Recipe for Success?

• Written By: Susan Thixton
• 10-6-2011
• Categorized in: Pet Food Ingredients

That's part of the headline of a UK online newspaper, in reference to Purina Pet Foods/Nestle.  A couple of statements from the article are worth repeating and questioning Purina.

The article in dotspress.com titled "Nestle, biggest food company, find the recipe for success" brags about Purina's Beneful dog food brand new commercials being aired in some of Europe and Australia.  The new commercial uses noises - only heard by dogs - "that urge their owners to buy their preferred, namely Nestle's Beneful."  

"In the clips, dogs lounging on the couch rush to the TV screen and bark at the sounds.  Marketers hope that these ads will stimulate animal owners to buy quality food for their four-legged pets."  Similar ads broadcast in Germany "have increased the sales of these types of products."

Purina Veterinarian Gerardo Perez stated “We want to sell more than food for animals. These products will help owners to maintain a better relationship with their dogs, and enjoy life together."

Hmmm, Dr. Perez's above statement, especially the part 'these products will help owners to maintain a better relationship with their dogs' is confusing.  I wish Dr. Perez could explain specifically how (ingredients from Beneful Original) - "Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), rice flour, beef, soy flour, sugar, propylene glycol, meat and bone meal, tricalcium phosphate, phosphoric acid, salt, water, animal digest, sorbic acid (a preservative), potassium chloride, dried carrots, dried peas, calcium propionate (a preservative), L-Lysine monohydrochloride, choline chloride, added color (Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 2), DL-Methionine, Vitamin E supplement, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, calcium carbonate, copper sulfate, Vitamin B-12 supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin D-3 supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite" - would help a dog owner to maintain a better relationship with their dog. 

By the way the ingredients "animal fat", "animal digest" and "meat and bone meal" listed in the Beneful Original dog food above are three of the four ingredients determined by FDA testing to be "associated with" rendered (ground and cooked) euthanized animals.  

I've sent the following email to Beneful/Purina... (the Purina website only allows 600 characters - my original message included a statement that shared I/we were not trying to be rude or disrespectful, we simply had questions of Dr. Perez - but that part had to be cut)...

Purina Vet Dr Perez was recently quoted in dotpress.com stating “We want to sell more than food for animals. These products will help owners to maintain a better relationship with their dogs, and enjoy life together."  Representing pet owners, we would like Dr Perez to explain his statement.  We would like to understand how a dog food (example Beneful) using three ingredients (animal fat, animal digest, and meat and bone meal) FDA testing determined to be "associated with" euthanized animals (not including dyes, GM grains) would 'maintain a better relationship'?  Can Dr Perez explain?

When/if Dr. Perez of Purina responds, it will be posted.


Remember folks - 'You are what you eat' - includes our pets.

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety AdvocateAuthor, Buyer BewareCo-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
PetsumerReport.com

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