Sewage sludge contains all sorts of household and industrial toxins which are flushed down the toilet or private and industrial drains. How could this possibly impact the quality of your ‘natural’ pet food?

Just to remind you: the term ‘natural’ isn’t regulated and the best way to actually get a natural pet food when you want one is to buy a certified organic pet food, which among other things, wouldn’t contain sewage sludge-grown crops or animal ingredients. Verification by an independent party, an organic certification agency, is your guarantee that this is the case.

Non-certified organic pet foods contain so-called ‘conventional’ (i.e., non-certified organic) ingredients. Conventional agriculture routinely uses sewage sludge (also called ‘biosolids’) as ‘fertilizer.’ Every year more than half of the roughly 7 million metric tons of the biosolids produced in the United States are applied as fertilizer to farm fields.

The large amount of human waste processed in sewage plants means that sewage sludge contains high concentrations of phosphates and nitrates, which are desirable components of fertilizers. However, this sludge also contains highly toxic materials such as fluorides, industrial solvents, heavy metals, hormones, antibiotics, and even radioactive waste which may accumulate in the plants that are grown on sludge-fertilized farmland, as well as in the animals that are fed sludge-treated crops.

WHAT TOXINS ARE CONTAINED IN SEWAGE SLUDGE?
Here are just some of the many toxins that were detected by the EPA in sewage sludge from 74 randomly selected publicly owned water treatment/sewage sludge plants in 35 states (Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey Report, 2009).

For understandable reasons, the EPA study had to limit the analysis to relatively few toxins; it is likely that sewage sludge contains many more toxins that have not been included in the EPA study.

‘Class B biosolids,’ which are the principal type of biosolids applied to land, also contain a variety of enteric pathogens (e.g., E.coli, salmonella). These were also not included in the recent EPA study.

At the end of this page you can find information on some of these toxins (marked in the text with numbers in parenthesis) and the health problems with which they are known to be associated.

1. Metals
Twenty seven of the 28 metals analyzed were found in every sewage sludge sample. The most prevalent were barium(1), beryllium(2), manganese(3), molybdenum(4), and silver(5). The other metals included: aluminum, antimony, arsenic, boron, cadmium, cobalt, lead, mercury, selenium, thallium, tin, vanadium, yttrium, and zinc.

Remember that elemental metals often are very toxic while they are life-sustaining in the forms in which they occur naturally in foods.

2. “Organics”
Of the six organics analyzed, four were found in at least 72 samples, one was found in 63 samples, and one was found in 39 samples. The most prevalent ‘organics’ are: pyrene(1), fluoranthene(2), 4-Chloroaniline(3).

3. Polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs)
PBDEs are a particular class of flame retardant chemicals used in plastics, foams, fabrics and other materials. All 7 of the flame retardants studied except one (BDE-138) were essentially found in every sample; BDE-138 was found in 54 out of 84 samples.

4. Pharmaceuticals
Of the 72 pharmaceuticals analyzed, three (i.e., ciprofloxacin, diphenhydramine, and triclocarban) were found in all 84 samples and nine were found in at least 80 of the samples. However, 15 pharmaceuticals were not found in any sample and 29 were found in fewer than three samples.

Among the detected pharmaceuticals are antibiotics, antibiotic derivatives, and disinfectants: azithromycin(1), ciprofloxacin(2), doxycyclin(3), erythromycin-4(4), tetracycline(5), 4-epipetracycline(6), miconazole(7), ofloxacin(8), trilocarban(9), triclosan(10), the antihistamine medicine diphenhydramine(11), anticonvulsant, mood stabilizing drugs or antidepressants: fluoxetine(12), carbamazepine(13), and the heart burn medicine cimetidine(14).

5. Steroids and hormones
Of the 25 steroids and hormones that were analyzed, three steroids (i.e., campesterol, cholestanol, and coprostanol) were found in all 84 samples and six steroids were found in at least 80 of the samples. One hormone (i.e., 17-a-ethynyl estradiol) was not found in any sample and five hormones were found in fewer than six samples.

Detected were widely used phytosterols (1): Beta Stigmastanol, Campesterol, and Stigmasterol, Cholesterol (2), markers of human fecal matter contamination: the cholesterol derivatives coprostanol and epicoprostanol (a coprostanol isomer formed during treatment of wastewater ), hormones with androgenic activities: testosterone, androsterone, androstenedione (a direct precursor to testosterone), estrogenic hormones natural and synthetic estrogens: estriol, estrone,17-α-estradiol, 17-β-estradiol, β-estradiol-3-benzoate, 17-α-ethynyl estradiol(3*), equine estrogens (‘Premarin’): 17α-dihydroequilin, equilenin, equilin, progestins: norethindrone and norgestrel(4), progestogens: progesterone(5).

