WHAT'S REALLY IN (Your) PET's FOOD
An API (Animal Protection Institute) INVESTIGATIVE REPORT
What Science Diet, IAMS, Pedigree & Purina
Don't Want You To Know About Their Food! (all trademarked names)
Whole chickens, choice cuts of beef, fresh grains and all the wholesome nutrition your Dog or cat will ever need.
These are the images pet food manufacturers promulgate through
the media and advertising. This is what the $11 billion per year industry wants consumers to believe they are buying
when they purchase their products.
This report explores the differences
between what consumer's think they are buying compared to what they are actually getting.
This document focuses in very general terms
on the most visible name brands--the pet food labels that are mass distributed to supermarkets and grocery stores-but
there are many smaller, more highly respected brands that may be guilty of the same offenses.
I hope you have a strong stomach...
What most consumers are unaware of is that the pet food industry is an extension of the human food industry, also
known as the agriculture industry. Pet
food provides a place for slaughterhouse waste and grains considered "unfit for human consumption" to
be turned into profit. This waste includes cow tongues. Esophagi, and possibly diseased and cancerous meat. The "whole grains" used have had the starch removed and the oil extracted--usually by
chemical processing-for vegetable oil, or they are the hulls and other remnants from the milling process. Some
of the truly whole grains used may have been deemed unfit for human consumption because of mold, contaminants,
or poor storage practices. -
FIVE out of the five major pet food companies in the United ~ are subsidiaries of major multinational food production
companies: Colgate-Palmolive (Hills Science Diet Pet Food), Procter & Gamble (lams and Eukanuba), Heinz (9
Lives, Amore, Gravy Train, Kibbles 'n Bits, Recipe, Vets), Nestle (Alpo, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Mighty Dog) and
Mars (Kal Kan, Mealtime, Pedigree, Sheba). From a business standpoint, multinational food companies owning pet
food manufacturing is an ideal relationship. The multi-nationals have a captive market in which to capitalize on their waste products and the
pet food manufacturers have a reliable source from which to purchase their bulk materials.
There are hundreds of different pet foods available in this country. While many of the foods on the market are
virtually the same, not all of the pet food manufacturing companies use poor quality and potentially dangerous
ingredients.
INGREDIENTS
Although the purchase price of pet food does not always determine whether a pet food is good or bad, the price
is often a good indicator of quality. It would be impossible for a company that sells a generic brand of dog food
at $9.95 for a 40-lb. bag to use quality protein and grain in its food. The cost of purchasing quality ingredients
would be much higher than the selling price.
The protein used in pet food comes from a variety of sources. When cattle, swine, chicken, lambs, or any number
of other animals are slaughtered, the choice cuts such as lean muscle tissue are trimmed away from the carcass
for human consumption. Whatever
remains of the carcass-bones, blood, pus, intestines, ligaments, and almost all the other parts not generally consumed
by humans--is used in pet food. These "other
parts" are known as "by-products" or other names on pet food labels. The ambiguous labels list
the ingredients, but do not provide a definition for the products listed. (See the API Pet Food Shopping Guide
for a more detailed list of ingredient definitions.)
The Pet Food Institute-the trade association of pet food manufacturers--acknowledges the use of by-products in
pet foods as additional income for processors and farmers: "The purchase and use of these ingredients by the
pet food industry not only provides nutritional needs for pets at reasonable costs, but provides an important source
of income to American farmers and processors of meat, poultry and seafood products for human consumption."
Many of these remnants are indigestible and provide a questionable source of nutrition for our animals. The amount of nutrition provided by meat by-products, meals and
digests could vary from vat to vat. James Morris and Quinton Rogers, two professors with the Department of Molecular
Biosciences, University of California at Davis Veterinary School of Medicine , assert that "There is virtually
no information on the bioavailability of nutrients for companion animals in many of the common dietary ingredients
used in pet foods. These ingredients are generally by-products of the meat, poultry and fishing industries, with
the potential for a wide variation in nutrient composition. Claims of nutritional adequacy of pet foods based on
the current Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) nutrient allowances ('profiles') do not give
assurances of nutritional adequacy and will not until ingredients are analyzed and bioavailability values are incorporated."
Another source of meat you won't find mentioned on pet food labels are dogs and cats. In 1990 the San Francisco Chronicle reported that euthanized companion animals were being used in pet food. Although pet food manufacturers vehemently denied the report, the
American Veterinary Medical Association confirmed the Chronicle's story.
