Rendering: What You Should Know

“In recognizing the need for disposal of a large number of unwanted pets in this country, CVM has not acted to specifically prohibit the rendering of pets. However, this is not to say that the practice of using this material in pet food is condoned by CVM.” - Christine Richmond, FDA spokesperson, Division of Animal Feeds, to Ann Martin, Pet Food Industry Investigator

In other words, they are aware of it and no matter how they may ‘feel' about it – they have taken no steps to stop it from happening.

The following is excerpted from the book, Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food, by Ann N. Martin (New Sage Press). No part of this excerpt may be reproduced in any form without prior permission from the publisher. Contact at www.newsagepress.com. This excerpt is copyrighted by New Sage Press, 2001.

The Rendering Process

“Renderers accept the waste and leftovers from our society. This includes animals picked up by dead stock removal companies; dead zoo animals; road kill too large to be buried at the side of the road; restaurant and grocery store garbage including the styrofoam trays and plastic wrap; and hundreds of thousands of euthanized cats and dogs.”

Slaughterhouses also provide renderers with the leftovers from slaughtered animals not fit for human consumption. Before these animal parts and meat by products are sent from the slaughterhouse to the rendering plant, the by product is ‘denatured'

This means that ‘crude carbolic acid, cresylic disinfectant, or citronella is sprayed on the product. In the case of a whole beef or swine carcass that has been condemned, the denaturing product is injected into the entire carcass. If meat inspectors condemn only parts of an animal, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) requires that “before an approved denaturing agent is applied, the product must be freely slashed so that pieces are less than 4” in diameter. This allows the denaturant to contact all parts of the product.”

Denaturing substances are toxic inherently.

Cresylic acid is a tar-oil derivative.

“In the US , the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) classifies both crude carbolic acid and cresylic acid as poison.

At the rendering plant a machine slowly grinds the entire mess in huge vats. Then this product is cooked at temperatures between 220 F and 270 F for 20-60 minutes. The mixture is centrifuged and the grease rises to the top and it is removed from the mixture. The grease becomes the source of animal fat in most pet foods. Oftentimes, when you open a standard can of pet food you will see a top layer of fat. The centrifuged product is the source of that fat, which is meant to entice a hungry dog or cat.

After the grease is removed the remaining mixture is dried. Meat meal, and meat and bone meal are the end product of this process. This dried material is usually found in dry pet food”

Companion Animals in Pet Food – Can it really be true?

Pet food companies deny that their products contain rendered dogs and cats. However, Anne Martin, Pet Food Industry investigator, states that she has yet to find a pet food company that actually tests the raw material that it receives from the rendering plant to ascertain the sources of the protein.

“Rendering is a cheap viable means of disposal for euthanized pets. Pets are mixed with other materials, including condemned material from slaughterhouses, rotten meat from supermarket shelves, restaurant grease and garbage, ‘4-D' (dead, diseased, dying and disabled) animals, road kill, and zoo animals, This is called ‘meat meal'”

Ms. Martin goes on to tell in her book Food Pets Die For that:

Animals from veterinary clinics and shelters are picked up for disposal by rendering companies. In 1990 a rendering plant employee spoke with The San Francisco Chronicle and said that out of 250,000-500,000 pounds of materials rendered there daily, somewhere between 10,000 and 30,000 pounds of it is cats and dogs.

Rendering plants often own the disposal companies, clinics and shelters, as well as farms and ranches used to dispose of dead animals

The US Department of Agriculture does not require that records be kept of rendered dogs and cats.