CONCLUSION
This necessarily restricted EPA analysis of toxins contained in sewage sludge shows that a number of known toxins are present in the ‘biosolids’ used in conventional agriculture. Among these are a veritable cornucopia of antibiotics, hormones, and toxic metals, many of which have the ability to accumulate in plants, animals, and humans.

Any ‘natural pet food claim’ that isn’t associated with certified organic pet foods, can therefore not withstand real life scrutiny. These natural pet food claims are often associated with ‘free of hormones’ and ‘free of antibiotics’ statements. The results of this EPA study demonstrate clearly that these natural claims are largely meaningless.

Certified organic pet foods simply cannot contain ingredients that were grown with hormones or antibiotics, whether they are applied intentionally or indirectly through the use of sewage sludge as a fertilizer. Therefore, only certified organic pet foods can, in good conscience and backed by solid science, be considered as natural pet foods.

………………………..
APPENDIX
1. Metals
(1) Kidney disease, cancer, increased mortality, decreased birth weight, hypokalemia – tachycardia, hyper- or hypotension, muscle weakness, paralysis.

(5) Natural or synthetic progestogens.

If your pet’s food isn’t certified organic,* it most likely contains toxins from sewage sludge that has been used to fertilize the crops grown for ‘conventional’ (i.e., non-certified organic) ingredients or that were fed to the non-organically raised animals used as ingredients.
* [Certified organic pet foods have to be produced without ingredients that were grown with or raised on sewage sludge-treated feed.]

Hm… so what exactly is sewage sludge? It doesn’t sound good for sure…
Here is what Sludgenews says about it:

“Sewage is the mix of water and whatever wastes from domestic and industrial life are flushed into the sewer. To retrieve the precious water, the sewage is then “treated,” that is, “cleaned,” in what are called “treatment plants.” The ideal of the treatment plant is to take out of the sewer water all the “wastes” that sewering put into it. The water is “cleaned” in the degree to which the pollutants which had turned the water into sewage are removed by treatment-primary, secondary, or tertiary-and concentrated in the sludge.
We must note that, though the aim of sewage treatment is to produce clean water, it is never to produce “clean” sludge. Indeed, the “dirtier” the sludge-the more complete its concentration of the noxious wastes-the more the treatment has done its job. If there are industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals, hormones, nano particles, prions, hospital wastes including antibiotic-resistant bacteria-and there will be all of these-you want them to end up in the sludge. Every waste produced in our society that can be got rid of down toilets and drains and that can also be got out of the sewage by a given treatment process will be in the sludge.

Sludge is thus inevitably a noxious brew of vastly various and incompatible materials unpredictable in themselves and in the toxicity of their amalgamation, incalculably but certainly wildly dangerous to life.

But the land “application” of sewage sludge represents a clear lose-lose-for people and for the environment-on a scale staggering to contemplate. It will pollute the whole chain of life for which soil is the base.”

What can you do about this?
The first and easiest thing is to inform yourself more about sewage sludge and how it applies to agriculture and the food you and your pet eat. The second step is to avoid adding to the toxicity of the sewage water. The third step is to choose certified organic food products, for yourself and your pet so that neither of you falls victims to hidden toxins in your food. This will also support (certified) organic agriculture and (pet) food manufacturers, which in turn will help put an end to the abundant use of toxic sewage sludge in conventional agriculture. The fourth step is to urge your legislators to prohibit the use of sewage sludge in agriculture and to prevent toxins entering sewage systems to begin with.

As another Green America-approved business friend pointed out: “Non-certified organic products shouldn’t just be called ‘conventional’ products – they’re supposed to be called ‘toxic’ products.” He’s right.

The important thing is to be educated. One needs to understand that many pet foods that aren’t certified organic but marketed as ‘natural’ are more likely pet foods that are laced with many more toxins than pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, or GMOs.

FDA”s Pet Health and Safety Widget was launched this week as part of “an ongoing effort to provide timely, user-friendly, public health information.” It provides up-to-date releases from the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine on how to report a pet food complaint, and gives other current information such as on adverse drug reactions, recall information, disaster preparedness for pet owners, and many other pet health- and safety-related topics.

Go here to download this widget to your own website and share.

