Ensuring the Safety of Your Companion’s Food

The Recall: What’s at Stake?

Although the FDA and the pet-food industry have issued repeated assurances that the pet food currently on store shelves is safe, the massive pet-food recall has expanded several times since it began in late March. The current recall includes not only products containing contaminated wheat gluten but also products containing contaminated rice protein and contaminated corn gluten. Products meant for human consumption are under scrutiny as well. The government and pet-food industry failures that PETA has documented throughout the recent pet-food recall reflect the FDA’s decision to hand pet-food regulation to a nongovernmental body with no enforcement powers as well as the government’s inability to protect consumers from tainted animal flesh.

For years, PETA has warned people of the risks associated with commercial pet food. The cheap pet foods that are sold in supermarkets are often made from dead, dying, diseased, or disabled animals who were deemed unsafe for human consumption. In all but a few states, it is legal to remove unusable parts from chickens and sell them to pet-food manufacturers. Most pet foods contain the same hormones, pesticides, and antibiotics that are found in commercial meat products for humans. Furthermore, huge, corporate-run factory farms have greatly increased the threat of deadly animalborne diseases—such as bird flu and mad cow disease—which, according to scientists, have the potential to become global pandemics.

What You Can Do to Protect Your Entire Family

• Urge the government to take swift and decisive action. On May 1, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced the Pet and Human Food Safety Act (H.R. 2108/S. 1274), which was quickly referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Please contact your representative today and ask him or her to support this important bill.
• Take your family’s health into your own hands—and kitchen! It’s easy to prepare healthy meals for your entire family—human and animal companions alike! Check out PETA’s factsheet on healthy meatless meals for dogs and cats for tips on cruelty-free food for your animal companions. Many cruelty-free and vegetarian pet foods are also available.
• Sign up to receive e-mail alerts from PETA to get more updates and tips on humane, healthy living!
• Check out the PETA Catalog for cruelty-free treats for your animal companions. Start here.