rnor1120 wrote:Most commercial dog foods undergo rigorous testing and have to adhere to certain guidelines (in the USA, it's AAFCO) before being sold.
with respect rnor1120, I have been in the corporate world way to long to have any trust or faith in an organization such as the AAFCO. Now, if they were truly independent from the commercial food industry or the promotion of agricultural industries, I might take them more seriously, but they aren't. so I can't. One of the other problems with AAFCO is by creating a minimum standard from a seemingly "independent" organization packed with government officials...you give the food companies an out for producing the minimum, not the optimum.
as for testing, yes, food companies test, but devil is in the details. Rigorously tested...ok, by who and to what standard? Or meets all AAFCO guidelines, well what are those guidelines? are those guidelines for minimum nutritional needs or optimum nutritional needs? those are questions we need to ask our self because corporation will spend time and money figure out how to phrase things just right to influence buying choices.
Corporations do first what makes them money, second what keeps them out of court, everything else is a distance third.
I know this might all sound a little tin foil hat like. but like I said, been working in the corporate world for over 20 years, not a lot of faith in them to do what is right for my dog verse their bottom line. There are always exceptions though, which is where the questioning what they say, your independent research and education come in.
Yes, commercial dog food won't kill the first time a dog eats it. That goes back to making money first, staying out of court second. you can't sell product if your product is a known killer and lands you in court. So in that sense, yes the food is safe. But safe and meeting optimum health and nutritional needs are NOT always one and the same with all food companies.
The fact corporations do what make them money gives us great power to change them if we are educated and demand a better product and show we are willing to pay for it. Look at the last few years as more and more dog food companies appear to be improving their product. At least in terms of reducing grains or offering grain free product. But again, devil is in the details, learn to read the labels, what the words mean, where the standards are coming from etc, etc to judge IF they are truly improving.
whole dog journal also has lots of good information on commercial food, how to understand the label and how to educate your self to make a good choice what food to buy if you choose to feed commercially produced food.
http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/