Protein is protein once it is rendered. What is rendering? Rendering, as defined by Webster's Dictionary, is "to
process as for industrial use: to render livestock carcasses and to extract oil from fat, blubber, etc., by melting."
What can the feeding of such ingredients do to your companion animal? Some veterinarians claim that feeding slaughterhouse
wastes to animals increases their risk of getting cancer and other degenerative diseases. One factor is that the
cooking methods used by pet food manufacturers and rendering plants do not destroy many of the hormones used to
fatten livestock, or medications such as those used to euthanize dogs and cats.
ANIMAL AND POULTRY FAT
You may have noticed a unique, pungent odor when you open a new bag of pet food-the smell of restaurant grease
from a hundred fast food restaurants. What is the source of that delightful smell? It is refined animal fat, kitchen
grease, and other oils too rancid or deemed inedible for humans.
Restaurant grease has become a
major component of feed grade animal fat
over the last fifteen years. This grease, often held in fifty-gallon drums, is usually kept outside for weeks,
exposed to extreme temperatures with no regard for its future use. The next few times you dine out, be sure to
look out back behind the restaurant for a container with a rendering company's name on it. It is almost guaranteed
that you will find one. "Fat blenders" or rendering companies then pick up this rancid grease and mix
the different types of fat together, stabilize them with powerful antioxidants to retard further spoilage, and
then sell the blended products to pet food companies.
These fats are sprayed directly onto dried kibble or extruded pellets to make an otherwise bland or distasteful
product palatable. The fat also acts as a binding agent to which manufacturers add other flavor enhancers such
as digests. Pet food scientists have discovered that animals love the taste of these sprayed fats. Manufacturers
are masters at getting a dog or a cat to eat something they would normally turn up their nose at.
Wheat, Soy, Corn, Peanut Hulls,
and Other Vegetable Protein
The amount of grain products used in pet food has risen over the last decade. Once considered filler by the pet
food industry, cereal and grain products now replace a considerable proportion of the meat that was used in the
first commercial pet foods. The availability of nutrients in these products is dependent upon the digestibility
of the grain. The amount and type of carbohydrate in pet food determines the amount of nutrient value the animal
actually gets. Dogs and cats can almost completely absorb carbohydrates from some grains, such as white rice. Up
to 20% of the nutritional value of other grains can escape digestion. The availability of nutrients for wheat, beans, and oats is poor. The nutrients in potatoes
and corn are far less available than those in rice.
Some ingredients, such as peanut hulls, are used for filler or fiber, and have no significant nutritional value.
Two of the top three ingredients in pet foods,
particularly dry foods, are almost always some form of grain products. Pedigree Performance Food for Dogs lists Ground Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, and Corn Gluten
Meal as its top three ingredients. 9 Lives Crunchy Meals for cats lists Ground Yellow Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, and
Poultry By-Product Meal as its first three ingredients. Since cats are true carnivores -- they must eat meat to
fulfill certain physiological needs -- one may wonder why we are feeding a corn-based product to them. The answer
is that corn is a much cheaper "energy source" than meat.
In 1995, Nature's Recipe pulled thousands of tons of dog food off the shelf after consumers complained that their
dogs were vomiting and losing their appetite. Nature's Recipe's loss amounted to $20 million. The problem was a
fungus that produced vomitoxin (an aflatoxin or "mycotoxin," a toxic substance produced by mold) contaminating
the wheat. In 1999, another fungal toxin triggered the recall of dry dog food made by Doane Pet Care at one of
its plants, including Ol' Roy (Wal-Mart's brand) and 53 other brands. This time, the toxin killed 25 dogs.
Although it caused many dogs to vomit, stop eating, and have diarrhea, vomitoxin is a milder toxin than most. The
more dangerous mycotoxins can cause weight loss, liver damage, lameness, and even death as in the Doane case. The
Nature's Recipe incident prompted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to intervene. Dina Butcher, Agriculture
Policy Advisor for North Dakota Governor Ed Schafer, concluded that the discovery of vomitoxin in Nature's Recipe
wasn't much of a threat to the human population because "the grain that would go into pet food is not a high
quality grain."3
Soy is another common ingredient that is sometimes used as a protein and energy source in pet food. Manufacturers
also use it to add bulk so that when an animal eats a product containing soy he will feel more sated. While soy
has been linked to gas in some dogs, other dogs do quite well with it. Vegetarian dog foods use soy as a protein
source.
