The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth

After Merrick Pet Foods provided a “mostly correct” response to the BPA lining question, a representative of the company posted a clarification comment on the article. Please, to all pet foods, just tell us – up front and the first time – the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

After publishing ‘Which Pet Foods have BPA free cans?’, an article that provided the responses from numerous pet food companies to ‘do your canned pet foods contain BPA?’ question, Ken Wilks of Merrick Pet Food posted a comment clarifying Merrick’s previous response. Merrick’s original response to the BPA question was “Thanks for taking the time to e-mail us, none of our cans contain BPA (Bisphenol A). They are tin coated steel (inside and outside) with an organic coating over the tin on the inside of the can.” Mr. Wilks posted the following clarification on the article…” Hi, I work for Merrick, and hope I can shed some light on this issue for you. It is my understanding small cans do not use BPA because they do not have welds joining the can together, and that it is important to keep both pet and human food from contacting the weld area on larger cans. The reason smaller cans do not have welds is that they are stamped out of a flat piece of metal, and the top is crimped into place. "Big" (13 + oz) cans have a vertical weld joining the metal, and usually have another weld at the top or bottom. While our customer service department was mostly correct in saying that the organic coating we use included the interior of the big cans too, in actual fact the weld area has been coated in a small strip first with a coating containing BPA. It is my understanding that an organic coating that protects the food from the weld that is as effective as one containing BPA has not yet been found. So we have made the best compromise we can by eliminating most of the BPA inside the can (except for the weld area), and using the organic coating for most of the remaining surface area. Note this organic coating also covers up the first "BPA" coating on the weld, effectively making the inside coating touching the food 100% organic. Our estimate at this time is that we have been able to eliminate a BPA lining on approximately 90% of the inside surface area of the big cans. Not perfect, but the best we can do at this time until another coating emerges that works as effectively to keep food away from the welds.”

While I have to commend Merrick Pet Food Representative Ken Wilks for bothering to clarify what another Merrick Representative responded to the BPA question (at the very least, this company stepped forward and gave us a complete answer), I certainly hope that Merrick and all other pet food companies realize something…

Pet owners want the full complete honest answer, the first time it’s asked, even if you don’t like what you have to tell us.

If you want our trust…if you want our business…be honest. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Train your Customer Service Reps properly; provide them with complete and honest responses to every possible pet owner question. Be as transparent as humanly possible with every ingredient in your pet foods.

And it’s not just pet owners that are getting sick of the pet food run around…

Greg Aldrich, PhD, president of Pet Food & Ingredient Technology Inc, frequently writes for PetFoodIndustry.com. His work and his writings are almost always geared for the best interest of pet food industry, not pet owners. However, a recent article from Dr. Aldrich shows even those in the industry are growing weary of pet food run around.

Dr. Aldrich proposed five steps to pet food industry “to identify a few small steps that would streamline information exchange about ingredients used to produce pet foods and offer more clarity to communicate with the pet owner/consumer.” http://www.petfoodindustry.com/ViewArticle.aspx?id=26852

Dr. Aldrich encourages ingredient suppliers to “provide a complete nutrient breakdown of your ingredients.” I’d like to suggest a full disclosure of all additives to each ingredient from suppliers. Should a supplier add a denaturing agent or risk chemical preservative – pet food manufacturers SHOULD provide this information to pet owners. Sure, we know current regulations don’t require you to provide this information on your label, but c’mon – you know you should tell us.

Dr. Aldrich has other suggestions too, however the point still remains…pet food’s evasive ways of avoiding the truth is getting real old.


Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Truth about Pet Food
Petsumer Report
www.TruthaboutPetFood.com

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