It's no surprise but very worrisome. I'd make my own but don't have the confidence that I could make a nutritionally complete product.

I wonder if human grade Honest Kitchen is ok. Unfortunately my dog didn't like it too much. Chewy has a new one they promote as human grade as well, but it's pretty high in fat (30%).

Major worry, especially when foods that are considered high quality (and priced accordingly), such as Orijen, are contaminated.

I suspect a good majority of those contaminents come from the fish products. Especially the ones with a large amount of fish meal. I fed our dog Orijen for some time and it's one of the most expensive brands out there.

I wonder if that guy from the dog food advisor has seen this article.

I would never take an article in a San Francisco newspaper as "gospel". Everything ANYONE or ANYTHING eats is "political" in CA, northern CA in particular.

Choose a pet food company that manufacturers its own food - not contracts it out. I've fed PurinaOne Lamb & Rice now for decades (since it first came out) and my dogs are healthy, have great coats, skin eyes, good digestive systems and have all lived to quite old ages for my breed (most have made it to 14).

I think it is immoral to feed human grade food to animals, when there are people in the world who are hungry. In other countries, people eat "everything but the oink" but we're fussy here. Believe me, while I may not care for tripe or tongue, my dogs will find it delicious! Purina spends a fortune on canine and feline nutrition experts (veterinarians who have gone on to specialize). If this were something easy to do, they would not spend that kind of money.

My dogs are very important to me, but they are not my "fur children" - they are "dogs". And dogs don't subscribe to Bon Appetite or read columns on food politics written by former NYTimes food write, Mark Bittman, a very tedious man who can take the joy out of any meal.

My dog is my "fur child" BUT I realize that she is a DOG and not a human and doesn't require the same foods as a human. I mean, let's look at it from her eyes....my dog LOVES cat poo more than any other food on this planet! I think that puts it into perspective!

My dog is not my fur child either, Arkansas girl, but I still wish to feed him a wholesome, uncontaminated diet. I wish to do this so he has a long life and we avoid illness connected with contaminated food. I brush his teeth, keep him clean, exercise him, trim his claws, etc. for the same reasons.

Anglo--how biased to question an article because it came from a California newspaper. Also--there is a big difference between "everything but the oink" and the harmful products like lead found in some pet foods.

We definitely do not want anything contaminated! Just a few weeks ago, my dog became extremely ill from something that was in a package of dog biscuits from a company known for their high quality foods. We ended up at the vet's and with a vet bill of $400! Of course, the company knows nothing of any problem with that biscuit. I have also gotten a couple of bad bags of dog food in the past from two different companies. I could tell it was the food, right after I had opened a brand new bag, she began to not want to eat and she had diarrhea. Once a new bag was purchased, everything was back to normal. In both cases, I was given coupons for new bags but neither company admitted any problem with the food, neither company asked me to send them any sample for testing.

neither company admitted any problem with the food, neither company asked me to send them any sample for testing

That seems to be the industry standard. I bought some of the new American Journey dog food and the two dogs that ate it one had vomiting and the other had diarrhea, the other two dogs that did not eat it had no symptoms. I was sent a form message (and a refund) advising me to donate the other bag to a shelter, and no interest at all in getting a sample.

We have Australian Shepherds. Lived with them in Europe for awhile. Bought Purina dogfood at an American base commissary. One of our pups got mange from eating it. Took a long time for the Dutch vet to treat her. Turns out the dogfood was made in China.

Just because vets recommend a brand doesn't mean it's the best for your pet. Vets get kick-backs from pet food companies. Hence Science Diet and Royal Canin is in every vet office, and they promote them.

There are more and more regular recalls of kibble, both cheap and expensive, due to salmonella. I highly recommend watching Pet Fooled on Netflix.

I don't feed our cats kibble, they eat a combination of raw and canned. I'm trying to get them onto raw only. Raw is what dogs and cats naturally eat. Cats don't barbecue a mouse, nor do dogs forage wheat fields when they run away. Why is every warning to keep your small pets inside when there are coyote sightings? They don't warn you to fence off your gardens.

Did anyone happen to see Shark Tank Friday nite? I was working, and hubby couldn't wait to tell me about the segment of the fellow who is making and delivering healthy pet food, much like Blue Apron and those kinds of food programs.

His previous job had pet food manufacturers as his clients and he'd go back to his hotel room (he travelled extensively) and would get physically ill seeing what goes into the making of pet food. I'm going to watch it online to see this segment.