If you buy pet food in bulk, how long do you expect it to stay fresh? And what does fresh mean?

Fresh means that the pet food didn’t sit on a shelf for extended periods of time before it is served. Fresh foods, even when frozen, retain most nutrients including vitamins.

Most kibble and all canned foods are processed at high temperatures which destroy most vitamins. Therefore, these foods are mostly enriched with a surplus of minerals and vitamins (mainly to achieve the AAFCO recommended nutrient levels). However, it is hard to tell how, and if, these supplemented vitamins survive the processing methods. Extruded pet foods are sometimes coated with these supplements after they were heated, but this is obviously not possible in the case of canned foods.

Let’s take the example of kibble that contains the more ideal form of supplementation. When isolated, synthetic vitamins are sprayed on the kibble after it was heat processed, vitamins are still viable when the food is packaged. However, what happens next to these vitamins (and antioxidants)?

Time, temperature, air, and if the package contains a see-though window, light will take their toll on the life of sensitive nutrients.

First, the packaged food sits in a warehouse for some time. After it is delivered to a pet supply store or consumer, the food is stored again for an extended period of time and often at conditions that do not support nutrient stability. Long before the contents of the package is emptied, the nutrients may very well have lost their viability.

According to vitamin supplement manufacturers for the pet food industry, shelf life of their products is 3-6 months (when they are stored properly). Pet food manufacturers don’t just buy a pound of such products and use it up immediately. They buy a ton or at least a half ton of it and use it as small percentage in their products. Until the last ounce of the supplement premix has been used up, the viability of the vitamins has probably already been compromised. Until the last piece of food has reached a pet’s mouth, many vitamins are most likely no longer available in the food as promised on the package description. And this applies also to foods that would initially contain AAFCO recommended nutrient levels.

So, what can you do aside from cooking all your pet’s food and treats fresh at home? Check where the food comes from; is this a company that can turn around half a ton of vitamin supplements at less than one percentage of inclusion in their pet foods from sale of the supplement to your pet eating their product within 3 or 6 months? Check for the manufacturing date if it’s available; I believe this date allows a better estimation about product viability than the usually given expiration date.

Some manufacturers, such as we at Onesta Organics, store our ingredients and products airtight in temperature-controlled, low humidity coolers; but there are not many pet food manufacturers who do the same or recommend this less-convenient way of storage to their customers on their websites or packages. Why not? Well, it takes more effort and it is more expensive to do this at the manufacturer side, and this form of storage is also less convenient and therefore less attractive to consumers.

However, vitamins, especially synthetic and isolated ones, are not viable for as long as we’d wish them to be. If you want to keep dry pet foods or treats fresh and nutritious, you really should store them in air-tight containers in the refrigerator, or long-term, in the freezer. And always try to keep what you don’t give to your pet soon, away from the general vitamin killers, light, high temperature, air & humidity.

Widespread use of insecticides is causing several risks to public health. Malathion is an organophosphate insecticide which binds irreversibly to cholinesterase. This pesticide is widely used in agriculture, residential landscaping, public recreation areas, and in public health pest control programs such as mosquito and fruit fly eradication. In the US, it is the most commonly used organophosphate insecticide and is also found in wetlands.

Organophosphates (i.e., organophosphorous pesticides) are not allowed in organic agriculture.

Although Malathion is considered an insecticide of relatively low toxicity to humans, it affects many species other than the insects that it is intended to kill. Even humans may experience deleterious effects from exposure to Malathion. Documented effects in various animal species include developmental disruptions in amphibians, reproductive problems, hyperglycemia and cancers in rats, and toxicity in human blood cells. Read more about this and educate yourself!

Malathion

These are just a few of the published manuscripts on the negative effects of this commonly used insecticide.

We at Onesta Organics support only those agricultural methods which exclude toxins that can harm the environment and your pet. We therefore choose certified organic ingredients whenever they”re available (they are usually available; exceptions include citric acid, calcium carbonate, and all species of fish). This way, we know that we aren”t contributing to the further destruction of our environment and depletion of our planet’s resources. We can also be certain that we don”t produce pet foods that have agricultural chemical residues which can harm your pet’s health.

Wee Companions has several beautiful animals available for adoption. Check them out at their website www.weecompanions.com. There you can also find the email address where you can send inquiries.

Since Wee Companions is not a public rescue, you will need to make an appointment to see their animals.