Additives and Preservatives
Many chemicals are added to commercial pet foods to improve the taste, stability, characteristics, or appearance
of the food. Additives provide no nutritional value. Additives include emulsifiers to prevent water and fat from
separating, antioxidants to prevent fat from turning rancid, and artificial colors and flavors to make the product
more attractive to consumers and more palatable to their companion animals.
Adding chemicals to food originated thousands of years ago with spices, natural preservatives, and ripening agents.
In the last 40 years, however, the number of food additives has greatly increased.
All commercial pet foods must be preserved so they stay fresh and appealing to our animal companions. Canning is
a preserving process itself, so canned foods contain less preservatives than dry foods. Some preservatives are
added to ingredients or raw materials by the suppliers, and others may be added by the manufacturer. Because manufacturers
need to ensure that dry foods have a long shelf life to remain edible after shipping and prolonged storage, fats
used in pet foods are preserved with either synthetic or "natural" preservatives. Synthetic preservatives include butylated hydroxyanisole
(BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), propyl gallate, propylene glycol (also used as a less-toxic version of
automotive antifreeze), and ethoxyquin. For these antioxidants, there is little information documenting their
toxicity, safety, interactions, or chronic use in pet foods that may be eaten every day for the life of the animal.
Potentially cancer-causing agents
such as BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquin are permitted at relatively low levels. The use of these chemicals in pet foods has not been thoroughly studied,
and long term build-up of these agents
may ultimately be harmful.
Due to questionable data in the original study on its safety, ethoxyquin's manufacturer, Monsanto, was required
to perform a new, more rigorous study. This was completed in 1996. Even though Monsanto found no significant toxicity
associated with its own product, in July 1997, the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine requested that manufacturers
voluntarily reduce the maximum level for ethoxyquin by half, to 75 parts per million.
While some pet food critics and veterinarians
believe that ethoxyquin is a major cause of disease, skin problems, and infertility in dogs, others claim it is
the safest, strongest, most stable preservative available for pet food.
Ethoxyquin is approved for use in human food for preserving spices, such as cayenne and chili powder, at a level
of 100 ppm -- but it would be very difficult to consume as much chili powder every day as a dog would eat dry food.
Ethoxyquin has never been tested for safety
in cats.
Some manufacturers have responded to consumer concern, and are now using "natural" preservatives such
as Vitamin C (ascorbate), Vitamin E (mixed tocopherols), and oils of rosemary, clove, or other spices, to preserve
the fats in their products. Other ingredients, however, may be individually preserved. Most fish meal, and some
prepared vitamin-mineral mixtures, contain chemical preservatives. This means that your companion animal may be
eating food containing several types of preservatives. Federal law requires preservatives to be disclosed on the
label; however, pet food companies only recently started to comply with this law.
Additives in Processed Pet
Foods
Anticaking agents
Antimicrobial agents
Antioxidants
Coloring agents
Curing agents
Drying agents
Emulsifiers
Firming agents
Flavor enhancers
Flavoring agents
Flour treating agents
Formulation aids
Humectants
Leavening agents
Lubricants
Nonnutritive sweeteners
Nutritive sweeteners
Oxidizing and reducing agents
pH control agents
Processing aids
Sequestrants
Solvents, vehicles
Stabilizers, thickeners
Surface active agents
Surface finishing agents
Synergists
Texturizers
While the law requires studies
of direct toxicity of these additives and preservatives, they have not been tested for their potential synergistic
effects on each other once ingested. Some
authors have suggested that dangerous interactions occur among some of the common synthetic preservatives.4 Natural
preservatives do not provide as long a shelf life as chemical preservatives, but they are safe.
The Manufacturing Process
-- How Pet Food Is Made
Although feeding trials are no longer required for a food to meet the requirements for labeling a food "complete
and balanced," most manufacturers perform palatability studies when developing a new pet food. One set of
animals is fed a new food while a "control" group is fed a current formula. The total volume eaten is
used as a gauge for the palatability of the food. The larger and more reputable companies do use feeding trials,
which are considered to be a much more accurate assessment of the actual nutritional value of the food. They keep
large colonies of dogs and cats for this purpose, or use testing laboratories that have their own animals.
