History of the Pet Food Industry

Today I am going to deal with a hot topic, at least in my opinion. The origin and history of the dog food industryAs well as their production systems, the place where they get these raw materials or why the dog food is worth the price they have, should be questions that we ask ourselves if we really want to have our dog healthy.

As I have said on other occasions, if we believe in the phrase ¨We are what we eat¨,What is our dog if he eats white label feed of 20 and 20 kilos?. When I am interested in the subject, I start to tremble. What was I feeding my best friends? ... and the responses were not pleasant ...

I just leave you with this brief History of the Pet Food Industry. Hold on to the chair that the learning curve, it's going to be great.

Origin of the Industry.

The first brand of dog food

There is a huge difference, between what we think the dog food industry is and what it really is, not to mention the tremendous scam that it represents for the consumer, who believes they are buying a balanced and nutritious food tailored to the needs of the needs of your animal, to be really buying, an inexhaustible source of problems for him and his dog.

In 1860, the first food made specifically for dogs was created by an American electrician, James spratt who prepared the “dog cake” - made with wheat, vegetables and veal blood. Other companies followed and dog food baked with cereals They entered the pet food market, which was previously dominated by butchers.

From these first decades of existence of the product, the maximum profitability was already sought (as in all companies) and manufacturers find that it is much cheaper and easier to store a feed based on grain and cereal. This causes the type of diet on which the animal's diet was based to begin to change, from what it really needs, to an industrial standard marked by the search for the maximum possible benefit at the cost of whatever, even to deceive the consumer.

In the 30s, dry dog ​​food was introduced, with the company's meat meal Sheaths
Food Company. For companies like Nabisco, Quaker Oats and General Foods, the emerging pet food market represented an opportunity to market otherwise useless by-products as profitable sources of income. That is, everything that they had to throw away before because they could not market it in any way, now it was pure profit.

Sold with the main benefit of the convenience of not having to cook for the animal, cereals were mainly included in the recipe for the meal in balls, They created a product with a very long expiration date, and which also provided a cheap source of energy through carbohydrates, although totally opposed to the physical needs of the dog of animal protein and live enzymes for its correct feeding.

In 1960, food manufacturers claimed that their products offered good quality because they used cereal and meat waste products that were unfit for human consumption, which doesn't make much sense. Although they recognized that fresh meat and vegetables were excellent foods, Food manufacturers argued that cats and dogs could be fed cheaply on factory waste products and still be healthy. The mill operators continued to have a good market for their grain by-products, while the slaughterhouses found a market for their otherwise useless meat by-products and thus everyone was happy. Except you and your dog of course.

Complete Food

In the crazy 70s, the convenience of packaged dog food was the first thing sold to the public.
The feed was much faster, and hygienic than putting you to cook, and cleaning all the dirt from feeding the dogs food cooked by their owners.
Pet food companies They invented the Complete Food label, with which they told the consumer that this food carried everything they needed for their dog, and they began to send the message that homemade dog food was dangerous and harmful for them, apart from being more expensive. With the feed there was no need to give them anything else, no food supplements or vitamin intake or anything like that. The feed was the best, the canine panacea.

Carlos Alberto Gutierrez canine nutritionist and veterinarian, He tells us about the exclusive foods for exclusive sale in veterinarians, in his book "The Scandalous Truths of Dog Food".

Special diets formulated for specific diseases or problems in pets are introduced - special diets were (and still are) many times a little more of the same food in a different package.
The introduction of special diets projected pet nutrition as complex, and tacitly showed people that they should heed their veterinarian's advice rather than common sense. Buying dog food expanded from supermarkets to veterinary clinics.

There is a necessary collaborator in obtaining a vision of doing the right thing when buying pellets for our dog how food are veterinarians. They tell you that the healthiest thing for the dog is the feed and you take it for granted because it is your veterinarian who tells you. Well, I am sorry to tell you that it is not like that. A veterinarian is not trained as a canine nutritionist, like an Oseopata, it does not have to know what is the healthiest diet for a human being. You will only have notions.

When we feed our dog we take it for granted that our diet is correct for them too, and that's the same happens to a veterinarian who is not a canine nutritionist.

On the other hand, when I meet a veterinarian and he passionately sells me the excellence of veterinary feed, how they lengthen the life of the dog, feeding it in a balanced way, etc, etc, I always ask them the same question:

If it is so healthy, why don't you eat your feed?

The answer to this question is usually silence.

Now everything is Premium

In the 80s, sold as more nutritional and offering different formulas for all stages of life, the vast majority of “premium” foods still used the old standards - high grains, high carbohydrates, low meat and low protein.