Currently, only certified organic pet foods are regulated and enforced by the US government. All other (non-certified) organic claims are not regulated or verified by an unbiased 3rd party and may therefore be true or false. Since non-certified organic claims are not enforced by US law, they are frequently abused by pet food manufacturers and pet supply retailers.

Many pet food manufacturers, which omit the most obvious unhealthful pet ‘food ingredients,’ use the term ‘natural’ to describe their products. However, ‘natural’ is another term that is not defined, regulated or enforced by US law.

Lack of regulations has allowed some pet food companies to take their marketing campaigns a few steps beyond the natural claim.

When ‘organic’ became trendy, these companies called their products ‘organic’ even if their products contained at most a small fraction of organic ingredients, if any at all. Organic ingredients are more expensive which explains why organic pet food products are higher-priced than conventional ones. However, if a pet food is not certified organic, one can never be sure if organic claims are true, or if one pays more for a ‘placebo organic’ pet food.

Last year, ‘green’ went main stream because consumers want to do the right thing and are willing to pay more for green products. What is the reaction of several pet food companies? They now call their conventional products ‘green!’ If you are lucky, they might package their conventional pet foods now in recycled boxes – which most likely are imported cheaply from China.

WHY CAN THIS HAPPEN?

1. The government doesn’t do a good job. It doesn’t regulate the terms which consumers use to make buying decisions. This way, consumers can be tricked into buying something they believe to be healthy or sustainable. Lack of government regulation and a stance that the market will regulate itself does not work in the long run, but it inhibits the true organic and green movement.

2. Media are swallowing claims, hook, line, and sinker, from companies with the biggest advertising budgets. Being a zoologist, this always reminds me of a mother bird which feeds the hatchling that opens its mouth the widest most. Some TV programs, newspapers, websites from non-for profit pet organizations, pet magazines, and even some ‘pet food experts,’ spread false information about pet food regulations, products and companies, because they obviously don’t do their research well.

3. Some organic and green organizations, which the public considers as unbiased, list non-certified organic pet food companies along with certified organic pet food companies. Many of these organizations require a membership fee or accept advertising money from pet food companies. Most of these organizations have no or no thorough, screening process for the companies which they accept as members or which they endorse. Indiscriminative listings, where organic/green pretenders are named next to companies which are verifiably (i.e., certified) organic and green, do not support the green or organic movement. However, consumers assume that the companies were carefully screened before being listed in these directories or before being permitted to use these organizations’ seals. Shoppers aren’t aware that non-certified organic and green marketing claims can presently actually be bought by pet food manufacturers which cannot get their products certified organic.

THE FACTS

1. Only certified organic pet food products follow the National Organic Program (NOP) regulations set by the USDA. Currently, organic certification of pet foods follows the NOP regulations exactly as they apply to certified organic foods for human consumption. All other (non-certified) organic pet food claims are unregulated and unsubstantiated.

2. A State compliance officer at CDFA (California Department of Food and Agriculture) stated in an email to me: “It is buyer be ware of any pet food product that does not show that it is certified by one of the NOP certification agents.”

3. Green Seal told me: “USDA organic certification is the best and most credible label for pet and human food products, also in respect to any green claims.”

THE SOLUTION

Until government regulations and reliable information through the media catch up, consumers have to educate themselves. They have to look beyond the flashy headlines and ads in magazines, on TV, and websites which often don’t reflect the true quality of the promoted companies and products.

Quote from a green Austrianopithecus: “Even if a lie is repeated 1000-s of times, it does not make it true.”

Depending on the processing methods employed to produce them, commercial pet foods fall into one or the other of the following two categories: heat-treated and raw.

Devitalized pet foods:
So-called ‘heat-treated’ pet foods are processed using all-too-often excessive levels of heat. These foods are baked, cooked (canned), extruded, or heat-dried (often the case with kibble- or pellet-type pet foods). Diets based on such heat-treated pet foods are probably the least desirable in terms of maintaining the health and general well being of most animals.

Heat treatment (canned, baked, most extruded kibble or pellet food):
Heat processing of food destroys all enzymes, many vitamins and antioxidants, and changes the molecular structure of proteins and even fibers. Attempts to replace nutrients that have been destroyed by heat with supplementary—and predominantly synthetic—nutrients can never compare nutritionally with the benefits and quality of natural, minimally treated nutrients. At present, there is no way to replace structurally altered fibers or denatured proteins. These alterations make heat-processed foods and their constituent nutrients less bio-available or beneficial, and certainly less effective in maintaining health, preventing disease, and helping the healing processes that normally follow injury. Structurally altered pet foods may actually contribute to health problems (e.g., food allergies or inflammation).