Most dry food is made with a machine called an expander or extruder. First, raw materials are blended, sometimes
by hand, other times by computer, in accordance with a recipe developed by animal nutritionists. This mixture is
fed into an expander and steam or hot water is added. The mixture is subjected to steam, pressure, and high heat
as it is extruded through dies that determine the shape of the final product and puffed like popcorn. The food
is allowed to dry, and then is usually sprayed with fat, digests, or other compounds to make it more palatable.
Although the cooking process may kill bacteria in pet food, the final product can lose its sterility during the
subsequent drying, fat coating, and packaging process. A few foods are baked at high temperatures rather than extruded.
This produces a dense, crunchy kibble that is palatable without the addition of sprayed on palatability enhancers.
Animals can be fed about 25% less of a baked food, by volume (but not by weight), than an extruded food.
Ingredients are similar for wet, dry, and semi-moist foods, although the ratios of protein, fat, and fiber may
change. A typical can of ordinary cat food reportedly contains about 45-50% meat or poultry by-products. The main
difference between the types of food is the water content. It is impossible to directly compare labels from different
kinds of food without a mathematical conversion to "dry matter basis."5 Wet or canned food begins with
ground ingredients mixed with additives. If chunks are required, a special extruder forms them. Then the mixture
is cooked and canned. The sealed cans are then put into containers resembling pressure cookers and commercial sterilization
takes place. Some manufacturers cook the food right in the can.
There are special labeling requirements for pet food, all of which are contained in the annually revised Official
Publication of AAFCO.6 The use of the terms "all" or "100%" cannot be used "if the product
contains more than one ingredient, not including water sufficient for processing, decharacterizing agents, or trace
amounts of preservatives and condiments." Products containing multiple ingredients are covered by AAFCO Regulation
PF3(b) and (c). The "95% rule" applies when the ingredient(s) derived from animals, poultry, or fish
constitutes at least 95% or more of the total weight of the product (or 70% excluding water for processing).
Because all-meat diets are usually not nutritionally balanced, they fell out of favor for many years. However,
due to rising consumer interest in high quality meat products, several companies are now promoting 95% and 100%
canned meats as a supplemental feeding option.
The "dinner" product is defined by the 25% Rule, which applies when "an ingredient or a combination
of ingredients constitutes at least 25% of the weight of the product" (excluding water sufficient for processing)
as long as the ingredient(s) shall constitute at least 10% of the total product weight; and a descriptor that implies
other ingredients are included in the product formula is used on the label. Such descriptors include "recipe,"
"platter," "entree," and "formula." A combination of ingredients included in the
product name is permissible when each ingredient comprises at least 3% of the product weight, excluding water for
processing, and the ingredient names appear in descending order by weight.
The "with" rule allows an ingredient name to appear on the label, such as "with real chicken,"
as long as each such ingredient constitutes at least 3% of the food by weight, excluding water for processing.
The "flavor" rule allows a food to be designated as a certain flavor as long as the ingredient(s) are
sufficient to "impart a distinctive characteristic"to the food. Thus, a "beef flavor" food
may contain a small quantity of digest or other extract of tissues from cattle, without containing any actual beef
meat at all.
What Happened to the Nutrients?
Dr. Randy L. Wysong is a veterinarian and produces his own line of pet foods. A long-time critic of pet food industry
practices, he said, "Processing is the wild card in nutritional value that is, by and large, simply ignored.
Heating, cooking, rendering, freezing, dehydrating, canning, extruding, pelleting, baking, and so forth, are so
commonplace that they are simply thought of as synonymous with food itself."7 Processing meat and by-products
used in pet food can greatly diminish their nutritional value, but cooking increases the digestibility of cereal
grains.
To make pet food nutritious, pet food manufacturers must "fortify" it with vitamins and minerals. Why?
Because the ingredients they are using are not wholesome, their quality may be extremely variable, and the harsh
manufacturing practices destroy many of the nutrients the food had to begin with.
Contaminants
Commercially manufactured or rendered meat meals and by-product meals are frequently highly contaminated with bacteria
because their source is not always slaughtered animals. Animals that have died because of disease, injury, or natural
causes are a source of meat for meat meal. The dead animal might not be rendered until days after its death. Therefore
the carcass is often contaminated with bacteria such as Salmonella and Escherichia coli. Dangerous E. Coli bacteria
are estimated to contaminate more than 50% of meat meals. While the cooking process may kill bacteria, it does
not eliminate the endotoxins some bacteria produce during their growth and are released when they die. These toxins
can cause sickness and disease. Pet food manufacturers do not test their products for endotoxins.
