Interesting Link on many Holistic Pet Foods who Source from China.

[LuvTaycieGirl]

I am "friends" with Numerous pet food companies on Facebook. I like to do this so I know when Recalls happen.

I found this link posted through The Honest Kitchen's Website. A holistic Pet food store pulled many brands of food after researching the companies who source from China.

Just thought I would pass this along. For me personally, the company itself is the first thing I research when it comes to pet food.

Midas Touch Naturally Healthy Pets, llc: China-Import Free - Who Made The Cut?

The comments below the link are rather interesting. She really did her homework

[Britster]

Very interesting! It's so hard to find anything not made in China these days. Kinda scary. Most of our human vitamins and mixes come from China too.

Here is another link where lots of pet foods wouldn't respond. Pet Food Customer Service Test

Here is some responses I did not like:
Drs. Foster & Smith
"We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you, however it is not possible to provide the country of origin for every ingredient in our dog food."

Eukanuba
"Because the pet food industry is very competitive, we don’t normally share our ingredient sourcing information."

Evangers
"...all is domestic and is sourced in the USA and in fact most of it is local. The only meat that comes from outside of the states is Tripe which comes from New Zealand... Nothing comes from China at all." However response to vitamin mineral country of origin was confusing. "Some of our foods are complete dinners. They are the ones that have the Vitamins and Minerals. We pay a premium to not have anything come from China. Some of the V & M can only be grown in certain parts of the world such as India, Pakistan and China. There is no way around this."


Life's Abundance
In three attempts, Life's Abundance Pet Food would not disclose country of origin of ingredients. "For proprietary reasons, we make it our policy not to disclose the names of our suppliers." Although we never asked for names - only country of origin - this pet food company did not respond to our question.

Royal Canin
"Royal Canin sources their ingredients based upon quality and not country of origin. Because of this, we do not have a list of where each ingredient for each batch came from available to us in customer service."

Science Diet
"...primarily in the United States, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and several European countries." No response to vitamin/mineral follow up question.

Solid Gold
"All of our product ingredients are produced and processed here in the US, with the exception of some of the lamb meal which is imported from New Zealand, potato protein imported from Germany and our Blended Tuna for cats which is processed in Thailand. The only Chinese ingredient we use is the taurine in our dry foods." After vitamin/mineral follow up question "The vitamins and minerals used in the vitamin & minerals premix are from pharmaceutical suppliers based in USA, Canada, Mexico, Taiwan, China (taurine), South Africa, Chile, Finland, and Russia."

Stella and Chewy's
"Stella & Chewy's products are made from all natural, US sourced products." After vitamin/mineral follow up question "Our vitamins and minerals are custom blended by a US company." After second follow up regarding country of origin "Some of them do come from China..."

[tokipoki]

I'm going to bookmark these! Great resources!

Customer service reveals so much about a company and their practices. The more transparent and willing to share information, the better. I would say that the majority of people who go the extra distance to contact a company like this can definitely tell when a customer service rep is dancing around an answer or hiding something.

It's a complete turn-off and a no-go for me when I contact a company to get more details about their products and I get either no response or a reply that comes off as being dismissive.

[BiewerYorkie]

Great information to keep close by. Whenever I buy dog treats/chewies, the first thing I check is where it comes from. If it says CHINA, back on the shelf it goes.

Louise

[sganow]

I didn't see Fromm listed. I'd love to see how they address these questions. I know a lot of us on here feed Fromm.

[Britster]

Originally Posted by sganow

I didn't see Fromm listed. I'd love to see how they address these questions. I know a lot of us on here feed Fromm.

According to this, Fromm answered in full details, but I don't see where their response was posted.

Very few Pet Food Companies answered our question in full detail with one response. Full detail means their first response specifically mentioned vitamin and mineral country of origin. Those were...
Eagle Pack Pet Food
Fromm Pet Food,
The Honest Kitchen Pet Food
Mulligan Stew,
Nature's Variety,
Purina Pet Food,
Wellness Pet Food
and Weruva Pet Food

[sganow]

Yes, I'd love to see the responses from Fromm and Nature's Variety.

[BabyGirl Rosie]

Wow, this is disturbing.

[ironmike86]

Originally Posted by sganow

I didn't see Fromm listed. I'd love to see how they address these questions. I know a lot of us on here feed Fromm.