Sjerin, have your daughter keep trying with the raw. There are many brands, and she'll find one that her dog will eat. Normally dogs aren't fussy, as cats are. One thing that has worked for me, which your DD can try is to get some freeze-dried dog treats (our cats like the Bison liver), crumble or grind it and sprinkle it on their food. They usually devour their food once I do that.

What troubles me too is the pet foods that are geared toward the owner rather than the pet....I've seen cat foods brag about being "hi protein" when they are loaded with carbohydrates and things like rice and peas and carrots. Cats are carnivores and need a high protein diet. It doesn't matter the price of the food either, or how "natural" the food is. I've seen this in many brands at many price points.

I'm not picking on this brand in particular, but only using it as an example.

Then owners wonder why their cats become diabetic....

I think it is immoral to feed human grade food to animals, when there are people in the world who are hungry.

I don't understand this point of view. How does the type of food we feed pets affect people who are hungry? Do you really think that human grade food would be fed to hungry people instead of pets if it wasn't put into pet food?

A dog cannot get mange from food! Mange is caused by mites which are transferred from one dog to another. Normally, this is harmless, but if the dog's immune system is poor, there can be an overgrowth of the mites and then it is a problem.

If I had the money to feed only human grade food to my pets, I would feed a high quality dog food instead and then donate the rest of the money to a food bank. Dogs do NOT need human grade food to thrive!!!

I know lots of breeders who have tried to prepare their own raw food, or fed raw chicken wings to their dogs. Virtually all of them found this did not work well at all. With the raw chicken, the risk of salmonella for the humans in the household was significant and the other home made raw diets did not give the results they wanted. So they all went to purchased/prepared raw food. The only difference between it and dry kibble was that it was raw - it was still prepared by a dog food company and it had parts of animals in it that First World humans would not eat.

The pet food industry is one of the most highly regulated industries in this country. Companies that "don't care" about what is in their food, do not spend millions of dollars each year on veterinary nutrition experts and research and development. That's why it DOES matter who makes ones food and it is always safer to buy food from a company that manufacturers it's own. Many of the fancy "boutique" foods do not manufacture their own food and have no research departments. Most of their dollars go towards marketing the foods to humans.

I've never had a vet try to sell me dog food. Even when my dog was sick from food allergies, they only suggested that if we couldn't find a food for her to eat that I would try an RX food.

We have had several vets highly recommend Hill's Science Diet for both our dogs and cats. The only thing I've purchased from time to time is A/D recovery diet. Seems to be very palatable for ailing pets who are refusing to eat.

I've had a vet recommend IAMS to me but was not trying to sell it to me. I asked him what food brand he liked and he told me that IAMS was a quality brand. They had toured the plant and were very impressed with it.

Here is a very informative website with cat and dog food ratings. They test for industrial and environmental contaminants and toxins like arsenic, cadmium, lead, antibiotic or pesticide residues. They also have test result based ratings for various foods and an explanation what each of the contaminants does to the system.

http://www.cleanlabelproject.org/ten-worst-cat-foods/

petra, I found that website cryptic and potentially misleading. It shows a ranking of products but without disclosing the actual findings or reasons that lead to the rankings. Even the most basic info about the organization (on the website Guidestar, a respected catalog of non-profit org information that provides information about almost all US charities, big and small) isn't available.

Most peculiar of all, if you click on one of the products on their "worst" lists, it takes you to a page with no further information but with a link to Amazon so you can buy it! Amazon pays a commission for such referral links from other sites. So they think those products are awful but they're perfectly happy to receive a 15% commission by referring you to Amazon to buy it. Say what? That, by the way, is probably an impermissible receipt for a charity and that income wouldn't be tax exempt.

It's always important to be skeptical and critical of "information" found on the internet, much of it isn't credible or real.

Thanks for that link petra! I find that more helpful than giving a food 5 stars just because the label reads more appealing to humans. It's much more important to see if the food is contaminated or not. The food I feed is given a 5 star, it appears to have been tested to be pretty doggon pure. :)

Glad it helped, arkansas girl. :)

Elmer, yes, it would be nice if the website had more transparency, particularly re. toxin levels in various foods. But considering frequent pet food recalls I am willing to research pet food as much as I can, via as many websites as possible. Here's more info re. the study, via their local Denver TV station.

http://www.king5.com/news/study-says-some-top-pet-foods-contain-abundance-of-toxins/432337142

As for the affiliate links, I agree it is somewhat inappropriate. But preferable they try to raise funds via links instead of being financed by pet food companies.

