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Many people,
born before the 1950s, can still remember feeding pets dinner
scraps without concern that they were not getting the right balance of
protein, fats and carbohydrates. If we ate the food, we figured it was good
enough for our dogs and cats.
The pet food industry has been in existence for more than 100 years, but only has gained real success since the 1950s when America's food giants -- cereal manufacturers and meat packers -- found a lucrative market for disposal of their byproducts. Corporate giants soon gobbled up small pet food companies. By the mid-1970s, pet food began to imitate human food -- hamburgers, meat balls in gravy and, more recently, pasta. These humanized foods were designed to appeal to pet owners, not the pet. Now in the 1990s, some pet food manufacturers advertise "all natural" food to cater to health-conscious pet owners. Most contain the same dubious ingredients as the rest. Many veterinary colleges provide only one or two weeks of nutritional education over the course of four or five years. And who teaches these courses? Usually a "nutritionist" from a pet food company. Veterinary colleges also receive grants from the pet food industry. Veterinarians, who have little knowledge of canine and feline nutrition, wind up selling these corporate pet foods in their practice. Vet clinics also provide clients with brochures on animal nutrition -- produced by the pet food companies. |
Albion Monitor December 15, 1997 (http://www.monitor.net/monitor)
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