# did the fda mandate that all pet food had to be humanly edible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2016, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-fda-mandate-that-all-pet-food-had-to-be-humanly-edible/754596 "2016-05-12T07:49:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-fda-mandate-that-all-pet-food-had-to-be-humanly-edible/754596/1 "2016-05-12T07:49:22Z")
The other day one of my elderly relatives made a joke about she was so broke the cat was going to have to share her stock of canned cat food with her and my other relative was being a smartass and said "well back in the 80s the fda said all pet food had to be edible for humans because all the seniors reportedly doing just that So it that true or bs ? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-fda-mandate-that-all-pet-food-had-to-be-humanly-edible/754596/2 "2016-05-12T08:09:09Z")
False; there’s two different standards for food; “human grade” and “feed grade”. Pet food is feed grade, and often contains ingredients that would be illegal to put in food for humans. I’m also pretty sure that there’s some pet food that’s just plain inedible to humans, for herbivores and such. I’m not sure if a horse counts as a “pet”, but you wouldn’t feel too good after eating a bowl of hay I expect. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-fda-mandate-that-all-pet-food-had-to-be-humanly-edible/754596/3 "2016-05-12T08:11:31Z")
I don’t know about the FDA but it is over here: > [@](#): > > \*\*Directly \*\*all foods for animals are governed by the same legislation and, as farm animals form part of the human food chain, the laws are necessarily stringent. Furthermore, as pet food is manufactured and distributed in the same way as human food, some legislation governing human food is equally applicable to pet food. > > **Indirectly** , pet food enjoys the additional legal protection of the law which was designed to safeguard raw materials destined for the human food chain, from which the pet food industry also sources its raw materials. Examples of this include the laws restricting the residue levels of veterinary substances in meat and those of pesticides in cereal products. In addition, there is specific legislation governing pet food. Having said that, pet food often includes protein from animals that most humans don’t eat such as horse and kangaroo. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-fda-mandate-that-all-pet-food-had-to-be-humanly-edible/754596/4 "2016-05-12T08:27:02Z")
I’m not sure where “over here” is from bob++'s perspective, and he doesn’t give a link or a citation to whatever it is he is quoting from. But his quote doesn’t say that pet food/animal food has to be suitable for human consumption. The first paragraph says that any food fed to any animal has to be suitable for feeding to an animal that might be eaten by a human, which is not the same thing at all. And the second says that the way pet food has to be handled is the same as the way food which might enter the human food chain has to be handled, which again is not the same thing. “Food which might form part of the human food chain” =/= “food which might be eaten by humans” ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-fda-mandate-that-all-pet-food-had-to-be-humanly-edible/754596/5 "2016-05-12T08:42:14Z")
NM ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-fda-mandate-that-all-pet-food-had-to-be-humanly-edible/754596/6 "2016-05-12T08:55:13Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > NM Yes, but what confuses me is that his profile says that he lives in Worcestershire. Plus, he obviously thinks that humans don’t eat kangaroo, which he would probably not think if he were Australian. It’s a specialty item, but you can readily buy cuts of kangaroo meat, minced kangaroo and kangaroo sausages in supermarkets. And not just in the petfood aisle. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-fda-mandate-that-all-pet-food-had-to-be-humanly-edible/754596/7 "2016-05-12T10:19:39Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > I’m not sure where “over here” is from bob++'s perspective, and he doesn’t give a link or a citation to whatever it is he is quoting from. But his quote doesn’t say that pet food/animal food has to be suitable for human consumption. The first paragraph says that any food fed to any animal has to be suitable for feeding to an animal that might be eaten by a human, which is not the same thing at all. And the second says that the way pet food has to be handled is the same as the way food which might enter the human food chain has to be handled, which again is not the same thing. > > “Food which might form part of the human food chain” =/= “food which might be eaten by humans” [Some information about ingredient standards for pet foods.](http://talkspetfood.aafco.org/ingredientstandards) [Information about “human-grade”.](http://talkspetfood.aafco.org/humangrade) [And here is one giving a summary of ingredients.](http://talkspetfood.aafco.org/whatisinpetfood) So, in essence, if the animal ingredients for a pet food all come from a USDA approved slaughterhouse, it could be considered human edible. _Except_, they may include food that has been rejected for human consumption (aesthetics or just organs not sold in the US like lungs). Using animal ingredients from animals that were not slaughtered usually need that those products be further processed. These are not considered edible for humans. Because of safety reasons, pet food is expected to be free from food-borne bacteria like Salmonella, otherwise there are recalls (just like with human food). ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-fda-mandate-that-all-pet-food-had-to-be-humanly-edible/754596/8 "2016-05-12T11:44:15Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Yes, but what confuses me is that his profile says that he lives in Worcestershire. Plus, he obviously thinks that humans don’t eat kangaroo, which he would probably not think if he were Australian. It’s a specialty item, but you can readily buy cuts of kangaroo meat, minced kangaroo and kangaroo sausages in supermarkets. And not just in the petfood aisle. Kangaroo meat has not (yet) hit our supermarket shelves, but I am aware that it is in some of the cheaper pet foods. Worcestershire is in the UK, Specifically in England. [This](http://www.pfma.org.uk/using-the-right-ingredients) was the source of my quotes (sorry for the omission). They make it clear that while there may well be parts of the animal included in pet food that would be unacceptable to humans (I assume that they are talking about lower intestines etc - although see [Andouillette](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andouillette) ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-fda-mandate-that-all-pet-food-had-to-be-humanly-edible/754596/9 "2016-05-12T12:40:42Z")
