Originally from: coleen
                        
Hi

The latest from EU regarding the feeding of dogs. The stopping of feeding raw meat to dogs...

"Regarding the new regulations, 10 samples have to be taken of the product lines be that tripe offal or chicken and tested for Salmonella and Enterobacteriaceae. After these 10 have been cleared one sample a week has to be taken. No stock can be sold until the samples are cleared and any product found to contain these must be condemned and incinerated. No compensation will be given to the processor. Unfortunately it is highly unlikely that any samples are going to come back clear, therefore this new EU regulation will most probably be the end of the raw pet food trade and many businesses are going to lose their livihood. The samples must be taken and kept over a 10 day working period and until the results come back. How many suppliers have the room and the finances to be able to do this..

Ive spoken to my meat supplier and the new By Product regulations came into force in July. part of the regulations is the testing/sampling of the meats on a weekly basis. DEFRA are in negotiation with the Pet Food Manufacturers Association to extend the enforcement of the regulations to give them time to find a way round the testing/sampling part of the regs and hope to achieve this by the end of the month.

It seems that the EU/Government has rushed this legislation through without thinking of the consequences. Its amazing though but no testing is required on meats sold to us humans – I wonder why!! Obviously somebody somewhere is more concerned about what we feed our dogs/cats. http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/by-prods/publicat/ABP%20Regulation%202003.pdf

I rang my local abattoir to order my supply of tripe yesterday and they can't let me have it – I need a licence from DEFRA. (taken from message board)

The regulation is 1774 and it is 108 pages long, you need to look under Category 3 material Is it any wonder that most people are confused. Even when contacting DEFRA they are giving different answers, and Inspectors are also not giving the same consistent replies to companies. But then should we be surprised.

Even more beaurocacy
Hounds and under legislation coming into force on January 1st feeding raw pet food will be illegal! This is under the Animal By-Products Regulation which rules that raw food such as tripe chicken and beef will have to be tested for enterobacteria on a weekly basis. We have been told that this test on meat for human consumption allows a leeway of 1000 (?microbes?) but that the allowance on raw pet food will be 300! Thus, in theory it will be 'safer' to eat pet food rather than human consumption meat. Apparently the only way of removing the bacteria is by cooking the meat. This means that lots of small businesses in the pet industry will have to buy expensive new machinery, hire extra manpower and incur extra costs, which of course will be passed on to the customer, or they will be forced to close down. This consequences of this regulation cannot have been investigated at all as the following questions spring to mind:

What is going to happen to all the unwanted by-products at the abattoir? Extra money will have to be spent disposing of these pushing up the price of human food. Also what are the environmental problems involved in disposing of these by-products. Incineration of such vast amounts will surely add to the harm we are doing to our planet anyway.

Coleen