Where is the chicken ingredient processed? Is it China? Now that the USDA has approved China to process US poultry, we can be certain that much of pet food chicken ingredient will make the long round trip to China before it reaches your pet’s food bowl. There is a multitude of concerns.
In October last year, we learned that most of the farmed and wild caught fish from all over the world makes a trip to China before it lands on your dinner plate and your pet’s food bowl. As with most things associated with China, the reason (example) that wild caught salmon is frozen, shipped to China, thawed, processed, re-frozen and shipped back to the U.S. is money. Seafood-today.com states (in 2005) the labor required to remove the bone in salmon costs about $1.00 per pound in the U.S., the same labor costs $0.20 per pound in China. The shipping to China including the round trip back to the U.S. costs another $0.20 per pound. China provides a savings of $0.60 per pound of fish.
So now, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has given their approval to China to become the chicken processor to the world too. The USDA feels its safe for consumers to consume US poultry shipped 8,000 miles to China, thawed, processed, and shipped 8,000 miles back. But I wonder if the USDA happened to read a recent post on Food Safety News reporting on formaldehyde found in Chinese processed fish?
“A large number of fish imported from China and Vietnam and sold in at least some U.S. supermarkets contain unnatural levels of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, according to tests performed and verified by researchers at a North Carolina chemical engineering firm and North Carolina State University. Around 25 percent of all the fish purchased from supermarkets by researchers in the Raleigh, N.C., area were found to contain formaldehyde, a toxic chemical compound commonly used as a medical disinfectant or embalming agent. All of the fish found to contain the compound were imported from Asian countries, and it was not found in fish from the U.S. or other regions.”
We have to wonder if chicken processed in China will suffer the same formaldehyde fate as fish processed in China has been found to suffer from. And will the formaldehyde chicken end up in pet foods?
(By the way, recent unconfirmed information provided to TruthaboutPetFood.com is the sweet potato ingredient in many pet foods is also processed in China.)
This means we need to ask more questions of pet food manufacturers. Example questions…
Are meat and vegetable ingredients USDA inspected and approved?
What is the country of origin of all ingredients including supplements?
What is the country of processing of all ingredients?
Ask your pet food manufacturer the tough questions and pay close attention to how they respond. If they avoid the questions or don’t provide complete answers…well, that’s some important information to consider too.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
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