Hi Nancy,
I think what you’re asking is whether or not our ingredients are safe for your pet and all pets. This is the answer I am trying to give you. The safety and nutritional value of the ingredients we use cannot be judged simply by knowing if it comes from China or any other country. Royal Canin takes relationships with each ingredient suppliers extremely seriously. No expense is spared in this area because this is where guaranteeing food safety and quality begins. It takes months and sometimes years for a potential supplier to complete our validation process, and there is an ongoing auditing and validation process that occurs with every supplier we use. If a supplier can’t keep up with our rigorous quality and safety standards, we stop working with them. Period. Simply knowing whether or not an ingredient comes from a particular country does not answer your question about ingredient safety/quality, and continuing to discuss ingredients in this way will not serve any positive purpose. This is a message that needs to get out to all pet owners. We should not participate in vilifying or scapegoating an entity, especially since doing so does not help us understand what food quality and safety is for our pets.
To reiterate, regardless of which country any of our ingredients come from, they all go through a battery of tests BEFORE they are purchased and then further before they are accepted into the plant, and this happens for every single delivery. For example, one of these tests is the NIRS, which confirms that the ingredient is exactly what we ordered, and that it is free from any type of contamination. This means that even if we’re not looking for a particular contaminant, it will be identified and prevented from entering the food chain. Feel free to revisit posts #10, 54, 108, 109 if you would like to review what I already said about the testing that is performed by RC to ensure quality, consistency, and food safety.
So, I’m hoping you see that I have provided the answer to your question. I do not want to continue misleading anyone to thinking that ingredients from China are dangerous, or that not using ingredients from China (or any other country) is a benchmark of safety. That would not only be irresponsible and unjust, but also a gross minimization of what actual food safety and quality consist of.
Regards,
Ashley