AAFCO nutrient requirements:
Devitalized pet foods require supplementation with minerals and vitamins to provide at least some nutrients. Mineral and vitamin supplementation is often used to comply with the American Feed Control official standards for balanced or complete diets. However, these standards can’t possibly reflect the actual nutritional requirements of every domestic animal species. Accordingly, Dr. Junger believes that animals should eat a variety of foods that provide a broad spectrum of natural nutrients. If animals are fed a variety of quality foods to begin with, targeted and individualized supplementation with select high quality products can then be used to support good health at different life stages, to prevent age-related deficiencies, or to promote healing after injuries.

Raw pet foods:
Today, with the availability of raw pet food options, consumers and their pets have good diet options. The best raw pet foods are fresh, consisting of raw animal products, plant material, or a combination of the two. Frozen raw pet foods are often a more convenient choice. If fresh or frozen raw foods aren’t available, dehydrated raw foods are a good second choice. The advantage of these dehydrated foods is that they can be stored easily for longer periods of time with little mess and no worry about short-term spoilage.

Dehydrated pet foods:
In terms of nutritional quality, not all dehydrated raw pet food products are the same. Apart from the ingredients used, the quality of this variety of raw pet food depends largely on the temperatures to which their ingredients were exposed during the dehydration process. Dr. Junger’s company, Onesta Organics, uses a truly gentle and slow dehydration process that preserves overall nutritional quality. Customers should be aware that some companies market their pet foods as ”dehydrated” or ”raw” even if they use a mixture of dehydrated and previously cooked ingredients.

Highest quality raw pet foods:
As with all pet food products, an important determinant of quality is the choice of ingredients used by manufacturers. Onesta Organics uses only human grade ingredients that are certified organic by a USDA-accredited organic certifying agency. This assures that the ingredients used are verifiably organic. USDA organic certification also ensures that Onesta Organics products are free of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), hormones, and antibiotics, and that no potentially toxic or otherwise unhealthy synthetics are added to your pet’s food. It also means that all ingredients used are traceable back to their original source. Such sourcing is impossible in the case of conventional pet food manufacturers. Unlike the products of companies which state that their pet food is organic—and, in some cases, might even claim GMO-, hormone-, and antibiotic-free status—only USDA certified organic pet foods are inspected and scrutinized by an independent third party, which assures that all claims made are indeed true. Aside from the fact that Onesta Organics uses healthful, certified organic ingredients in their raw pet foods, unlike other pet food manufacturers, this company sees no point in adding ingredients that are known to be highly allergenic to its pet food products.

Conclusion:
The folks at Onesta Organics believe that USDA certified organic, raw pet foods are among the healthiest choices for your pet. Moreover, it’s critically important for pet owners to provide their animals with a wide variety of food choices. In most cases, such a broad-spectrum feeding approach will minimize, or perhaps even negate, the possibility of the kinds of nutritional deficiencies and chronic diseases in pets we hear about all too often these days.

The pet food marketplace is flooded with all kinds of organic claims. Which of these claims are true and which are false? The answer is easy and really boils down to this simple fact: only USDA certified organic claims are substantiated and regulated by law. Period. Any organic claims that don’t carry the weight of USDA certification cannot be verified by a third party and therefore may or may not be true.

“The term ‘USDA certified organic’ is regulated and enforced by the Federal Government. Pet food companies that submit their products to organic certification by the USDA must follow a mandatory standard for organics which is regulated by the USDA’s National Organic Program. A USDA-accredited third party must verify that a certified organic product contains at least 95% organic ingredients, and that the product is free of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), hormones, antibiotics, or other synthetic chemicals that are not permitted for use in organic products. The use of non-certified ingredients is restricted to the few cases where certain certified organic ingredients are not available (e.g., calcium carbonate, which is used as a preservative). Organic certification guarantees that an ingredient or product has been grown or processed according to USDA regulations, which expressly outlaw the use of toxins, including many pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers such as sewage sludge. Notwithstanding any statements to the contrary (which pop up in print media from time to time), the very same stringent organic standards that apply to certified organic foods for human consumption also apply to certified organic pet food; no distinctions, or exceptions, are made between the ingredients and manufacture of USDA certified organic dog food and any food product you or I may consume that is designated USDA certified organic.

