Susan Thixton on her website ends one of her articles with the sentence:
“Is FDA protecting their friends in pet food again?”
She knows the business inside out and she is alleging that a government agency, the FDA, lacks integrity and is working with, in this case, Hills Pet Food to protect the manufacturer.
The problem of large government agencies getting too cosy with business is a massive issue in all countries. Businesses develop relationships with these agencies in order to prevent them from damaging their businesses. It is a business strategy. The FDA can harm commercial enterprises by making damaging findings about a product.
I am one of those people who believe that government agencies like the FDA and the US Fish and Wildlife Service become too close to commercial enterprises which damages their neutrality and therefore their integrity. It also undermines the trust that citizens have in their work.
Susan’s story concerns a warning that the FDA gave to a vitamin premix manufacturer (DSM Nutritional) supplying the ingredient to Hill Pet Food. Their premix had a very high level of vitamin D at 2903% higher than the prescribed level.
The FDA did not give the same warning to Hills Pet Food which prompted Thixton’s allegation. She makes the point that Hills failed to have proper procedures in place to pick up elevated levels of Vitamin D in the defective premix. But on their website, Hills claim to:
“….conduct final safety checks daily on every Hill’s pet food product to help ensure the safety of your pet’s food…”
They clearly did not in this instance. Is there a weakness in their testing procedures and are the FDA in a cosy relationship with Hills to the detriment of cats and dogs and their guardians in the US?
Susan Thixton fights for improvements in pet food quality by challenging the big manufacturers and prising open practices which are not in the best interests of American pets.
SOME ARTICLES ON VITAMIN D IN CATS’ DIETS…
