Marilyn writes
>I also refuse to pay for chicken by-products now that I know what they
>are, claws, beaks, and feathers.  Beef products contain hair and hoofs.
 
By AAFCO definitions, chicken byproducts are the clean, rendered
ground parts of chicken, which may include necks, feet, intestines and
undeveloped eggs, but may NOT contain feathers or fecal material, except
as unavoidable during normal processing.
 
Chicken and chicken meal can only contain meat, skin and bone, NO organ
meats.  If Bob were to bottle his Chicken Gravy and sell it, the label
would have to say chicken byproducts, and I don't think anyone will claim
that is bad.
 
According to Dr. Thomas Williard of Performance Foods at the Ferret 2000
Symposium in Toronto, there are about 10 grades of chicken byproducts
available to pet food manufacturers.  The different grades contain from
8 - 25% ash (lower being better).  Unfortunately the consumer has no way
of knowing the grade used in the product they buy unless the manufacturer
lists the final ash content and it is low.
 
Beef and other meat meals or byproduct meals may NOT contain hoof, hide,
hair or fecal material.
 
Unfortunately, labels and ingredient lists are just not designed to give
the consumer the information they need to determine if their pet food it
really high quality or not.
 
Also
>Propylene Glycol, is found in anti-freeze... That stuff is lethal.
 
Propylene glycol is generally regarded as safe by the FDA.  Ethylene
glycol is a very toxic chemical, acute poisoning usually results in
kidney failure.  They are different though related compounds; it would
take a very large amount of PG to produce the negative effects of EG.
 
Linda Iroff
MA Chemistry, Princeton University
 
International Ferret Congress
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 4900]