In the 90s, information about animal feed and black legends about it began to emerge. At a time when people began to be more aware of what they ate and how important it is to their lives, they became interested in their dog's diet. This led to foods called "Whole Grains", and producers started promoting specific ingredients (like organic cereals) that they were more suitable for people than for nurturing their dogs. And so almost all "whole" foods were still based on cereals and carbohydrates, and that they were anything but completeFrom the point of view of a dog or cat, they went out to markets and pet shops with the maxim of being the best for your animal. Deception outright.

And how is the industry now Antonio?

Well, things continue more or less the same as at the beginning of the century, since although the market for dog food evolves, the same pet foods are still made from over-processed raw materials. Most of today's conventional pet foods still contain more than 50% grains and almost as many carbohydrates. Is today's feed healthier than before? We can say that it is the same, but with more marketing on top.

According to the brand's White Paper Champion Foods:

Although today's consumers are more educated and more aware of the ingredients of food from your pets - most people are unaware of important food quality measures like the amount of carbohydrates in pet food, and do not know how to determine the quality of protein or fat. Grains are considered healthy for humans, and dry pet foods have always been made from grains - two main reasons why consumers accept cereals as part of their pets' diet. Cereals have always been there, so they are not usually questioned.

When asked to question whether cereals and carbohydrates are appropriate for their dogs and cats, most consumers find that they are not part of the natural canine or feline diet. Despite vet-recommended market advancements and "whole diets," foods haven't really changed much in the last 40 years. Conventional pet foods are still made by the same companies and are still low in protein, high in carbohydrates, and made with the same high percentages of grains (this is especially true for vet diets). As history has shown, pet food manufacturers will produce foods designed primarily with their appearance in mind to consumers. This generally occurs at the lowest cost and greatest convenience, rather than making a more appropriate food for dogs and cats. 

Therefore, we continue the same or worse than at the beginning of the century, with a diet for our pets based on cereals and by-products of the human food industry, with high levels of carbohydrates and low levels of fat and animal protein. That added to the low quality of the raw material from which they are obtained, make the nutritional value of the feed for dogs (and cats), not advisable from the nutritional point of view for our animals, since it will cause them more problems than another thing. In a previous article I talk about this topic, in Dogs and food stress.

The really alarming question is not that the industrial feed that they sell us is bad, from any point of view or that we do not know that they sell to us. The really important question in my opinion is how they deceive us, as food companies in the animal sector, They systematically violate the relationship between manufacturer and customer through marketing campaigns that use emotions to nail us for a sack of something that should be nutritious for our dog, since it is what it puts in the container, up to 93 eu for 15 kilos and that nevertheless it is not another thing nutritionally speaking, that an inexhaustible source of problems for the health of our animal.

And now that I've told you how, I'm going to tell you who.

Product Manufacturers

When we look at a container of dog food, we see in the photo pieces of clean and red meat, fresh vegetables, grains of corn or wheat, chicken ... I remember how I used to ask myself as a child when looking at the feed: And how did that steak become In this shit that doesn't smell like meat or chicken or anything remotely edible?

These images make it clear what manufacturers of dog food want that we think is what our dog eats when giving them their product. The media, through well-executed marketing campaigns, full of advertisements of happy dogs running free while feed balls float in the air, are the ones that have instilled in us the idea that the best thing for our dogs is to give them that I think. And that's the image that feed manufacturers want you to see and believe.

According to Eva Martin from the page Canine Food.com:

What most consumers do not know is that the pet food industry is an extension of the human food chain and the agriculture industries. pet food is a convenient way to dispose of slaughterhouse offal, grains deemed "unfit for human consumption," and similar waste products that turn into profit. These wastes include the intestines, udders, heads, hooves, and parts of possibly diseased and cancerous animals.

But who are the big sharks in this industry? Who are the producers of the food of our dogs? ... hold on, curves are coming ...

I turn to Eva Martin from the page Alimentacion Canina.com, where she writes a very extensive article on the topic called Healthy nutrition for our pets?. In that article he reveals who the faces of the industry are:

The pet food market has been dominated in recent years by the takeover of large companies by even larger companies. With $ 15 billion a year at stake in the US and rapidly expanding foreign markets, it's no wonder some are hungry for a bigger piece of the pie.

Nestle Purina has bought to form Nestle Purina Petcare,some companies like  (Fancy Feast, Alpo, Friskies, Mighty Dog Chow, Cat Chow, Puppy Chow, Kitten Chow, Beneful, Uno, PROPLAN, delicat, HiPro, Kit'n'Kaboodle, Tender Vittles, Purina Veterinary Diets).

