder that attacks human pancreatic cells that make insulin destroys the
insulin-producing capabilities in our dogs and cats."
How road kill ends up in Fido's food bowl
The process that turns these animals
and animal parts into pet food is also disgusting. After all, it takes a lot to
turn roadkill into something owners feel good about pouring into their pets'
bowls. Ann M. Martin describes the process in Food Pets Die For:
"At the rendering plant a machine slowly grinds the entire mess in huge
vats. Then this product is cooked at temperatures between 220 degrees
Fahrenheit and 270 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes to one hour. The mixture
is centrifuged (spun at a high speed) and the grease (or tallow) rises to the
top and it is removed from the mixture. The grease becomes the source of animal
fat in most pet foods. Oftentimes, when you open a standard can of dog food, you will see a
top layer of fat. The centrifuged product is the source of that fat, which is
meant to entice a hungry dog or cat. After the grease is removed in the
rendering process, the remaining material is dried. Meat meal, and meat and
bone meal are the end product of this process. This dried material is usually
found in dry pet food."
Chemical dangers lurk in commercial pet food
Rendering practices aren't just
gross; they're also dangerous for your pets. The chemicals used to euthanize
zoo animals, dogs and cats can survive the cooking process, which means these
chemicals end up in pet food, and ultimately, in your pet. Martin writes,
"Euthanized cats and dogs often end up in rendering vats along with other
questionable material to make meat meal, and meat and bone meal. This can be problematic
because sodium pentobarbital can withstand the heat from rendering. For years,
some veterinarians and animal advocates have known about the potential danger
of sodium pentobarbital residue in commercial pet food, yet the danger has not
been alleviated." In short, that means the poisons designed to kill pets are the same ones being
fed to them.
Fats are necessary for good health
and disease prevention. Here again, fats should be raw or unrefined—not
processed. Meat, fish, eggs, or milk in their natural states are the best
sources of fat. The pet food industry prepares some pet foods with high levels
of omega-3 fatty acids that are claimed to be effective for treating various
inflammatory diseases. However, omega-3 fatty acids are quite sensitive to heat
and are destroyed and easily become rancid during processing. Cod liver oil can
be added to pet foods. It is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids as well as
vitamin A. Proteins
PETS USED IN PET FOOD
As I discuss elsewhere, euthanized
cats and dogs often end up in rendering vats along with other questionable
material to make meat meal, and meat and bone meal. This can be problematic
because sodium pentobarbital can withstand the heat from rendering. For years,
some veterinarians and animal advocates have known about the potential danger
of sodium pentobarbital residue in commercial pet food, yet the danger has not
been alleviated. The "Report of the American Veterinary Medical
Association (AVMA) Panel on Euthanasia," states, "In euthanasia of
animals intended for human or animal food, chemical agents that result in
tissue residue cannot be used."
Food Pets Die For by Ann N Martin, page 57
Food Pets Die For by Ann N Martin, page 57
Another staple of the Tenderer's
diet, in addition to farm animals, is euthanized pets-the six or seven million
dogs and cats that are killed in animal shelters every year. The city of Los
Angeles alone, for example, sends some two hundred tons of euthanized cats and
dogs to a rendering plant every month. Added to the blend are the euthanized
catch of animal control agencies, and roadkill. (Roadkill is not collected
daily, and in the summer, the better roadkill collection crews can generally
smell it before they can see it) When this gruesome mix is ground and
steam-cooked, the lighter, fatty material floating to the top gets refined for
use in such products as cosmetics, lubricants, soaps, candles, and waxes. The
heavier protein material is dried and pulverized into a brown powder—about a
quarter of which consists of fecal material. The powder is used as an additive
to almost all pet food as well as to livestock feed. Farmers call it
"protein concentrates." In 1995, five million tons of processed slaughterhouse
leftovers were sold for animal feed in the United States. I used to feed tons
of the stuff to my own livestock. It never concerned me that I was feeding
cattle to cattle.
Mad Cowboy By Howard F Lyman, page 12
Mad Cowboy By Howard F Lyman, page 12
Slaughterhouses also provide
renderers with the leftovers from slaughtered animals not fit for human
consumption. Before these animal parts and by-product used for pet food are
shipped from the slaughterhouse to the rendering plant, the by-product is
"denatured." This means that crude carbolic acid, cresylic
disinfectant, or citronella, is sprayed on the product. In the case of a whole beef
or swine carcass that has been condemned, the denaturing product is injected
into the entire carcass. If meat inspectors condemn only parts of an animal,
the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) requires that "before
an approved denaturing agent is applied, the product must be freely slashed so
that pieces are less than 4" in diameter. This allows the denaturant to
contact all parts of the product."
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