Myths and truths about pet food
What would happen if you eat the dog's food, those dry croquettes that look sad and fatty to the touch? Or the wet cans of cats? No one would die, but he would vomit a little of disgust: according to the defenders of natural food, he is eating waste, that is, by-products of the animal and vegetable kingdom.
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However, despite the bad press and the counteroffensive of the organic products market or the BARF trend (a bone-based diet with raw foods), package food became a standard that covers all races and social classes. Most veterinarians also surrendered to their power. "Good balanced foods are made from nutrients that provide the requirements of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins. If it is a good brand and is indicated by a veterinarian, the animal's nutrition will be very good," clarifies veterinarian Nélida Gómez, Head of the Medical Clinic Service of the School Hospital of the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences of the UBA.
When the photo cheats
However, dog food transits a gray area. In addition to the mystery about the origin of its components, part of the bad image of balanced food has to do with advertising. Everyone knows: nothing that is seen in pet food packaging is true and as a case of misleading advertising is unbeatable. Neither pink salmon fillets, nor pieces of meat or chicken exist, nor do those yellow and perfect corn kernels.
But since dogs and cats cannot read, they cannot go to the consumer's office to make complaints. To cover, next to the photos of gleaming pieces of meat or fish manufacturers clarify that they are "illustrative" or that "they do not make direct reference to the characteristics of the product." In other words, they are there to produce a distorted image of what is being offered in the package. The paradox is that no complaints have been registered in that area in the Office of Consumer Defense complaints of the Ministry of Commerce.
In the United States, the AAFCO (a joint agency that does not regulate but produces reports, opinions and publishes its recommendations every year that practically become a market standard) reached an amazing limit. He suggested that the legends of the packages may include "indeterminate" ads, that is, he went down the line to allow slogans such as "super premium", "long life for your animal", "sea delicacies", "perfect and balanced" or others equally as bombastic and incomprobable, without having to have the least contractual sense or obligation, much less scientific evidence to support the announcement.
Even though it is debatable, the affirmation of the labels does not seem like a bad diet. All these packages are decorated with variations that allude to optimal nutrition and balance, but this could be half true. The Cornucopia Institute of the United States - a kind of NGO that brings together farms and organic food producers - took the counteroffensive against the overwhelming presence of packaged food and judicially fights against the big manufacturers denouncing deceptive advertising or low quality of its ingredients.
In his reports he denounces that the commercial foods of the big companies are composed - in addition to flours, minerals and chemical preparations - basically of what they call "4D animals" for their acronym in English, which would become sick animals, killed by disease, dying, or with stunted organs. They also state that since laboratory tests are done on a small sample and for short periods of time, nutrient and enzyme deficiencies are undetectable, and only appear after a long period.
Thus, according to them, the tests always return good indicators and only then the motto of "complete and balanced" turns out not to be false. As they argue, it is better than incomplete and unbalanced, but it does not mean that it is the best. Dr. Gómez, who is also the holder of the Small Animal Medical Clinic subject in the faculty, opposes an unavoidable reading of this apocalyptic description and affirms, instead, that "this meal has markedly increased the survival and quality of life of dogs and cats between three and five years. "
Laws and controversy
The legislation around animal food is vague. Here the approvals are paid by SENASA, which grants the "complete and balanced food" seal. In the United States, the USFDA is the authority that regulates and authorizes food and medicine, so it was in trouble when the great scandal over contaminated food broke out in 2007. The wholesale producer MenuFoods - which sold its own brands and provided the finished product to several customers (Procter & Gamble for its brand Iams, Eukanuba and Royal Canin, among the best known) remained in the eye of the storm when it was forced to withdraw millions of units suspected of being contaminated with melanin and rat poison. The failures in the supply chain and suppliers finally reached more than one hundred brands. The origin of everything was the Chinese rice flour and protein supplier. The authorities checked 18 thousand dogs and cats killed because of adulterated food.
A consequence of this crisis was the emergence of new brands that began to produce their products under the "Certified Organic Product" paradigm. Of course, that is a market for rich dogs and cats. The kilo of Castor & Pollux, the most expensive organic brand, is priced at eight dollars a kilo for adult dogs. On the other hand, in Europe the small manufacturers of ultra premium food make their way, that is, made with real cuts of chicken, meat or fish dehydrated at low temperature made under human food regulations. Of course, those products, like the Zanuk, cost eleven Euros a kilo.
For them, everything that goes into their competition - supermarket packaged food - does not pass a sanitary inspection and that is why they are certified "not suitable for human consumption", and affirm that only thanks to deceptive marketing can some snacks of pressed and fat-injected flours cooked at ultra high temperature in appetizing snacks.
And so, the pet food business continues to grow and diversify year after year, despite the crises. In Argentina, manufacturers sharpen their pencils and their numbers around a universe of some 14 million pets. Among them they produce 520 thousand tons of dog food and almost 93 thousand of cat food, which in 2015 made them bill about 17 billion pesos, according to CAENA, the camera that groups them. The competition to reach their snouts attracts large multinationals as prey. Most of the brands sold in supermarkets are produced by only a handful of companies, of which Nestlé and Mars are the ones that take most of them: between the two they sell more than ten brands.
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