A Note About Pet Food Labeling

Consumers are starting to question pronouncements from the "experts" and "testing labs" on pet food labeling. They have concerns that animal meat by-products may not actually provide a nourishing and balanced diet for pets. Such by-products can include diseased and contaminated slaughterhouse meats, feathers, intestines, hair, animal road kills, euthanized companion animals and dehydrated garbage, all rendered together and used in some pet foods. There are additional concerns about the harmful effects in the use of chemical additives.

The use of low quality by-products and chemical reservatives may be associated with dry skin, allergic reactions, dental disease, poor health and degenerative organ dysfunction.

Regardless of professional advice, it is up to each pet owner to read and understand pet food labels. Much of the widely advertised pet food contains by-products and the remains from the human garbage chain with harmful chemical additives.

Labeling Laws Do Not Help Us!

Some manufacturers simply list ethoxyquin as the letter 'E' on their ingredients panels, something consumers often mistake for vitamin E instead. In other cases, ethoxyquin can be contained in the meats purchased by the pet food manufacturer at the time of purchase, but because that manufacturer itself doesn't add additional ethoxyquin to the product, they are not required to list ethoxyquin in the product's ingredients, based on the way the laws are written.

Manufacturers can put one organic chicken in 50 tons of food and can print on the label, "we use organic, range fed chicken."

Flint River Ranch purchases as much organic chicken as possible, but prefers to correctly say that they use human quality hormone-free chicken. Like all of their ingredients, they pay a premium price for the very best available. Lamb is range-fed, rather than contributing to the horrible practices of factory farming. Menhaden fish is a herringlike fish found along the North Atlantic coast of the United States. The flesh is an excellent source of menhaden oil for coat and skin. Fish is a prime source of a complete protein - it includes all the essential amino acids. Rich in unsaturated fats (Omega 3 fatty acids), Vitamin A and K, and important minerals.

The word "meal" means reduced in size. The flesh is cooked, some water removed and reduced in size (ground) in order for a uniform mix of the meat, ground grains, vitamins and chelated minerals. There are no rendered by-products in Flint River Ranch foods.