I would like to know also. Nutri Source told me they get everything from Usa except lamb from New Zealand. And Vitaman and minerals from a Usa based Co. In Asia. Same place where most of the Human vitaman and minerals come from. They also check for purity before adding to any of there product. I prefer to get 100% Usa but even Human food isn't. But if Merrick an why not the rest? Thats why I have interest in Merrick foods. No recalls on food just treats. Seems not to many ppl feed with Merrick?? But this is the same reason I wanna try Fromm but it could do the same as Nutri source. Which I dont think is that bad. Fromm and Merrick just have big selections where you can adjust foods and they are still similar so may not affect the food change much for your pup?? IMO if you aren't eating 100% Usa human foods I wouldn't worry to much if they add human grade vitamin to the dog food. Especially if it's a good company with no recalls?? JMO

[Britster]

Originally Posted by ironmike86

I would like to know also. Nutri Source told me they get everything from Usa except lamb from New Zealand. And Vitaman and minerals from a Usa based Co. In Asia. Same place where most of the Human vitaman and minerals come from. They also check for purity before adding to any of there product. I prefer to get 100% Usa but even Human food isn't. But if Merrick an why not the rest? Thats why I have interest in Merrick foods. No recalls on food just treats. Seems not to many ppl feed with Merrick?? But this is the same reason I wanna try Fromm but it could do the same as Nutri source. Which I dont think is that bad. Fromm and Merrick just have big selections where you can adjust foods and they are still similar so may not affect the food change much for your pup?? IMO if you aren't eating 100% Usa human foods I wouldn't worry to much if they add human grade vitamin to the dog food. Especially if it's a good company with no recalls?? JMO

I do tend to agree.

We can do everything we can to avoid things from China, but the truth is... WE can't even FULLY get away from it in our human food.

I'm not sure a few vitamins and such coming from China, which make up a small portion of the food, are a huge deal because, like I said, it's hard to escape.

But of course I avoid China products when I can. The chicken jerky is an example of a scary situation that really needs to be taken care of.

I'm just not sure how I feel about it. But I do prefer a company who can be honest, or as truthful as possible, in where their ingredients are coming from. I'd rather them tell me that, yes, some of our vitamin mixes do come from China than not answer or lie about it.

But if we were to write off every company whose vitamins could potentially come from China... there'd probably be no companies left to choose from.

[ironmike86]

Originally Posted by Britster

I do tend to agree.

We can do everything we can to avoid things from China, but the truth is... WE can't even FULLY get away from it in our human food.

I'm not sure a few vitamins and such coming from China, which make up a small portion of the food, are a huge deal because, like I said, it's hard to escape.

But of course I avoid China products when I can. The chicken jerky is an example of a scary situation that really needs to be taken care of.

I'm just not sure how I feel about it. But I do prefer a company who can be honest, or as truthful as possible, in where their ingredients are coming from. I'd rather them tell me that, yes, some of our vitamin mixes do come from China than not answer or lie about it.

But if we were to write off every company whose vitamins could potentially come from China... there'd probably be no companies left to choose from.

Yup..thats what I'm saying. A good company that is honest and does it's all to make from USA. But keeps you informed on whats not. Is a good company to deal with. Straight up Chinese made food no way. Even Usa made treats I'm Leary of because they tend to have more bacteria..?? Why Merrick has had a few recalls?? Dunno.

[gracielove]

It is so upsetting to me that the average pet owner has no idea what they are feeding their pets. It is even more upsetting that the consumer has to do an investigation for themselves into their pet's food. Ingredient lists are just a start in the investigation. With a "self regulating" pet food industry they pretty much do what they want. The term "all natural" is also very deceptive. Thankfully the woman that runs the holistic pet food store that I drive 30 minutes to get to keeps up on these things. She won't let anything in her store that she has not checked out for herself from top to bottom.

[ironmike86]

Fwiw... China again
Don't Let Your Pets Eat Any Sweet Potato Treats!

[LoALAnna]

Originally Posted by ironmike86

Fwiw... China again
Don't Let Your Pets Eat Any Sweet Potato Treats!

I am SO glad that I stopped buying sweet potato treats and started making my own! My dehydrator has more than paid for itself, and the boys seem to like their homemade "taters" just fine!