USDA organic certification is indicated by the familiar USDA organic seal, as well as by the name of a USDA-accredited organic certifying agency, on the packaging of a given product. If organic ingredients comprise 70% or more of a product, a manufacturer can label that product, ‘made with xxx organic ingredient(s).’ Although this product cannot display the USDA organic seal, the name of the organic certifying agency which scrutinized the company’s organic claims must be disclosed clearly and visibly.

Why do some companies voluntarily comply with the USDA organic program while other companies don”t? Some pet food companies comply with the National Organic Program (NOP) standards to indicate to customers that their organic products are verifiably organic. The USDA seal and the name of an independent organic certifying agency verify that organic claims are true and substantiated by more than simply the word of the manufacturer.

Why don”t all pet food manufacturer which use organic claims to describe their food products bother with USDA organic certification? In most instances, such manufacturers simply wouldn’t be able to satisfy the USDA’s stringent standards for organic certification. In some cases, they might be using little or no certified organic ingredients in their products; in other instances, they might use GMO ingredients or ingredients which contain antibiotics or hormones. Additionally, their ”handling plan,” how they manufacture their products, may not comply with the strictly non-toxic specifications set forth in the NOP standards. And, although organically produced ingredients may cost more than their non-organic counterparts, let me assure you that the financial costs associated with USDA organic certification are not beyond the reach of any company that has a serious advertising budget. Cost is probably the least likely reason why some companies that make organic claims are not USDA certified organic and therefore not subject to third party quality assurance. Let’s face it: hammering claims of organic status into peoples” heads repeatedly is a very cost effective selling strategy; as in politics, even the most egregious and bald-faced lies start to ring true if they’re repeated incessantly enough.

Why would a pet food company make a false organic claim? Well, clearly to make more money. Certified organic ingredients, and the products made from them, are more expensive than conventional varieties. Claiming to a largely ignorant public that something is organic and that there is no real difference between products described as organic and those described as certified organic can increase a company’s profits; such a company can easily undercut manufacturers selling legitimately USDA certified organic products. Generally, the law fails to regulate or prosecute false organic claims in the pet food industry, and many companies unscrupulously use this giant legal loophole in crafting unethical marketing strategies. Where great profits are at stake, such pet food companies couldn’t care less about misleading consumers or, unfortunately, manufacturing products that might negatively affect the health of pets down the line.

Misuse of the claim of organic certification is punishable by Federal law, so this claim is rarely abused. We know of one instance in which a particular pet food manufacturer falsely claimed their products were USDA certified organic; interesting, and in relatively short order, this company disappeared from the organic pet food marketplace.

What are the advantages of USDA certified organic pet food products?
For one thing, we believe that USDA certified organic pet food products, including the pet food products offered by our company, Onesta Organics (www.onestaorganics.com), are safer and healthier than their conventional counterparts. Moreover, these products are manufactured using environmentally friendly and or sustainable agricultural practices. Compared to their conventional counterparts, USDA certified organic food products contain significantly greater amounts of nutrients, but no GMOs and effectively no pesticide residues or other agricultural toxins. Certified organic products are generally healthier for you, your pet, and the environment than conventional varieties. As in the case of the term natural, the term ‘organic may be used without any requirement of third party verification. These terms are not regulated either by the USDA or any other government agency. This general lack of regulation leaves both terms up for grabs in the aggressive world of media marketing. Claims of ‘organic,’ even in combination with statements that a given pet food product is GMO-, antibiotic-, or hormone-free, or are produced using sustainable practices, are not subject to regulation and are often abused shamelessly. Since GMO-, antibiotic-, and hormone-free claims are clearly associated with legitimate certified organic products, their unsubstantiated use is often part of a compelling and effective marketing strategy aimed at consumers who are unaware of the lack of regulation and the misleading use of terminology.

Organic practices clearly have a positive impact on both the environment and the health of humans and their pets. Fortunately, many individuals and companies have recognized the importance of low-impact practices in maintaining our own good health and that of our pets and the planet.

Pet food companies that abuse the terms natural, organic, or sustainable are compromising the integrity of the NOP and are confounding the efforts of the green movement, among others. Although consumer protection should ideally be the responsibility of the Federal government, much of the actual education of consumers is currently left to a small minority of responsible companies which feel ethically bound to do the right thing for the benefit of pets and the world that we, humans and animals alike, share.

As one State compliance officer at CDFA (California Department of Food and Agriculture) once noted ”… It is ‘buyer be ware’ of any pet food product that does not show that it is certified by one of the NOP certification agents”

1 NOP: www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0
2 OTA: http://www.ota.com/organic.html