"As for the affiliate links, I agree it is somewhat inappropriate. But preferable they try to raise funds via links instead of being financed by pet food companies".

Do you think the Environmental Defense Fund or the Sierra Club would agree to lobby Congress to relax air quality and greenhouse gas emission rules, if paid to do so by coal companies, as a way to raise funds? . Or could you see the American Cancer Society backing off of its anti-tobacco campaigns if paid consulting fees by Philip Morris et al to do so? I don't think so, not in either event

I think it's hypocritical at a minimum and a display of a lack of principles. If you think raising money by facilitating the sale of products they're advising against is reasonable, fine.

As much as I've grown to dislike the Consumers Union (publisher of Consumer Reports mag), they still have enough integrity to not stoop to such a tactic.

If they were financed by pet food companies or entities which attempt to weaken pet food quality laws in exchange for endorsing certain pet foods, I would agree. But Amazon just sells pet food from numerous manufacturers, along with countless other consumer goods, and the affiliate links are for every single food they rate whether well-rated or not. So it appears to be an attempt to raise funds, not an attempt to push certain manufacturers. If you want to discount their contamination findings based on that, feel free.

They're very evasive about what their findings actually are so I'd say they discount them themselves.

Look, everyone's free to do what they want and call the balls and strikes they see. I spoke up because I think their deliberate efforts to facilitate the purchase of and financially benefit from the very products they criticize and denigrate are particularly odd and lacking in integrity.

I've never seen anything like it. Have you?

Well, I finally got around to opening the link in sjerin's original post and it appears to be the findings of the same website I posted. I apologize for posting the link as though it was something new, sjerin. This will hopefully teach me to read links before replying.

Oh gee, absolutely no apology necessary, Petra! We're all interested in what's in pet food and I read every reply. I didn't even hear the whole story or read the link at the time, since I had a lot going on. :)

Feeding your dog barf diet can eliminate their tummy upset and eliminate the need for you to clean up after it. You Bet! BARF is an acronym for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food. It's about feeding pets responsibly and properly to maximize health, longevity and reduce allergies and vet bills

Reading this thread, I began to wonder exactly what is meant by "human grade" pet food. After all, us humans are still allowed to buy and consume Pop Tarts and common hot dogs...

So, I googled: http://talkspetfood.aafco.org/humangrade

Apparently, just like "natural", there's no legal standing for "human grade".

The article points out: "A product formulated for a pet is unlikely to be nutritionally adequate for a human and vice versa. Because pets become like family members in many homes, it should be underscored that not everything that a human can eat is safe for a pet. Such ingredients as chocolate, macadamia nuts and onions, to name a few, are edible and good for humans but can be toxic to cats or dogs. "

They also go on to say, "Whether a product is or is not advertised as human-grade has no impact on product safety. "

That being noted, I feed my cats a grain free cat food most of the time. It makes no pretensions at being "human grade", at least not in any print size I've noticed. Glad to see none of my choices are on the Worst lists - for one, I don't feed my cats seafood, as it makes their poo more stinky.

artemis_ma beat me to the point about human diet requirements and animal diet requirements are very different. People don't seem to understand this. And the ones who think they're going to tinker and invent their own formula of food for pets are usually abusing the animals in my opinion. How many actually know the nutritional requirements of their pets? Raw diets are the foo-foo, feel-good fad these days AFAIC. Yes, wild animals eat raw food but they eat other things with it. And pets kept indoors primarily or always will need different nutrition.

As for contamination in plants, unfortunately, it happens. It happens in plants where human food is handled. It happens in restaurants. It happens in hospitals and nursing homes. And yes it happens in homes all too often too. Get it? It can happen anywhere. If it happens regularly, I'd get concerned. I tend to look at how a company handles the situation. I used to feed my cats Eukanuba and they had a recall one time during the time I was feeding them Eukanuba. When I checked it out, the fact was Eukanuba actually discovered a spot of e-coli or salmonella (I don't recall which) on a handrail in the building. There was nothing in the food, the feds checked it. Someone could have brought it with them from lunch at the local Olive Garden for that matter. But they took it as a precaution to recall the food, stop the production, contact the feds and clean the place. That impressed me.

I don't feed my cat human food. He doesn't need it. He doesn't really want it but he's curious about it. And his diet is strictly premium quality dry food and water. It's nutritionally sound. I've believed in this for a long time. It's animal abuse to feed the low buck brands.