The more protein present, the higher the market price.
Outsourcing to China seems to be the answer. They apparently are very knowledgeable and creative in finding cheap protein sources. As you probably know, meat is the most expensive ingredient in dog food.
Remember the nationwide recall of contaminated pet food in March 2007? Many dogs and cats died of kidney failure after eating melamine-contaminated pet food.
Melamine is a nitrogen-rich compound and when added to milk powder (for instance), the protein amounts measured in standard protein assays are inflated. Melamine is used to produce plastics and has nothing to do with being nutritious in the first place. In fact, it appeared to be toxic as hell!
Since then, melamine continues to be found in milk and other foods such as rice protein concentrate and corn gluten.
Several baby’s in Asia died of acute kidney failure only one year after the same unscrupulous practice killed dogs and cats.
More advanced protein assays differentiate between real protein and melamine, so switch to leather waste instead?
Now leather scraps have been found in batches of dairy products produced in Zhejiang, China. An anonymous letter was sent in to China’s quality watchdog, upon which 5 out of 8 batches were tested positive for this contamination.
It’s a real protein for sure, but it has nothing to do with producing nutritious food. Adding hydrolyzed leather protein to food will boost protein content but this powder is toxic and hazardous to one’s health. As the source of the protein was dirty hydrolyzed leather waste, it also contained potassium dichromate and sodium dichromate.
As this is a real protein, in contrast to melamine, it is more difficult to detect.
False advertising and use of potentially dangerous ingredients
Last month I received an email from a Chinese guy. His family owns a business that manufactures ingredients for dog food and dog treats. He exposed their American client that allegedly ordered them to irradiate all chicken meat and, for financial reasons, use only 65% chicken and the remainder should be: non-fowl filler including melamine, peanuts, bone fragment powder etc. Furthermore, he reported that the advertising and label listed use of vitamins and herbs though these were not inside the package (the costs would be too high, he explained).
Reason for his sudden openness is that their contract was recently terminated after four years. He considers this an unfair blow to their business after following exact instructions by the owner and founder.
I have not published the mail and the company names he sent me because I cannot verify his accusations. I’ve asked him to sent me a copy of the order in which the American company specifies which ingredients to use. Also, I’ve asked him why he thought it was OK to put toxic ingredients in food as long as he got paid to do that.
No answer up until today.
We must all make a living and earn money, but this should not be accomplished by putting other people and animals at risk. The Chinese government has their own method of dealing with dissidents. Recently two man were sentenced to death because of their involvement in the melamine-tainted milk scandal that sickened 294000 infants and killed six others. Nevertheless, the leather protein incident is yet another embarrassing failure for China’s product safety system.
The FDA now has three food safety offices in China to inspect food and liaise with Chinese officials.
Good food requires good ingredients and the absence of toxic compounds. There is no shortcut!!
Other articles that may interest you:
Would you pay more for local grown dog food ingredients?
Why is pentobarbital found in dog food?
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