This is some good news.
As always, thank you menusux

Here's a stupid question.......why will it take a year?  Why not "effective immediately?"

The UK has reported both big cats and domestic cats getting FSE from those cattle materials. And we don't know about dogs. I think we need to avoid beef byproducts and probably meat byproducts for our pets.  What about meat meals?  Would those contain the afore mentioned cattle materials?  

More research, more letters to pet food companies.  

I honestly thought those parts of cattle were disposed of.  How naive of me.  

I still wonder about dogs, though.  They don't always live as long as cats, so maybe the disease wouldn't show up.  But we've all heard of confusion, aggression, and collapsing legs in senior dogs.  It's just another example of our pets being the recipients of big business' garbage.  And of course, the FDA and the USDA keep it a secret as long as they can.

For the next year it will have to be unloaded somewhere    since they either a)paid for it b)contractually committed to purchasing X volume... and I'd bet there's gonna be a huge increase in "meat" only petfoods to empty the storage/surplus before expiration.

This makes grain free look a bit unnerving.... instead of a consolation.

Sigh, I've got to get my kids on homemade... soon. I can't afford to buy enough canned that is on the market right now to ride this out...

But Duane-o and his crew have been aware of this all along and strongly against this type of labeling.

From the Docket Archives at FDA--entered November 1, 2001:

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/01/Nov01/110501/ts00004.pdf

Remarks by Randy Gordon, National Grain and Feed Association, speaking on behalf of the Pet Food Institute October 31, 2001 Food and Drug Administration Hearing

Page 2 of 3

"We (National Grain and Feed Association and PFI) agree that a cautionary statement on pet food sold at retail has already been addressed by the Agency and does not need to be considered again.

"In January 1997, the FDA proposed a cautionary label on pet food sold at the retail level as part of its efforts to prevent the amplification of the BSE-causing agent should it ever be found in the United States. FDA, in its final Federal Register notice later that year, agreed that a label on pet food sold at retail was not needed."

Page 3 of 3

"As was the case in 1997, under a cautionary labeling scheme, pet foods would be the only retail products to carry a precautionary statement on the label.  As the research the Pet Food Institute previously presented indicated, such a label would not only have a negative impact on consumers, it would also have a negative impact on human foods.  Our research found that 71 percent of consumers would buy something else if they saw such a label on pet food; 68 percent would be very concerned about the safety of the pet food if it carried such a label; and 40 percent of the respondents would be very concerned about consuming beef and lamb because of the label on pet foods."

"A cautionary statement on pet food products is not warranted and the current regulation should not be amended."

More from docket-land:

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/Feb03/020503/8004d34a.pdf

February 4, 2003

Page 2

"As the US pet industry's trade association, PFI will focus its comments on the following question contained in the agency's notice:"

And then the question of labeling pet food re: BSE comes up again. There are 9 pages here, signed by Duane-o, containing reasons why the BSE information should not be on any pet food labels.

Translation, let's not scare the buyers by telling the the truth.

So we go a bit further and search BSE on the PFI site, bagging two links.

http://www.petfoodinstitute.org/Salvage_&_Distressed_Brochure.pdf

Salvaged and Distress Pet Food Brochure

"The page cannot be found

"The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.

"HTTP Error 404 - File or directory not found.
"Internet Information Services (IIS)"

Then we try link #2:

http://www.petfoodinstitute.org/sad_release.cfm

Salvaged and Distressed Release

http://www.petfoodinstitute.org/sad_release.cfm

"Error Occurred While Processing Request 
"File not found: /sad_release.cfm "

But the release IS able to be found through the Internet Archives--

Page archived June 4, 2002

"The Pet Food Institute (PFI) has recently released a new brochure designed to help anyone who might handle salvaged or distressed pet food products comply with federal law. "Handling Salvage and Distressed Pet Food" was developed in partnership with the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) to make pet food manufacturers, distributors, retailers, dealers, farmers and others aware of the regulations prohibiting the use of pet food in ruminant animal feed.

