Discussion of commercial dog food

[Gizabelle]

This thread is intended for open and respectful discussion of the commercial dog food market and its practices.

I'm starting this thread as place to respond to related posts from other threads without high-jacking.

Starting off with a response to posts #17 and #24 from the thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-dogs-teeth-are-yellow.1537083/

They're beef recipe is made from cows that die before the processing date. These cows die of a type of cancer that becomes part of their DNA. I am totally brain farting on what its called, but its one of the most common causes of early death in the beef industry. Then, when they take that meat and feed it to dogs, they're giving the dogs cancer because the meat is infected. I'm not joking, or making this up, thats what all the big brands do. And thats only beef.
Of course, I highly highly highly recommend a raw diet, but that doesn't work for everybody. If its something your reconsidering, RawDelivery.com is very affordable. Feel free to Pm me with any more questions, I'm totally highjacking this thread. Sorry Op!

I'd be interested to see a source on this. Can you link one?

Lets see here. With a quick google search I found this article linking the disease in beef to cancer in people. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4012802/

This is what I could find for now. To start, and article about where meat for dog food comes from. It comes from animals that die of disease, weakness, etc. Those, "downer" animals are then euthanized, (another thought, with what? Drugs? Very possibly.) and sent to the dog food company which then turns it into meal. Well those cows that die of BLV are then shipped off and turned into meal. BLV is in the cows DNA, so no heat process or transformation into meal is going to get rid of that. This virus is in the animal in a cellar level.
https://ffacoalition.org/articles/where-does-the-meat-in-pet-food-come-from/

I'll see if I can find anymore reading on BLV specifically about dog food.

The BLV article is interesting, but the implications of the study appear to raise more questions in regard to human consumption than pet food.
the article states:

"BLV is known to cross species readily; the virus infects capybara, zebus, and water buffaloes naturally and sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits, rats, and chickens experimentally"

I have yet to find a source linking this particular disease to dogs or cats, if you can find one, please post.

A few other things jumped out at me regarding this case study:

1) The samples used were collected prior to new FDA restrictions (2009) regarding the slaughter on non-ambulatory cattle for human consumption.

"Coded human samples were acquired from the Cooperative Human Tissue Network, a National Cancer Institute–supported tissue bank. Specimens were selected, without regard to patient age, race, or diagnosis, from archived breast tissues acquired from female patients who underwent breast surgery during 2000–2005 at participating hospitals in 4 catchments areas: Birmingham, Alabama; Pennsylvania; Ohio; and Oakland, California."

2) The case study is a very small sample

"Human samples were selected from 219 FFPE breast tissue samples..."

The following is current policy regarding "down" cows at the time of slaughter. While this policy was put into effect on April 17, 2009 in response to concerns over mad-cow disease (BSE) it would necessarily include downed cattle that have succumbed to any number of other diseases or injuries.
(As stated above, the human tissue samples used in the study cited were collected prior to the passage and enforcement of this policy.)

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is amending the Federal meat inspection regulations to require that all cattle that are non-ambulatory disabled at an official establishment, including those that become non-ambulatory disabled after passing ante-mortem inspection, be condemned and disposed of properly. In addition, this rule requires that establishments notify FSIS inspection personnel when cattle become non-ambulatory disabled after passing ante-mortem inspection.

Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/doc...non-ambulatory-disabled-following-ante-mortem

Here is a link to the Merck Veterinary Manual BLV page for additional reference: https://www.merckvetmanual.com/generalized-conditions/bovine-leukosis/overview-of-bovine-leukosis



As to the second article, while it raises interesting points for further research, it was written by a student intern and neither cites nor links any scientific or regulatory sources regarding meat sourcing from downed cattle for pet food. Also, the website this was taken from is an advocacy group. A quick look at the "team" page reveals no medical or veterinary professionals on staff.
There seems to be an abundance of these articles, all claiming the "horrible truth about what's in you dog's kibble" but I'm having a hard time finding any that cite sources for these claims.

I'm very interested in learning more about pet food protein sourcing though, as well as studies conducted on the effects of the denaturing process on animal by-products.
I'll continue to look into these topics as I have time, but I'd love to see anything you can find as well.

 

[Weeg]

I'm starting this thread as place to respond to related posts from other threads without high-jacking.

Good idea, thank you for starting this! I felt bad for OP on that thread.

I'll keep researching myself to find more sources, those articles I pulled up last night were simply what I could find form a quick search. I'll keep looking.

 

[Weeg]

More links.

