Tags:
100% honey isn't 100% honey unless you're buying it from the farmer's market, too. D:
Very true..but certain countries have more recalls than others so it's a starting point.
I wish I could cook all of Tipper's meals fresh but i Have to rely on commercial food for a portion of her meals so I try to use sites like the Dog Food Advisor to help me make informed decisions.
Buyer beware!
Don't rely on DFA for all your info, if you check the FDA recall site, there are way more USA made dog food recalls than China made ones (for the record, I am British) don't get sucked into emotional decision making, always investigate the facts.
Sam,
One company I called told me that their food was made in the USA but that their "vitamins" came from abroad. Huh?
That's because as long as51% – 74% of the product are of U.S. origin, manufacturers can put "made in the USA" in the label. So don't be fooled, things are not as straight forward and simple as they seem to be.
Hi Sam,
That's great advice and thanks for adding this thread. I've learned so much from your advice and from reading about what other users are doing. I think that looking at multiple unbiased sources is always a great idea. If they're all saying the same thing about a certain product it would be best to believe it. Bring a list of the foods you feed your dog to your vet when you visit to get an additional opinion. Tipper was doing just fine on Natural Balance after I adopted her. My vet told me that Natural Balance, was in her opinion, an average dog food brand. For the price, I think it's a good value and I'm sure there are a variety of opinions. But, I started reading Whole Dog Journal and other sources and thought I could do better. I think it's also up to the person and what he or she feels comfortable with. I'm not a dog food expert, by any means, but I avoid canola oil for my own use so I don't feel comfortable giving Tipper dog food with canola oil in it. There are tons of great dog foods that use it but I prefer not to buy them because of my own eating habits. I also know that "natural" doesn't mean much because, after all, poison ivy, is natural and so are many other natural substances.
However, I do rely on Dog Food Advisor to email warnings about food recalls. I know that the online store I purchases dog food from also sends out recalls so I figure I'm covered! Of course, My Cori,com is also a great source of those warnings!
Rachelle, it is important to focus on facts, to separate emotional driven assumptions and come to an inform decision. The actual "article" that DFA cited was about fake food in China, it is not Dog food related at all, the writer was trying to drum up an emotional response to support his own agenda, it was not based on actual events that happened, it's purpose is to instil fear to the US consumers. The original article in Chinese was about the local police shutting down an illegal meat plant, not a dog food plant. DFA used secondhand blog info, picked and leave out actual statistics, then rewrite the content to push its own agenda, it is not journalism and holds no value.
There is no doubt that China make counterfeit and real products, however, without actual facts, it's just pointless assumptions, till this day, the FDA could not link the chicken jerky incident to China, they could not narrow down a single ingredient. It is easy for the public to blame it all on China, but why do the public don't hold the US importers / manufacturers equally responsible? Why was the food outsourced in the first place? Who is responsible for the quality control? Why is there no further testing after it's being imported?
Do you remember the melamine incident a few years back that caused 8500 animal deaths? Guess what was the punishment for ChemNutra owners? $5,000 each and 3 years of probation only!!!
When bad things happen, it is only human to focus on scape goat, how many of us actually find and deal with the root of the problem?
Was the melamine something that increased the protein level? Was that also what was used in infant formula several years ago that got sent to several foreign countries that killed some babies????
Plants here that also make cheaper food also use it?
Just trying to remember...
Hi Jane, yes, ChemNutra knew the level was too high, they purposely mislabeled it so that it would pass inspection, that is downright fraud! No, it was not used in infant formula.
No, the melamine fiasco was used by companies big and smal, ChemNutra import and resells the ingredients to varies petfood companies in the US. You can view the full list here. Remember several companies owns other brands as well, there's also companies that issued "silent" recall that didnot make it to the FDA list. That's why I kept saying, do not be brand loyal, management, formula, ingredient source changes all the time.
© 2024 Created by Sam Tsang. Powered by