'"The US Food and Drug Administration prohibits the use of mammalian protein in ruminant feed as a precaution against bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or "mad cow" disease). Since a large portion of pet food contains mammalian proteins, an important source of nutrition for pets, its use in ruminant feed is not permitted. The US remains free of this devastating disease and the federal regulations (21 CFR 589.2000) that prohibit pet food in cattle feed are designed as an additional animal health protection. "Handling Salvage and Distressed Pet Food" has been developed to assist those involved in the sale and distribution of certain pet food products to understand their responsibilities under the law.

"PFI Vice President for Technical and Regulatory Affairs, Nancy K. Cook, explains the necessity for the precaution and the new PFI guide, "Though there is no BSE in the United States, salvage and distressed pet food must never be used as ruminant feed and must be labeled correctly so it is not accidentally fed to cattle."

"In addition to proper labeling, salvage and distressed pet food products must be handled in a certain manner to prevent their inclusion in feed for cattle or other ruminants. Salvage and distressed pet food includes materials returned from retailers and resold, as well as "unsalable" pet food directly from manufacturers. The new PFI pamphlet also includes excerpts from the AAFCO Model Bill and FDA regulations, providing additional background on the restricted use of mammalian protein in ruminant feed."

http://www.hpj.com/archives/2005/apr05/apr18/PFIoffersguidanceonhandling.CFM

April 2005

"For over four years, the Pet Food Institute (PFI) has made available its "Handling Salvage & Distressed Pet Food" guide to help everyone comply with the laws governing these pet food products. Under Federal law, to prevent the possible spread of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), all salvaged and distressed pet food products that may contain certain animal proteins must be labeled with the precautionary statement "Do Not Feed to Cattle or Other Ruminants." The recently released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report evaluating the success of the Food and Drug Administration's enforcement of the feed rule points to the importance of full compliance with this provision of the law.

"According to Duane Ekedahl, PFI's Executive Director, the guide has been instrumental in educating manufacturers, brokers, retailers, farmers and others involved in handling these pet food products. "To date we have distributed over 16,000 copies of this information brochure. PFI wants to make sure everyone who could conceivably handle salvage and distressed pet food is aware of their responsibilities under the law," Ekedahl said. "Because of the discovery of BSE in the US in an imported animal in 2003, it is critical that salvage and distressed pet food always be labeled appropriately," he added."

But as you see by the FDA dockets, so important to keep from the public who purchases these foods.

Guess they will now try trading to China what they can't slip into pet food because they are a such an important source for ingredients.  Then it can come back to us as adulterants to heparin.

In light of PFI's strenuous and continual objections to the labeling of retail pet food with a BSE warning, this is worth having a look at.

http://www.meatami.com/Education/Presentations/2007/MIRC/MIRCCook.pdf

This is the presentation PFI's Nancy Cook made to the Meat Industry Research Conference in Chicago October 24, 2007.  This was where she made the inane comments about COOL labeling creating 10 foot long Hershey bar wrappers and that one couldn't afford to anger the Chinese because they are a major source of ingredients. 

Page 30 of this 47 page long presentation talks about how pigs and chickens were exposed to melamine--through salvaged or distressed pet food. 

Well, Nancy, they may have become mela-chickens and mela-hogs but at least the food was labeled with warnings about BSE.  You've heard the expression about biting the hand that feeds you--perhaps you, your colleagues at PFI and other like organizations, and the PFI members who literally pay your salaries should give a lot of thought to that.  Even AAFCO came out against you as per the 2003 FDA dockets:

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/Jan03/013103/8004ca3c.pdf

Page 3

"Should pet food for retail sale be labeled with the statement, "Do not feed to cattle or other ruminants?

"Yes...

Page 4

"The inclusion of a warning statement of pet food could result in a temporary shift from prohibited protein material use in pet food, as consumers move to purchase pet foods without the caution statement and prohibit mammalian protein."

The company does not use any by-products in their food, I've spoken with the owner a few times about this because I was concerned with all the foreign materials that we don't know about.  However, he assured me how committed the company was to not using poor parts of meat to make a better pet food.  They've been in business for 75 years, I'm not worried about this one.  According to the statement the company was in compliance with FDA regulations as well, so we shouldn't confuse the actual matter of the situation.