Obviously nobody is going to write an article ratting out the big brands on using infected beef in dog food. But you can put 2 and 2 together when you know reasons that meat is condemned and then what happens to beef that is condemned. Here is another article about what BLV is.
https://www.feedlotmagazine.com/new...S2W12Kh5cYYUDFLx_mfkZ6d7fC4GNxWPobW193Qb6fdrE

All condemned meat is denatured.
https://www.poisonedpets.com/pet-fo...DM-B23uflpue07GXNlIVZCtjPr1Nk6gT4O0pPWcG6W4A8

 

[Weeg]

Also, screen shotted this article I read today. Not on the current subject, but coincides with the subject of the thread-

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Being an ex-farmer and having some knowledge of the processing industry, cull cows are probably used in dog food, as well as all the by-products us humans won't consume. Don't recall a single cow getting cancer. There's a lot of fear mongering in the dog food industry. There's a lot of opinions also. Lots of money to be made in dog food. I would not believe even a fraction of what's out there. I personally like research, and for a company to follow the WSAVA guidelines.

I feed kibble. My dogs thrive on it. We all want what's best for our dogs. We just need to find out what we believe and feel, and do what we think is best. People seem to complicate the issue, and like to put fear into people. I've owned a lot of dogs. Most died from various things. One of my current dogs had congestive heart failure, and after a food switch to a WSAVA compliant food she no longer has a heart problem. I'm following science these days. That's my choice.

 

[Gizabelle]

I've gone down the rabbit hole a bit on this subject.
Wanting to know more about the actual processes involved, I've gone through I don't know how many articles in the past few days.
Starting with “condemned meat” (not as ominous as it sounds, merely anything regarded unfit for human consumption per Federal Title 9 law), I wanted to learn more about the steps involved and that led me to learn about rendering…

The quotations below are taken from an article published in Animal Frontiers, an official journal of the American Society of Animal Science: https://academic.oup.com/af/article/11/2/24/6276831

-First of all, what is rendering?

"Render, from the French verb rendre, meaning “to give back,” is the act of processing and cooking undesired, or uneaten livestock and poultry meat (and used cooking oil [UCO]) that remains after a meat animal has been slaughtered and the meat used for consumption has been harvested. Rendering then safely and hygienically processes it to create new products so nothing is wasted. Renderers upcycle that unused material (fat, protein, feathers, bone, etc.) for new, secondary uses (Meeker and Hamilton, 2006; Figure 1)."

Here is an infographic from this article that sums it up nicely

-What products are manufactured using these raw materials?

"Renderers often discuss the “Big 4” rendered product markets: pet food/animal feed, fuel, oleochemical products, and fertilizer. However, other rendered products not mentioned as often include gel bone (rendered bone chips) used to create gel caps used for vitamins, supplements, and drugs, cosmetics (like lotions and soaps made from rendered fats), and even tires.
Rendered fat alone is utilized for production of many nonfood and nonanimal feed applications such as candles, detergents, fabric softener, deodorant, shaving cream, perfume, cosmetics, lotions, crayons, paint, lubricant, biodiesel, plastic, waterproofing materials, cement, ceramics, chalk, matches, antifreeze, insulation, linoleum, rubber, textiles, medicines, soap, and crayons (Iowa State University Extension, 2020; Figures 2–4)."

Infographic below is from another source: https://www.extension.iastate.edu/s...lamakee/Lesson1Activity4Dairy_By_Products.pdf

-Ok, What about pet food specifically?

"Protein and fat ingredients obtained from rendering are used to manufacture pet foods. These rendered ingredients are not only sustainable, but also safe due to the enforcement of strict safety guidelines including the use of high heat in the rendering process to destroy bacteria and harmful pathogens. The resulting products are also handled, stored, and distributed under controlled conditions to minimize contamination. All rendering plants are required to be in compliance with FDA’s animal food regulations under FSMA, which ensures safe processing occurs. In addition, renderers have voluntary quality and safety control systems in place via formal programs such as the Rendering Industry Code of Practice (Meeker and Meisinger, 2015)."

As the citation link provided in the above statement is not functional, I’ve provided a link to this article originally published in the Journal of Animal Science in March 2015 regarding pet food:
https://www.researchgate.net/public...sustainability_quality_and_safety_of_pet_food
This is an excellent article that addresses quality and safety concerns, regulation, nutrition, digestibility, as well and sustainability and economic impact. I would quote from this one as well, but I doubt many of you have even read this far.
Anyway, it’s worth a read if you’re interested in learning more.