Mycotoxins -- These toxins comes from mold or fungi, such as vomitoxin in the Nature's Recipe case, and aflatoxin
in Doane's food. Poor farming practices and improper drying and storage of crops can cause mold growth. Ingredients
that are most likely to be contaminated with mycotoxins are grains such as wheat and corn, cottonseed meal, peanut
meal, and fish meal.
Labeling
The National Research Council (NRC) of the
Academy of Sciences set the nutritional standards for pet food that were used by the pet food industry until the
late 1980s. The NRC standards, which still exist and are being revised as of 2001, were based on purified diets,
and required feeding trials for pet foods claimed to be "complete" and "balanced." The pet
food industry found the feeding trials too restrictive and expensive, so AAFCO designed an alternate procedure
for claiming the nutritional adequacy of pet food, by testing the food for compliance with "Nutrient Profiles."
AAFCO also created "expert committees" for canine and feline nutrition, which developed separate canine
and feline standards. While feeding trials can still be done, a standard chemical analysis may be also be used
to determine if a food meets the profiles.
Chemical analysis, however, does not address the palatability, digestibility, or biological availability of nutrients
in pet food. Thus it is unreliable for determining whether a food will provide an animal with sufficient nutrients.
To compensate for the limitations of chemical analysis, AAFCO added a "safety factor," which was to exceed
the minimum amount of nutrients required to meet the complete and balanced requirements.
The digestibility and availability of nutrients is not listed on pet food labels.
The 100% Myth -- Problems Caused by Inadequate Nutrition
The idea of one pet food providing all the nutrition a companion animal will ever need for its entire life is a
myth.
Cereal grains are the primary ingredients in most commercial pet foods. Many people select one pet food and feed
it to their dogs and cats for a prolonged period of time. Therefore, companion dogs and cats eat a primarily carbohydrate
diet with little variety. Today, the diets of cats and dogs are a far cry from the primarily protein diets with
a lot of variety that their ancestors ate. The problems associated with a commercial diet are seen every day at
veterinary establishments. Chronic digestive problems, such as chronic vomiting, diarrhea, and inflammatory bowel
disease are among the most frequent illnesses treated. These are often the result of an allergy or intolerance
to pet food ingredients. The market for "limited antigen" or "novel protein" diets is now a
multi-million dollar business. These diets were formulated to address the increasing intolerance to commercial
foods that animals have developed. The newest twist is the truly "hypoallergenic" food that has had all
its proteins artificially chopped into pieces smaller than can be recognized and reacted to by the immune system.
Dry commercial pet food is often contaminated with bacteria, which may or may not cause problems. Improper food
storage and some feeding practices may result in the multiplication of this bacteria. For example, adding water
or milk to moisten pet food and then leaving it at room temperature causes bacteria to multiply.8 Yet this practice
is suggested on the back of packages of some kitten and puppy foods.
Pet food formulas and the practice of feeding that manufacturers recommend have increased other digestive problems.
Feeding only one meal per day can cause the irritation of the esophagus by stomach acid. Feeding two smaller meals
is better.
Feeding recommendations or instructions on the packaging are sometimes inflated so that the consumer will end up
purchasing more food. However, Procter & Gamble allegedly took the opposite tack with its Iams and Eukanuba
lines, reducing the feeding amounts in order to claim that its foods were less expensive to feed. Independent studies
commissioned by a competing manufacturer suggested that these reduced levels were inadequate to maintain health.
Procter & Gamble has since sued and been countersued by that competing manufacturer, and a consumer complaint
has also been filed seeking class-action status for harm caused to dogs by the revised feeding instructions.
Urinary tract disease is directly related to diet in both cats and dogs. Plugs, crystals, and stones in cat bladders
are often triggered or aggravated by commercial pet food formulas. One type of stone found in cats is less common
now, but another more dangerous type has become more common. Manipulation of manufactured cat food formulas to
alter the acidity of urine and the amount of some minerals has directly affected these diseases. Dogs also form
stones as a result of their diet.
History has shown that commercial pet food products can cause disease. An often-fatal heart disease in cats and
some dogs is now known to be caused by a deficiency of the amino acid taurine. Blindness is another symptom of
taurine deficiency. This deficiency was due to inadequate amounts of taurine in cat food formulas, which itself
occurred because of decreased amounts of animal proteins and increased reliance on carbohydrates. Cat foods are
now supplemented with taurine. New research suggests that supplementing taurine may also be helpful for dogs, but
as yet few manufacturers are adding extra taurine to dog food. Inadequate potassium in certain feline diets also
caused kidney failure in young cats; potassium is now added in greater amounts to all cat foods.
