If this wasn’t published in the Petfood Industry trade online magazine, I’d have a hard time believing this. In one month (February 2011) US pet food manufacturers imported over $21 million dollars of pet food ingredients (this dollar amount is assumed to include all pet foods, treats, chews and ingredients) from China.
To be exact, $21,875,696 (US dollars) worth of dog and cat food ingredients, dog and cat food, treats, and chews were imported into the United States from China during February 2011. That an increase of 4% over February 2011. (Import dollar amounts stated in the June 2011 Petfood Industry trade magazine.)
Over twenty-one million dollars in one month of pet food related imports from China…yet it seems that no one in the pet food industry is very willing to talk much about Chinese imports. Try calling or emailing several pet food manufacturers and ask them the country of origin of all ingredients. Many will just happen to forget to mention vitamins and minerals are sourced from China.
Over twenty-one million dollars in one month of pet food related imports from China…yet MSNBC.com reported (in 2007) that only “1.3 percent of imported fish, vegetables, fruit and other foods are inspected”.
The USDA researched the most common causes of FDA refusal of imported goods from China. The most common problems cited by FDA – “filth, unsafe additives, inadequate labeling, and lack of proper manufacturer registrations” as well as “potentially harmful veterinary drug residues in farm-raised fish and shrimp”.
If U.S. pet food manufacturers continue to import pet food ingredients, pet foods and/or treats from China – fine. However it should be required of each manufacturer to place a country of origin statement (warning) on the product packaging.
Will FDA or AAFCO ever consider requiring country of origin of ingredient statements on pet food and pet treat labels? I doubt it. History has shown us that regulatory authorities have a greater interest in protecting those in industry than consumers/petsumers.
What should you do? For every food, treat, or chew that you give your pet, call or email the manufacturer and ask them the country of origin of all ingredients in the food or treat; all ingredients including vitamins and minerals. If even one ingredient is sourced from China, you must then decide if that pet food or treat is worth the risk.
Not for my pets.
Thanks to several of you ‘out there’ for sending me the import information article!
Asian cuisine styles can be broken down into several tiny regional styles that have rooted the peoples and cultures of those regions. The major types can be roughly defined as East Asian with its origins in Imperial China and now encompassing modern Japan and the Korean peninsula; Southeast Asian which encompasses Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Viet Nam, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines; South Asian states that are made up of India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan as well as several other countries in this region of the continent.’
Our website
http://www.caramoan.ph/caramoan-tour-package/
What I didn’t realize was how much better Asian food could be than what my experience of it was. A lot of Chinese cuisine in America is actually nothing like the traditional style. It is much too greasy, and dominated by a simple array of flavors that doesn’t really capture the complexity of Asian cooking.:
Consider our personal blog site as well
<.http://www.caramoan.co/caramoan-tour-package/
Notice how that company didn’t deny that they get ingredients from China??? I work in the legal industry. Skating around the question and adding extra details, while evading the question, is almost always admitting of guilt.
Now think about it. They claim they run many tests to determine safe quality. It’s as if they are inadvertently admitting that though they use China products, they do well to test it several times. HOWEVER, if the FDA can’t even pinpoint the source of the poison linked to a particular ingredient, what makes this company think they are testing for the right poison?
READ BETWEEN THE LINES. Please!
I did email the manufacturer of the food I buy: Taste of the Wild and this is the response I got. They responded with in an hour.
Rae,
Most of the ingredients in Taste of the Wild originate in the United States. There are critical ingredients that are not available domestically in an adequate supply and with as much quality as our international supply. We do purchase some ingredients from foreign suppliers such as lamb meal from New Zealand, potato protein from France and dried chicory root from Belgium. We screen for all toxins with a test called ToxiScreen. This test screens for other toxins besides melamine and cyanuric acid, such as heavy metals, pesticide residue, aflatoxin, vomitoxin, rodenticide, and many others. Should any of these contaminants be present in the sample, the ToxiScreen test will detect it.
I can not go into all of the details, but the ingredients and products go through over 150 checks before the finished product leaves our warehouses. These checks include in house and independent lab testing.
Diamond’s facilities are regularly audited for food safety and sanitation by a highly respected independent agency.
Sincerely,
Cordell Schroeder
Quality Control Manager
Diamond Pet Foods