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4. THE DARK SIDE OF RECYCLING [Author's name withheld] [In February 1990, the San Francisco Chronicle carried a macabre two-part story detailing how stray dogs, cats and pound animals are routinely rounded up by meat renderers and ground up into—of all things—pet food. According to the researcher who brought the information to the Chronicle, the paper buried the story and deleted many of the charges he had documented. A report he worked on for ABC television's 20-20 was similarly watered down. In exasperation, he sent the story to Earth Island Journal. NEXUS has been asked to withhold the name of the author/researcher, who has been forced to flee San Francisco with his wife and go into hiding as a result of the threats made against his well-being. Ed.] Condemned livestock carcasses treated with these chemicals 4. THE DARK SIDE OF RECYCLING can become meat and bone meal for the pet food industry. [Author's name withheld] Because rendering facilities are not government-controlled, any [In February 1990, the San Francisco Chronicle carried a animal carcasses can be rendered—even dogs and cats. As Eileen = macabre two-part story detailing how stray dogs, cats and pound Layne of the CVMA told the Chronicle, "When you read pet food animals are routinely rounded up by meat renderers and ground labels, and it says "meat and bone meal", that's what it is: cooked up into—of all things—pet food. According to the researcher who and converted animals, including some dogs and cats." brought the information to the Chronicle, the paper buried the Some of these dead pets—those euthanised by veterinarians— story and deleted many of the charges he had documented. A already contain pentobarbital before treatment with the denaturing report he worked on for ABC television's 20-20 was similarly process. According to University of Minnesota researchers, the watered down. In exasperation, he sent the story to Earth Island sodium pentobarbital used to euthanise pets "survives rendering Journal. NEXUS has been asked to withhold the name of the without undergoing degradation". Fat stabilisers are introduced author/researcher, who has been forced to flee San Francisco into the finished rendered product to prevent rancidity. Common with his wife and go into hiding as a result of the threats made chemical stabilisers include BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and —_ against his well-being. Ed.] BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene)—both known to cause liver and idney dysfunction—and ethoxyquin, a suspected carcinogen. r “Nhe rendering plant floor is piled high with "raw product": Many semi-moist dog foods contain propylene glycol—first thousands of dead dogs and cats; heads and hooves from cousin to the anti-freeze agent, ethylene glycol, that destroys red cattle, sheep, pigs and horses; whole skunks; rats and rac- lood-cells. Lead frequently shows up in pet foods, even those coons—all waiting to be processed. In the 90-degree heat, the made from livestock meat and bone meal. A M chusetts piles of dead animals seem to have a life of their own as millions Institute of Technology study, titled "Lead in Animal Foods", of maggots swarm over the carcasses. found that a nine-pound cat fed on commercial pet food ingests Two bandana-masked men begin operating Bobcat mini-dozers, more lead than the amount considered loading the "raw" into a 10-foot- otentially toxic for children. deep stainless-steel pit. They are I have been practising small-animal NOTICE _ All Animals Are To undocumented workers from medicine for more than 25 years. Every Mexico, doing a dirty job. A day I see the casualties of pet industry Be Destroyed In A Humane giant auger-grinder at the bottom ropaganda. But the professors in the Manner and No Processing Is To of the pit begins to turn. Popping teaching institutions of veterinary medi- . . . bones and squeezing flesh are cine generally support an industry that Begin Until The Animal Has sounds from a nightmare you as little regard for the quality of health Expired we never forget. bh ' in our companion animals. . endering is the process of One last word of caution: meat and cooking raw animal material to bone meal from sources not fit for human —_ The Management remove the moisture and fat. consumption have found their way into The rendering plant works like a oultry feed. This means that animal giant kitchen. The cooker, or roducts rendered under questionable "chef", blends the raw product in conditions are fed to birds that may wind order to maintain a certain ratio [Sign on the wall of a rendering plant] up on your table. Remember this when you between the carcasses of pets, are eating your next piece of chicken or turkey. livestock, poultry waste and supermarket rejects. (Dr Belfield is a graduate of Tuskegee Institute of Veterinary Once the mass is cut into small pieces, it is transported to Medicine and is now in private practice in San Jose, California. another auger for fine shredding. It is then cooked at 280 degrees Dr Belfield established the first orthomolecular veterinary hospi- for one hour. The continuous batch cooking process goes on non- tal in the US. He is co-author of The Very Healthy Cat Book and stop, 24 hours a day, seven days a week as meat is melted away How to Have a Healthier Dog. This article first appeared in Let's from bones in the hot 'soup'. During this cooking process, the Live Magazine, May 1992.) ‘soup’ produces a fat of yellow grease or tallow that rises to the top and is skimmed off. The cooked meat and bone are sent to a hammermill press, which squeezes out the remaining moisture and pulverises the product into a gritty powder. Shaker screens sift out excess hair and large bone chips. Once the batch is fin- ished, all that is left is yellow grease, meat and bone meal. Expired. A Meaty Menu As the American Journal of Veterinary Research explains, this recycled meat and bone meal is used as "a source of protein and other nutrients in the diets of poultry and swine and in pet foods, with lesser amounts used in the feed of cattle and sheep. Animal fat is also used in animal feeds as an energy source." Every day, hundreds of rendering plants across the United States truck mil- lions of tons of this "food enhancer" to poultry ranches, cattle feed-lots, dairy and hog farms, fish-feed plants and pet-food man- ufacturers where it is mixed with other ingredients to feed the bil- lions of animals that meat-eating humans, in turn, will eat. NEXUS 19 [Sign on the wall of a rendering plant] Photo credit: Eban Fleaux DECEMBER 1996 - JANUARY 1997