Might my dog have eaten horse? He is fed meat from tins from
a popular, well-known brand.
What does ‘animal derivatives’ mean? How do I know
when the tin says the meat is beef or lamb that it is not horse?
John, by email
The Pet Food
Manufacturers Association (PFMA), says…
There is
strict legislation governing pet food production and this includes what
ingredients can be used. The legislation applies to both UK produced products
and all imports. Furthermore, the PFMA Raw Materials policy requests that
members only use meat from animals generally accepted in the human food chain
in the UK.
Local authorities enforce the legislation and include checks on feed safety
management systems at pet food manufacturers during their inspections and
undertake sampling and analysis of pet food to verify the accuracy of its
labelling. All plants producing pet food comprising animal by-products are
subject to approval and regular inspection by the Animal Health Veterinary
Laboratories Agency under Regulation (EC) 1069/2009 on animal by-products to
ensure that the material used is suitable for pet food is handled safely and,
where appropriate, is processed to the standards required by the regulation.
When sourcing all ingredients individual member companies operate their own
stringent in-house quality assurance policies. These include strict
specifications for material supplies, routine testing of all incoming materials
and the use of vendor assurance schemes to monitor supply sources.
PFMA and its members are aware of current investigations into the presence of
dog meat in pet food in Spain, the relevant authorities have been informed of
the situation and all the necessary safeguards have been put in place. PFMA has
advised its members to be extra vigilant about the raw materials they receive
ensuring with their suppliers that these ingredients meet the requirements of
the PFMA Raw Materials Policy.
The labelling requirements for pet
food are less onerous than those for feed for farmed livestock. For livestock,
the ingredients must be declared individually in descending order by weight,
but pet food manufacturers have the option to declare them by category -- e.g.
'meat and animal derivatives', 'oils and fats', 'cereals', 'vegetable protein
extracts'. Declaration by categories allows for fluctuations in the supply of
the raw materials used and provides flexibility for labelling ingredients
without incurring unreasonable cost.
The material of animal origin used
by the pet food industry comprises those parts of animals which are either
deemed surplus to human consumption or are not normally consumed by people in
the UK, and derived from animals inspected and passed as fit for human
consumption prior to slaughter. Animal material of this nature, which is not
intended for human consumption, is classified as 'animal by-products' under the
EC Regulation on Animal By-Products for which Defra is responsible, and
assigned the lowest risk rating. This rating requires that the material be free
of any transmissible disease, which therefore excludes material from dying,
diseased or disabled animals.