Del Monte gobbled up Heinz (MeowMix, Gravy Train, Kibbles' n Bits, Wagwells, 9Lives, Cycle, Skippy, Nature's Recipe, and pet treats Milk Bone, Pup-Peroni, Snausages, Pounce).

MasterFoods owns Mars, Inc., which consumedROYAL CANIN(Pedigree, Waltham's, Cesar, Sheba, Temptations, Goodlife Recipe, Sensible Choice, Excel) ...

Other major manufacturers of pet food are not well known in the pet market, although many of their personal care products use ingredients derived from animal by-products:

Colgate-Palmolive bought bought Hill's Science Diet (founded in 1939) in 1976 (Hill's Science Diet, Prescription Diets, Nature's Best).

Some private factories (that make food for other brands such as Kroger y Wal-Mart) and co-packers (who produce food for other pet food manufacturers) are also major players. Three big companies are Doane Petcare,Diamond, and Menu Foods, which produce food for dozens of brands.

Many large pet food companies in United States They are subsidiaries of giant multinational corporations. From a business standpoint, pet food fits very well with companies that make human products. Multinationals have increased their purchasing power, those that make food products for human consumption have a captive market in which to cash in on their waste products, and pet food divisions have a more reliable capital base and, in many cases, a convenient source of ingredients.

The Pet Food Institute - the trade association of pet food manufacturers, has recognized the use of by-products in pet food as additional income for processors and producers: “The growth of the pet food industry not only provides to pet owners better food for their pets, but also created profitable new markets for American agricultural products and by-products from meatpacking, poultry, and other food industries that prepare food for human consumption .

Another of the data to take into account is the low hygiene conditions around the industry standard. This causes entire batches or entire lines of product to be contaminated. The FDA (US Food and Drugs Administration) I publish a list on its website with all the brands withdrawn from consumption for being a danger for the consumption of our animal (Recalls & Withdrawals 05/04/2015). If you look at the list, The reasons for removing these products are usually due to bacterial contamination or the inclusion of all kinds of elements, from metallic elements such as iron or copper to unknown materials. Yes sir. What you just read. Presence of unknown materials for a control agency. It seemed very strong to me, I don't know about you.

Eva Martin tells us in her article about canine nutrition on her page:

The vast majority of dry food is made with a machine called an extruder. First, the materials are mixed according to a recipe created with the help of computer programs that provide the nutrient content of each proposed ingredient. For example, corn gluten flour has more protein than wheat flour. Because the extruder needs the same amount of starch and low humidity to work properly, dry ingredients - such as meat meal and bone meal, flours and grains predominate.

The mass is fed into the screws of an extruder. It is subjected to steam and high pressure, as it is pushed through dies that determine the shape of the final product, just like the nozzles used in cake decorating. As the heat exits, the pressurized dough from the extruder is cut by a series of fast spinning knives into small pieces. As the mass reaches normal air pressure, it expands and converts into its final shape. The food is left to dry, and then it is usually sprinkled with fat, or other compounds to make it more palatable. When cooled, it can be packaged.

Although the cooking process kills the bacteria in the ingredients, the final product can pick up more bacteria during the subsequent drying, coating, and packaging process. Some experts warn that getting dry food wet can allow surface bacteria to multiply and make animals sick. Do not mix dry food with water, milk, canned food, or other liquids.

In general, we do not even wonder where your dog's diet comes from, or how they make the feed.

But nevertheless…Have you ever wondered how they make your dog's feed?

The magic recipe.

Now I am going to talk about how it is made and what dog food is made of. Let's first talk about the raw materials that these products are made from.

When they tell you that your dog's feed contains chicken or beef, we all imagine a piece of chicken or beef like the ones we all know. Nothing is further from reality. It is rather to give the dog, the beak, the crest, the feathers and the legs. I wonder: What nutritional nutritional value do these parts of the chicken have? Don't reply yet.

Returning again to Eva Martin's article from Alimentacion Canina.com:

Dogs and cats are carnivores, and best done on a meat-based diet. The protein in dry food (feed) comes from a variety of sources. When cattle, pigs, chickens, lambs, and other animals are slaughtered, muscle tissue is trimmed from the carcass for human consumption, along with the few organs that people like to eat, such as tongues and corns.

However, about 50% of all foods of animal origin are not used in human foods. What is left of the carcass - heads, legs, bones, blood, intestines, lungs, spleen, liver, ligaments, fat trimmings, unborn babies, and elsewhere generally do not consume beings humans, other products that are used in pet food, and animal food, are fertilizers, industrial lubricants, soaps, rubber and other products. These "other parts" are known as "By-products". The by-products are used in poultry and livestock feed, as well as pet food.