Kangaroo meat is used for some of the pet foods marketed for food allergy dogs. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-fda-mandate-that-all-pet-food-had-to-be-humanly-edible/754596/10 "2016-05-12T13:25:50Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Kangaroo meat has not (yet) hit our supermarket shelves,… I ate a Tesco kangaroo fillet years ago. Tesco, Sainsbuy’s, Lidl and others have all stocked ‘exotic’ meat from time to time. It will be on the shelves near venison and veal in Tesco although last time I looked they only had Ostrich. Iceland and Lidl seem the most enthusiastic. Lidl supplies vary by store by week but Iceland often (always?) stock Kangaroo (fillets, sausages, meatballs), Buffalo, crocodile, boar and ostrich. They used to do a special mixed pack of exotic meats to tie in with broadcasting ‘ **I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Her** e’ and the popular Bushtucker Trial segment. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-fda-mandate-that-all-pet-food-had-to-be-humanly-edible/754596/11 "2016-05-12T13:29:00Z")
I imagine it’s one of those situations where in order to be even marginally healthy and non-harmful pet food, it’s going to be something that people _could_ eat without issue, if they really had to. In other words, if it’s safe enough for dogs and cats to eat, then we can probably eat it without issue as well. It’s probably also gross as hell, considering what goes into dog food, like stuff from rendering plants, etc… but it’s also unlikely to actually hurt you in the short term (i.e. not making a steady diet of it). ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-fda-mandate-that-all-pet-food-had-to-be-humanly-edible/754596/12 "2016-05-12T13:39:20Z")
Pertinent FDA page: [http://www.fda.gov/animalveterinary/products/animalfoodfeeds/petfood/ucm2006475](http://www.fda.gov/animalveterinary/products/animalfoodfeeds/petfood/ucm2006475) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-fda-mandate-that-all-pet-food-had-to-be-humanly-edible/754596/13 "2016-05-12T15:15:53Z")
Certainly, pet foods are not nutrition-labeled in accordance with requirements for sale for human consumption. I’m pretty sure that there is no horse meat in US pet food. The ban has lapsed, but I don’t think anyone is producing it, except possibly on a very limited scale for export. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-fda-mandate-that-all-pet-food-had-to-be-humanly-edible/754596/14 "2016-05-12T19:24:20Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > The other day one of my elderly relatives made a joke about she was so broke the cat was going to have to share her stock of canned cat food with her > > and my other relative was being a smartass and said "well back in the 80s the fda said all pet food had to be edible for humans because all the seniors reportedly doing just that IIRC, we did have something like that happening in the 1970’s, but the “government” (State of California, in this case) found a very different “solution”. Beef prices were rising. Poorer people couldn’t afford it. Some blamed it on Nixon economics. Cars had bumper stickers saying “I got no beef with Nixon” It was reported, and became somewhat of a scandal, that poor people were eating canned dog food or cat food. The California State legislature wasn’t going to allow _that_ to happen to Californians! They quickly passed a law, forbidding the consumption by humans of food that wasn’t intended for humans. Pet food, for example. Presto! Problem solved! ETA: I think the so-called “logic” may have gone like this: In America, we hold people to be innocent until proven guilty. That is, we assume people are following the law until proven otherwise. By creating this new law, we can now stick our heads in the sand and pretend that nobody is eating dog food any more, until someone is tried in court, convicted, and it is proven that someone _is_ eating dog food. But even then, it will just be a few aberrant cases, nothing at all like the starving masses subsisting on dog food. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-fda-mandate-that-all-pet-food-had-to-be-humanly-edible/754596/15 "2016-05-12T22:59:23Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I imagine it’s one of those situations where in order to be even marginally healthy and non-harmful pet food, it’s going to be something that people _could_ eat without issue, if they really had to. > > In other words, if it’s safe enough for dogs and cats to eat, then we can probably eat it without issue as well. Very likely. After all, we aren’t that different genetically from carnivore/omnivore mammals like dogs & cats. Herbivores like horses & cows might be a bit more of a stretch – though we do eat alfalfa sprouts. > [@bump](#): > > It’s probably also gross as hell, considering what goes into dog food, like stuff from rendering plants, etc… but it’s also unlikely to actually hurt you in the short term (i.e. not making a steady diet of it). Actually, much of the effort in pet food goes into making it not look gross to humans. They are the ones who buy it, and serve it up to their pets every day. So, for example, in dry cat food they have it in the shapes of little fish & chickens, and those are dyed different colors – none of that matters to the cat, it’s all to attract the owner. ---
**Author:** ![moojja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@moojja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moojja)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-fda-mandate-that-all-pet-food-had-to-be-humanly-edible/754596/16 "2016-05-12T23:24:38Z")
I thought for dog food, larger pieces of bone meals are put in, which can hurt human stomach. I saw this fact on a Law and Order episode; during hazing a fireman was forced to eat dog food, and due the bone meal had to go to the hospital later. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-fda-mandate-that-all-pet-food-had-to-be-humanly-edible/754596/17 "2016-05-14T12:22:02Z")
The story is older than that: my Dad told me that (during the 60’s) American pet food had to be suitable for human consumption, because old people on fixed incomes ate it. Here in Aus, human foods are transported in vehicles specifically marked: pet food is not. The rules are different. However: (1) The people who worked at the local pet food canning company certainly thought that their food was suitable for human consumption, and handled it with as much care as if pets were human. (2) There was a tinned fish recall 15 years ago her. The cans had been labeled incorrectly, and some of the cheaper cuts had been labeled with “human” label instead of the “pet” label. The recall statement was that the food was fit for human consumption, and had been prepared in the same factory by the same people. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-fda-mandate-that-all-pet-food-had-to-be-humanly-edible/754596/18 "2016-05-14T13:24:18Z")
[Tennis champion Serena Williams gets sick after eating room-service dog food.](http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/15520053/serena-williams-gets-sick-eating-room-service-dog-food)