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matters not. This also applies to any grains or fats in the foods. Quebec and asked if any other rendering plants in Quebec were The Pet Food Institute (PFI) is an association that represents the accepting and rendering dogs and cats. The reply was: "Yes, here various interests of the pet food industry. Over the years the PFI is the establishment that now accepts cats and dogs: Maple Leaf, has insisted that the companies they represent use only quality Inc." Maple Leaf Foods also owns Rothsay Rendering and Shur- ingredients. Numerous times I have questioned this organisation Gain pet foods. as to what testing the pet food companies undertake to ascertain In January 2002, I contacted the Alachua County Animal the sources of protein, the meat meal, which they purchase from Shelter in Florida and was pleased to learn that their employees rendering plants. They have chosen not to respond. Their silence _ no longer had to truck the euthanised animals to a rendering plant. says it all. They had now built a crematorium for disposal of animals. In the fall of 1997 my first book, Food Pets Die For, was pub- In research for my second book, Protect Your Pet, it became lished and people became aware of the dubious ingredients in _ evident that California operated more rendering plants and sent some commercial pet foods. Pet owners were shocked that their more pets for rendering than any other state in the USA. Reporter euthanised pets could very well be ending up in pet foods. Sandra Blakeslee, in an interview published in the New York Naturally, the pet food industry denied that this was happening. Times (March 11, 1997), quotes Chuck Ellis, a spokesman for the Not only was the rendering plant in Quebec accepting Los Angeles sanitation department: "Los Angeles sends 200 tons euthanised companion animals for rendering, but this practice was of euthanized cats and dogs to West Coast Rendering every eing carried on by a number of rendering plants in the US. month." In a letter dated July 12, 1994, Christine After acquiring a list of US shelters and Richmond, spokesperson for the FDA veterinary clinics, I e-mailed 102 veterinari- Division of Animal Feed, wrote: "In recog- ans in private practice in California and nizing the need for disposal of a large num- asked how they disposed of euthanised ani- er of unwanted pets in this country, CVM mals. Ninety per cent of the 78 veterinarians as not acted to specifically prohibit the ren- who responded stated that they sent the ani- dering of pets. However, that is not to say mals to rendering. The replies I received that the practice of using this material in pet named two companies that picked up the ani- food is condoned by CVM." It is not con- Pet owners mals from their facilities: D&D Disposal in doned, but no steps have ever been taken to California, and Koefran Services in Nevada. rohibit the use of dogs and cats in pet were shocked An employee at a Humane Society branch foods. that their in California wrote that in his area, For the Baltimore City Paper (September . Escondido, D&D Disposal picks up 27, 1995), reporter Van Smith wrote an euthanised pets approximately 100 bodies each week. In the same area, there are three other shelters and more than 100 veterinarians using the same disposal company. D&D was rather hard to locate, but fortunately one shelter had a complete address for them. D&D shares the same address as West Coast Rendering in Vernon, California. Interestingly, Baker Commodities, another rendering plant notorious for rendering companion animals, is within a block of West Coast Rendering, as is a large pet food company that produces several popular extensive article, replete with pictures, of his day riding with a truck from the Valley Proteins rendering plant. Smith describes how carcasses of zoo animals and "thousands of dead dogs, cats, rac- coons, possums, deer, foxes, snakes, and the rest that local animal shelters and roadkill patrols must dispose of each month" are rendered. Pictures show barrels overflowing with dead dogs and cats waiting to be rendered. On January 5, 2000, Florida's Gainesville Sun ran a story on the Alachua County Animal Shelter where brands of pet food. the employees actually had to deliver Koefran Incorporated, the company the euthanised animals to the rendering plant. Reporter Paula that also picks up dogs and cats in California and Nevada, oper- Rausch wrote that the employees had to "lift them off the truck —_ ates a rendering plant, Reno Rendering, in Reno, Nevada, and in could very well be ending up in pet foods. and heave them into a pit, exposing themselves to foul odors, — Provo, Utah. In Utah, Koefran Services also picks up animal car- putrid substances underfoot, and having to see the grinding going casses with the approval of county commissioners. on". These duties were taking their toll on the staff at the shelter. Have we turned our pets into cannibals? In March 2000, due to public outcry, Valley Proteins discontin- ued accepting dogs and cats, leaving shelters in a dilemma as to ©CONTAMINATED GRAIN IN PET FOOD how to dispose of the animals in the Baltimore area. As with the sources of proteins used in commercial pet foods, Prior to the publication of the revised edition of Food Pets Die __ grains used in dry pet foods are materials unfit for human con- For (2003), I learned that Sanimal, the large rendering plant in sumption. Often these are listed as middlings or screenings. Quebec, as of June 2001 was now refusing to accept the carcasses These can include broken grains, hulls, chaff and joints, and can of dogs and cats. Reporter Philip Lee-Shanok, for the Toronto be contaminated with straw, dust, sand, dirt and weed seeds. Star (June 7, 2001), interviewed Mario Couture, Sanimal's head of In less than 10 years we have seen two major recalls of pet procurement, on the subject of euthanised pets rendered into pet foods because of mycotoxin contamination. Mycotoxins are fungi food. Couture stated: "This food is healthy and good, but some which grow when grains are stored in damp conditions. Many people don't like to see meat meal that contains pets." types of mycotoxins can cause serious illness and even death in In 2001, I again contacted the Ministry of Agriculture in both humans and pets. Pet owners that their euthanised pets could very well : iM : be ending up in pet foods. CONTAMINATED GRAIN IN PET FOOD As with the sources of proteins used in commercial pet foods, grains used in dry pet foods are materials unfit for human con- sumption. Often these are listed as middlings or screenings. These can include broken grains, hulls, chaff and joints, and can be contaminated with straw, dust, sand, dirt and weed seeds. In less than 10 years we have seen two major recalls of pet foods because of mycotoxin contamination. Mycotoxins are fungi which grow when grains are stored in damp conditions. Many types of mycotoxins can cause serious illness and even death in both humans and pets. 12 ¢ NEXUS were shocked WWW.NeXU smagazi ne.com AUGUST — SEPTEMBER 2003