HARVARD LAW PAPER - What's Really In Commercial Pet Foods ?

ADMIN - Lets Talk · **Posted:** Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:26 pm

Deconstructing the Regulatory Façade:by Justine S. Patrick April 2006
Class of 2006 HARVARD LAW
Combined Course and Third-Year Work

NOTE: I HAVE PASTED A COUPLE OF PARAGRAPH QUOTES FROM THE ARTICLE and THE TABLE OF CONTENTS, SO YOU CAN SEE WHAT IT CONSISTS OF. ONCE YOU HAVE READ IT, YOUR PERCEPTION OF THE COMMERCIAL PET FOOD INDUSTRY WILL BE FOREVER ALTERED!

There is a RTF File and a PDF filed attached to this post at the bottom which can be downloaded. If for any reason this article you can not download, or read either of these, please email me and, provide your email address and I will either send it to you in .RTF or .PDF format, or paste it into an email for you, whichever you prefer.

The Entire Article Can Be Found Here

SOME PARAGRAPH QUOTES:
PG #02 Americans own more than 130 million cats and dogs and spend over $12 billion per year on commercial pet foods.
<SNIP>

PG #02 The influence by the pet food industry over AAFCO manifests itself through AAFCO’s irrational regulations, including ingredient definitions which effectively prohibit organic chickens and vegetables, while blindly permitting thousands of euthanized cats and dogs to make their way into pet foods through the unsupervised rendering industry. Trusting, but uneducated, consumers purchase these commercial pet foods under the assumption that the FDA or some other regulatory body has ensured that the foods contain “balanced” meals, and “complete” nutrition.
<SNIP>

Table of Contents

I. Introduction 1

II. A Brief History of Pet Food 2

III. The Current Regulatory Structure 5
A. FDA 6

B. CVM 9

C. AAFCO 12
---1. Overview of AAFCO 13
---2. AAFCO Members 15
---3. Feeding Trial and Nutrient Requirement Regulations 17
---4. Label Regulations 20

D. State Regulation 22

E. Pet Food Institute 23

F. American Pet Products Manufacturers Association 24

IV. How Current Regulations Result in Confused Owners and Diseased Pets 25
A. Confusing the Consumer at Every Turn 26
---1. Pet Food Labels 26
---2. Ingredient Names 28

B. The Rendering Industry – Exposing Pet Food Processing 33

C. Nutrition 40
---1. Overview of the Nutritional Needs of Dogs and Cats 40
---2. The Fallacy of the 100% Complete Claim 43

D. Diseases 47
---1. Mad Cow Disease 47
---2. Obesity and Other Diseases 49

E. Toxins in Pet Foods 50

V. Failing the Pets: Who is at Fault 51
---A. FDA Missteps 51

---B. AAFCO, Again 53

---C. Blind Faith in the Veterinary Industry 54

---D. Manufacturer’s Misconduct 59

---E. Consumer Folly 63

VI. Conclusion 66

The Entire Article Can Be Found Here

Attachment:

Patrick06.rtf [374.73 KiB]
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HARVARD LAW PAPER - What's Really In Commercial Pet Foods ?

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