Rapid growth in large breed puppies has been shown to contribute to bone and joint disease. Excess calories and
calcium in some manufactured puppy foods promoted rapid growth. There are now special puppy foods for large breed
dogs. But this recent change will not help the countless dogs who lived and died with hip and elbow disease.
There is also evidence that hyperthyroidism in cats may be related to excess iodine in commercial pet food diets.9
This is a new disease that first surfaced in the 1970s, when canned food products appeared on the market. The exact
cause and effect are not yet known. This is a serious and sometimes terminal disease, and treatment is expensive.
Many nutritional problems appeared with the popularity of cereal-based commercial pet foods. Some have occurred
because the diet was incomplete. Although several ingredients are now supplemented, we do not know what ingredients
future researchers may discover that should have been supplemented in pet foods all along. Other problems may result
from reactions to additives. Others are a result of contamination with bacteria, mold, drugs, or other toxins.
In some diseases the role of commercial pet food is understood; in others, it is not. The bottom line is that diets
composed primarily of low quality cereals and rendered meat meals are not as nutritious or safe as you should expect
for your cat or dog.
What Consumers Can Do
· Write or call pet food companies and the Pet Food Institute and express your concerns about commercial
pet foods. Demand that manufacturers improve the quality of ingredients in their products.
· Call API with any information about the pet food industry, specific manufacturers, or specific products.
· Print out a copy of this report for your veterinarian to further his or her knowledge about commercial
pet food.
· Direct your family and friends with companion animals to this website, to alert them of the dangers of
commercial pet food. Or request copies of our Fact Sheet on Selecting a Good Commercial Food.
· Stop buying commercial pet food. Or if that is not possible, reduce the quantity of commercial pet food
and supplement with fresh foods. Purchase one or more of the many books available on pet nutrition and make your
own food. Be sure that a veterinarian or a nutritionist has checked the recipes to ensure that they are balanced
and complete.
· Check our sample diets you can make yourself.
· Please be aware that API is not a veterinary hospital, clinic, or service. API does not and will not offer
any medical advice. If you have concerns about your companion animal's health or nutritional requirements, please
consult your veterinarian.
For Further Reading about Animal Nutrition
The Animal Protection Institute recommends the following books, many of which include recipes for home-prepared
diets:
· Rudy Edalati. Barker's Grub: Easy, Wholesome Home Cooking for Your Dog. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-609-80442-1.
· Richard H. Pitcairn, D.V.M., and Susan Hubble Pitcairn. Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health
for Dogs and Cats. Rodale Press, Inc. ISBN 0-87596-243-2.
· Kate Solisti-Mattelon and Patrice Mattelon. The Holistic Animal Handbook: A Guidebook to Nutrition, Health,
and Communication. Beyond Words Publishing Co. ISBN 1-5827-0023-0.
· Donald R. Strombeck. Home-Prepared Dog & Cat Diets: The Healthful Alternative. Iowa State University
Press. ISBN 0-8138-2149-5.
· Celeste Yarnall. Natural Cat Care. Journey Editions. ISBN 1-8852-0363-2.
· Celeste Yarnall. Natural Dog Care. Journey Editions. ISBN 0-7858-1123-0.
The books listed above are a fraction of all the titles currently available, and the omission of a title does not
necessarily mean it is not useful for further reading about animal nutrition.
Please note: The Animal Protection Institute is not a bookseller, and cannot sell or send these books to you. Please
contact your local book retailer or an online bookstore, who can supply these books based on the ISBN provided
for each title.
What API is Doing
· API is a liaison to the AAFCO Pet Food and Ingredient Definitions Committees. By attending AAFCO meetings,
we hope to learn more about the industry itself and about potential avenues for bringing about change.
· An API representative attends other petfood industry meetings to give voice to our and the consumers'
concerns about pet food.
· API is involved in lobbying for the federal regulation of pet food and the development of more stringent
standards for the quality of ingredients used.
· API will continue to provide information to the public about the pet food industry and the products it
promotes.
· API is preparing a detailed scientific paper documenting the numerous problems associated with commercial
pet food, for presentation to veterinarians.