The feed manufacturing process is easy to explain:

1. First they take the leftover parts of the Human Food Industry and put them at 3000 degrees to make them flour.
2. They then extrude it to give it that ball shape.
3. Finally, they treat the feed with industrial chemical additives so that your dog can eat them.
4. They package it and sell it to you for as much money as possible.

Industrial additives or how to poison your dog little by little

At Alimentacion Canina.com they tell us about additives:

Many chemicals are added to commercial foods to improve the taste, stability, characteristics, or appearance of foods. Its components do not provide any nutritional value. Some additives include emulsifiers to prevent water and fat from separating, antioxidants to prevent fat from going rancid, and artificial colors and flavors to make the product more attractive to consumers and more palatable to their pets.

A wide variety of additives allowed in animal feed and pet food, not counting vitamins and minerals. Not all of them are actually used in pet food. Additives may be specifically approved, or they may fall into the category of "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS).

Additives: Anti-caking agents, Antigelling agents, Antimicrobial agents Antioxidants (can be natural or potentially harmful) colorants, Condiments, curing agents, drying agents, emulsifiers, Essential oils, Aroma enhancers
Humectants, Leavening Agents, Lubricants, Palatants, Granulating Agents and Binders, Petroleum Derivatives pH control agents, Preservatives, Condiments, Spices, Stabilizers, Sweeteners, Texturing, Thickeners.

All commercial pet foods must be preserved to keep them fresh and attractive to our animal companions. Canning is itself a preservation treatment, so canned foods may need little or no further help. Some preservatives are added to ingredients or raw materials by suppliers, and others can be added by the manufacturer.. The U.S. Coast Guard, for example, requires fishmeal to be largely preserved with ethoxyquin or equivalent antioxidant.

Because manufacturers must ensure that dry foods have a long shelf life (typically 12 months) to remain edible until shipment and storage, the fats used in pet foods are preserved with synthetic or "natural" preservatives. Synthetic preservatives include butylhydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylhydroxytoluene (BHT), propyl gallate, propylene glycol (also used as a less toxic version of automotive antifreeze), and ethoxyquin. For these antioxidants, there is little information documenting their toxicity, safety, interactions, or chronic use of pet foods that can be eaten every day for the life of the animal. Propylene Glycol has been banned in cat food as it causes anemia in cats, but it is still allowed in dog food.

Potentially cancer-causing agents such as BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquin are allowed at relatively low levels. The use of these chemicals in pet food has not been thoroughly studied, and long-term build-up of these agents can ultimately be harmful. Due to questionable data in the original study on its safety, the manufacturer of Ethoxyquin, Monsanto, a new and more rigorous study was necessary. This was ended in 1996. Although Monsanto found no significant toxicity associated with "its own product," in July 1997 the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine requested that manufacturers voluntarily reduce the maximum level of ethoxyquin by half, to 75 parts per million. While some pet food critics and veterinarians believe that ethoxyquin is a major cause of disease, skin problems, and infertility in dogs, others claim that it is the safest, strongest, most stable preservative for pet food. .The Ethoxyquin is approved for use in human food for the preservation of spices, such as cayenne and chili powder, with a level of 100 ppm - but it would be very difficult for even the most spice lovers to consume as much chili powder all the days like a dog that eats dry food every day. Ethoxyquin It has never been tested for safety in cats. Despite this, it is commonly used in the veterinary diet for dogs and cats.

Many pet food manufacturers have responded to consumer concern, and are now using "natural" preservatives such as vitamin C (ascorbate), vitamin E (mixture of tocopherols), y rosemary oils, cloves, or other spices, to preserve the fat in your products. The shelf life is shorter, however - only about 6 months.

Individual ingredients, such as fishmeal, may have preservatives added before they reach pet food manufacturers. Federal law requires fat protectants to be disclosed on the label, however pet food companies do not always comply with this law. (it is possible that the fishmeal is being preserved with Ethoxyquin without it being reflected in the ingredients of the product, as it is included by the supplier of the flours and not by the feed factory.)

Drawing conclusions

I am going to tell you clearly again: I think = Poison

Whenever I see one of those articles, where They tell us about the benefits of feed by medium-length pseudo journalists who are dedicated to copying the articles they see from other medium-length pseudo journalistsAs if they were parrots, I realize that they are not aware of the damage they do to society and animals with their sad professional practices. Between them and veterinarians, who should not have the sale of feed among their professional duties, they have created an image around the feed, which is precisely what dog feed brands are looking for.Says Purina, Hill's or Royal Canin.

Every time I ask someone what their dog eats, and they tell me that I think good, and then they tell me a supermarket brand, I hallucinate with the size of the deception to which they subject us.

Greetings and the next thing I bring you is a canine feeding guide.

Take care of your dogs.