Urban Jungle

This week: pet-food regulation

Looking for a weekly topic for this column has always been a serendipitous and spontaneous affair.

Occasionally there is some big news article that is begging for a veterinary opinion, but most other times I don't know what I am going to write about until I put fingers on the typewriter.

Today's topic was inspired when I was doing my routine monthly search in the food storeroom in my clinic for some suitable pet food for the forever hungry dogs and cats at home.

I know what I am going to feed my pets, of course, but I usually bring home the products that are closer to their use-by date, so the fresher stuff remains for sale to clients.

The pet food for sale in my clinic is probably the same as that on sale in most other clinics around Hong Kong. All are reputable, well-established brands from large multinational companies that have extensive research and development departments that I have toured personally.

These few companies are often responsible for new nutritional developments that are published in professional veterinary journals. The brands that we vets choose to sell are those that we are comfortable with, and which have been proven to work both theoretically and clinically.

Examining the labels on a nearby bag of this more reliable dog food, I saw it listed the ingredients and additives with feeding instructions. Reading the labels set me thinking: 'Are there any assurances what is on the label is actually true, especially in light of the recent episodes of food contamination?'

I found out that there is no regulation for the manufacture and sale of pet food in Hong Kong. That is rather scary.

I called one of the more reputable pet-food companies to ask for its opinion of the situation, and it agreed there had been no policing of pet foods in all the years it had been doing business.

It relies solely on its reputation for quality assurance. I trust that the products I am selling to clients are what the manufacturers say they are but, with no regulations, there are going to be lots of brands that are not so reputable out there using spurious marketing strategies on an unsuspecting public.

I made a trip to a pet shop to examine the food that was on sale, and what I found was worrying, to say the least. There were lots of packages that were in languages I can't read, mostly Japanese. There were also mysterious products that were simply labelled 'Made in China'.

There were treats with only a partial - or no - list of ingredients on the label. Not to mention the many unproven statements on products such as 'organic', 'no preservatives', 'good for joints', 'promotes dental health', 'all natural' (whatever that means) and myriad other unfounded claims.

What this means is that you are stepping on a live minefield when you go out to purchase food or snacks for your beloved pet. You just never know what you are getting. It is quite ridiculous, and quite dangerous.

A common question I get asked during consultations is: 'Is such and such a brand of dog food OK for my dog?' Unless it's a brand I am familiar with and have used on my own pets for many years, I don't dare say it's OK. At best, I would say to use it at your own risk. For all I know, it could lack proper nutrition, cause kidney and bladder stones or kill your pet slowly.

We here in Hong Kong need to get our act together and petition the government to regulate our pet-food industry for the sake of our pets. We need to be sure that no more animals get ill or die from eating pet food that claims to be good for them. We need more information as to what we are buying, so we as consumers can make informed decisions about our animals' health. We need to know for sure that the claims on pet-food products are what they say they are. We shouldn't expect any less for our pets than we would for us.

The practical solution is to enact new laws governing food labelling and have pet-food companies be legally, criminally and financially responsible for inaccurate, confusing or misleading labels.

I spoke to people at another large company here in Hong Kong, and they told me it is often the case in countries that do have such laws that they lead corporate or class-action lawsuits against brands that lie about their packaging or nutritional contents, both to protect their own and the public's interests.

From a veterinary point of view, such laws would mean healthier pets that live longer.