Pet owners continue to be concerned with imports

Worries of imported products from China continue. The day before Valentines Day a small shard of metal was found in a child’s valentine candy – thank goodness it was discovered before a child was hurt. This candy, like so many other recalled products recently – was made in China.

We don’t know when or if China will ever get their quality control practices up to better standards. Pet owners need to be painstakingly aware and avoid any pet food, treat, toy – anything that your pet consumes – that is made in or has an ingredient produced in China. Or be willing to accept the consequences.

It’s not my intention to scare the socks off you – but it is my intention to motivate you enough to find out where everything you give your pet is from.Tainted or toxic or dangerous imports from China have been headline news for over a year now – starting with the pet food recall that is one year old this month.I am on the FDA’s recall announcement email list – and I receive emails just about every single day regarding recalled products (all products, not just pet food).Butbetter than 60% of all of these recalls have to do with imported products or imported ingredients.The biggest concern for all pet owners was the tainted wheat and corn glutens and since that catastrophe there has been headline recalls from Chinese imported tires, toothpaste, dog treats, children’s toys, and now candy.

Please do not become complacent about your pet’s food and treats. Please don’t get too comfortable – and assume all is well with pet food. All types of recalls are happening on a daily basis mostly due to imported ingredients. You don’t want to be caught off guard and not know if your pet is eating food or treats that contain imported ingredients from some country with far less quality control than U.S. products.

The FDA might have a way to go before pet owners feel completely safe with our pet foods. But two things are for certain – the FDA is head and shoulders above China. And right now, the risk of products being tainted, toxic, or dangerous continues to be far greater with imported products than U.S. products.

Please take the time to find out where each ingredient in every product your pet consumes comes from. It should take no more than a ten minute phone call for each manufacturer. That ten minute phone call could be a life saver for your dog or cat. Take pro-active steps to protect the health of your pet.

When you call a pet food or pet treat manufacturer – ask them if they use all U.S. ingredients.You might get an answer like’yes, we use all U.S. suppliers’.Nope, that’s not the information that you need – the supplier or distributor might be a U.S. company, but the actual ingredient could come from China.This is exactly the case with the contaminated wheat and corn glutens from a year ago.If you hear the ‘U.S. suppliers’ response, ask more questions’Do any of the ingredients in your pet food or pet treat originate from countries other than the U.S.?’Tell them you want to know if any ingredient in the pet food or treat is made in or grown outside the U.S.From my experience in asking over 30 different pet food/treat manufacturers these questions for Petsumer Report – you can tell pretty quickly which manufacturers are using all U.S. ingredients and who is not.The companies that use all U.S. ingredients – with the few expected exceptions like lamb and venison from New Zealand – are quick to tell you.The ones that don’t – the companies that might purchase minerals, vitamins, or glutens from China – take you on an investigative journey before they finally give up the information you deserve to be told.

Please know – it is NOT that all Chinese imported ingredients or products are dangerous to your pet.It is that they have a history – a scary history – that has proven to be potentially dangerous and shows no signs of real improvement. It’s simply a huge risk to feed your pet a food or treat with ingredients from China.