Who to Write
AAFCO Pet Food Committee
Dr. Rodney Noel -- Chair
Office of Indiana State Chemist
Purdue University
1154 Biochemistry Building
West Lafayette, IN 47907-1154
www.aafco.org
FDA -- Center for Veterinary Medicine
Sharon Benz
7500 Standish Place
Rockville, MD 20855
301-594-1728
www.cvm.fda.gov/
Pet Food Institute
2025 M Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20036
202-367-1120
Fax 202-367-2120
References
Association of American Feed Control Officials Incorporated. Official Publication 2001. Atlanta: AAFCO, 2001.
Barfield, Carol. FDA Petition, Docket Number 93P0081/CP1, accepted February 25, 1993.
Becker, Ross. "Is your dog's food safe?" Good Dog!, November/December 1995, 7.
Cargill, James, MA, MBA, MS, and Susan Thorpe-Vargas, MS. "Feed that dog! Part VI." DOGworld, December
1993, 36.
Case, Linda P., M.S., Daniel P. Carey, D.V.M., and Diane A. Hirakawa, Ph.D. Canine and Feline Nutrition: A Resource
for Companion Animal Professionals. St. Louis: Mosby, 1995.
Coffman, Howard D. The Dry Dog Food Reference. Nashua: PigDog Press, 1995.
Corbin, Jim. "Pet Foods and Feeding." Feedstuffs, July 17, 1996, 80-85.
Knight-Ridder News Syndicate. "Nature's Recipe Recalls Dog Food That Contains Vomitoxin." August 28,
1995.
Morris, James G., and Quinton R. Rogers. "Assessment of the Nutritional Adequacy of Pet Foods Through the
Life Cycle." Journal of Nutrition, 124 (1994): 2520S-2533S.
Newman, Lisa. What's in your pet's food? Tucson & Phoenix: Holistic Animal Care, 1994.
New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. 1994 Commercial Feed Analysis Annual Report. Albany: Division
of Food Inspection Services, 1995.
Parker, J. Michael. "Tainted dog food blamed on corn." San Antonio Express News, April 1, 1999.
"Petfood activist." Petfood Industry, September/October 1991, 4.
Pet Food Institute. Fact Sheet 1994. Washington: Pet Food Institute, 1994.
Phillips, Tim, DVM. "Rendered Products Guide." Petfood Industry, January/February 1994, 12-17, 21.
Pitcairn, Richard H., D.V.M., Ph.D., and Susan Hubble Pitcairn. Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health
for Dogs & Cats. Emmaus: Rodale, 1995.
Plechner, Alfred J., DVM, and Martin Zucker. Pet Allergies: Remedies for an Epidemic. Inglewood: Wilshire Book
Co., 1986.
Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Agriculture. 1994 Report of the Inspection and
Analysis of Commercial Feeds, Fertilizers and Liming Materials. Providence: Division of Agriculture, 1995.
Roudebush, Philip, DVM. "Pet food additives." JAVMA, 203 (1993): 1667-1670.
Rouse, Raymond H. "Feed Fats." Petfood Industry, March/April 1987, 7.
Sellers, Richard. "Regulating petfood with an open mind." Petfood Industry, November/December 1990, 41-44.
Smith, Carin A. "Research Roundup: Changes and challenges in feline nutrition." JAVMA 203 (1993), 1395-1400.
Strombeck, Donald. R. Home-Prepared Dog and Cat Foods: The Healthful Alternative. Ames: Iowa State University Press,
1999.
Winters, Ruth, M.S. A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives. New York: Crown, 1994.
Wysong, R. L. "The 'complete' myth." Petfood Industry, September/October 1990, 24-28.
[Wysong, R. L.] Fresh and Whole: Getting Involved in Your Pet's Diet. Midland: Wysong Corporation, 1990.
Wysong, R. L. Rationale for Animal Nutrition. Midland: Inquiry Press, 1993.
Notes
1. Pet Food Institute, 2.
2. Morris, 2520S.
3. Corbin, 81.
4. Cargill, 36.
5. The conversion is: ingredient percentage divided by (100 minus moisture percentage).
6. Official Publication, Regulation PE3, 114-115.
7. Wysong, Rationale, 40-41.
8. Strombeck, 50-52.
9. Smith, 1397.
(Revised 01/29/02)
©1997-2002 by The Animal Protection Institute.
Because this e-report is frequently revised, it is no longer available in printed form. However, the fact sheet,
"Selecting a Commercial Pet Food," can be ordered from API.