# "Human Grade" meats ?



## aprilb (Jul 9, 2010)

Okay, so I'm confused. I thought Wellness used human grade meats. I just got off the phone with them and they told me they do not use human grade. I was told that they used to but they don't anymore. I also talked to Merrick, and they guarantee their meat is human grade. So does Weruva. I thought I was feeding the best commercial diet to Rose and Lily. Does anyone know of any other companies that use human grade meats from the USA? What is the difference between a premium food and a human grade food? Wellness was evasive when I asked exactly what kind of meat they used. I was just told "meat, but it's not human grade.":smilie_tischkante:


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## almitra (Apr 24, 2009)

Ah, the old "mystery meat" thing again....and it's Wellness this time, eh? One never knows, April. I think a company can change formulations anytime they want. ((sigh))


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## poochie2 (Jan 14, 2010)

I have tried so many canned foods and after came to realize IMO that Weruva is the very best and they use human grade meats that are made in a human grade facility. My malt has done very well with this brand of food and I highly reccomend it. I aslo rotate Nature's Variey canned.
For some reason, Wellness and Merrick have made my malt always have diahreah. Just last week I thought hey we'll give Merrick another try but sure and behold it was a messy situation:w00t: We'll stick to the Weruva:thumbsup:


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

I have been feeding Wellness because I also believed that they used ONLY human grade products (meat, veggie, fruits, etc.)

Back to Dr. Harvey's and home prep.

This is an intersting link:
http://dogs.about.com/od/nutrition/tp/Natural-and-Holistic-Dog-Foods.htm


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## almitra (Apr 24, 2009)

I don't believe they have to send out any kind of announcement when they change formulations, either.


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

I just got off the phone with Wellness and my customer service rep gave me a little more info. Wellness' recipes have NOT changed. They are still using good quality meats with no filler or meat by-products. New legislation has gone into effect for the pet food industry and they are no longer able to *LABEL* foods as containing human grade products because the foods are not meant to be consummed by humans. The rep gave me a very long explanation and quoted the law/statute regarding this and assured me that Wellness is using the same quality ingredients as when they were able to label their foods as HUMAN GRADE. I feel satisfied with their explanation and will continue to use Wellness at this time.


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## Bailey&Me (Mar 8, 2010)

I was just going to add that I remember reading something about pet food companies having difficulty being able to put the term "human grade" on their label, even though it may be true. I thought it had to do with new legislation, as Lynn said in her post. I believe there are some additional procedures companies have to go through in order to get the permission to put "human grade" on their label. 

April, I think I've tried every high quality canned food out there with Bailey and the ones I liked the most are Weruva, Addiction and Party Animal. Weruva is awesome but most of their varieties are made with chicken which some fluffs are allergic to. He was on Addiction canned food (their limited ingredient Duck and Sweet Potato) for about six months to help his digestive system heal after his illness in January. He's good now and I've switched him to Party Animal Organic canned - it's certified USDA organic and great quality. I do 1/2 canned and 1/2 dehydrated raw - The Honest Kitchen (which does use "human grade" ingredients and their label indicates that as well)


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## almitra (Apr 24, 2009)

Oh, I see...if they label it as human food grade some moron will try to eat it himself and then sue them for it....ROFL!!!


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

almitra said:


> Oh, I see...if they label it as human food grade some moron will try to eat it himself and then sue them for it....ROFL!!!


Probably true!!! :HistericalSmiley:


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## aprilb (Jul 9, 2010)

That's good to hear about Wellness. I feed the girls the dry Wellness Core reduced fat(they did change that formula, it has a little more fat, but it needed more, IMO.) and the grain-free canned stew at dinner. I plan to supplement with homemade from time to time.(just not all the time.:HistericalSmiley I may give the Weruva a try, too. It looks like human food.:chili:


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## shellbeme (Mar 1, 2011)

Lacie's Mom said:


> I just got off the phone with Wellness and my customer service rep gave me a little more info. Wellness' recipes have NOT changed. They are still using good quality meats with no filler or meat by-products. New legislation has gone into effect for the pet food industry and they are no longer able to *LABEL* foods as containing human grade products because the foods are not meant to be consummed by humans. The rep gave me a very long explanation and quoted the law/statute regarding this and assured me that Wellness is using the same quality ingredients as when they were able to label their foods as HUMAN GRADE. I feel satisfied with their explanation and will continue to use Wellness at this time.


Thank you for doing that. We just started the switch to wellness puppy and when I saw this first post I was a little upset.


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## poochie2 (Jan 14, 2010)

Bailey&Me said:


> I was just going to add that I remember reading something about pet food companies having difficulty being able to put the term "human grade" on their label, even though it may be true. I thought it had to do with new legislation, as Lynn said in her post. I believe there are some additional procedures companies have to go through in order to get the permission to put "human grade" on their label.
> 
> April, I think I've tried every high quality canned food out there with Bailey and the ones I liked the most are Weruva, Addiction and Party Animal. Weruva is awesome but most of their varieties are made with chicken which some fluffs are allergic to. He was on Addiction canned food (their limited ingredient Duck and Sweet Potato) for about six months to help his digestive system heal after his illness in January. He's good now and I've switched him to Party Animal Organic canned - it's certified USDA organic and great quality. I do 1/2 canned and 1/2 dehydrated raw - The Honest Kitchen (which does use "human grade" ingredients and their label indicates that as well)


I wish I was able to buy Party Animal Organics but it is not available in Canada:angry:


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## almitra (Apr 24, 2009)

Seriously? There's a product called "Party Animal"? I love it!! Where can I find it?


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## kathym (Aug 5, 2006)

This is exactly why i have been cooking myself for Baci..I had been using Merrick dry food but found out they had a Rendering Plant on there property ...


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

Kathy -- I go back and forth between home cooking, Dr. Harvey's and some of the premium canned food like Wellness. Whenever I see another problem with dog food -- I'm back to home cooking. I tend to do more home cooking in the winter -- probably because I do more cooking then. LOL

It's pretty scrary what they really put into food for our fluffs. But for now they seem to be doing very well on the Wellness, so I'll stay with it for a while.


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## poochie2 (Jan 14, 2010)

kathym said:


> This is exactly why i have been cooking myself for Baci..I had been using Merrick dry food but found out they had a Rendering Plant on there property ...


OMG Merrick has a rendering plant on the property that does not sound like a good thing.
I just can't figure out why my malt cannot stomach their canned food......now I may know why.


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## aprilb (Jul 9, 2010)

Lacie's Mom said:


> Kathy -- I go back and forth between home cooking, Dr. Harvey's and some of the premium canned food like Wellness. Whenever I see another problem with dog food -- I'm back to home cooking. I tend to do more home cooking in the winter -- probably because I do more cooking then. LOL
> 
> It's pretty scrary what they really put into food for our fluffs. But for now they seem to be doing very well on the Wellness, so I'll stay with it for a while.


Rose and Lily are doing well on it, too and they love it. I don't know if you saw my post about Earthfare Organic Supermarket, but they are opening one very close to me on August 3rd. I've never heard of it, but I am hoping to find some good food there to cook for Rose & Lily, if it's not too costly.


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## aprilb (Jul 9, 2010)

poochie2 said:


> OMG Merrick has a rendering plant on the property that does not sound like a good thing.
> I just can't figure out why my malt cannot stomach their canned food......now I may know why.


I won't use it, either. It is too high in protein for my girls.


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

That is really interesting that companies are not able to use "human grade" as wording on their packaging. I would assume they will probably say something about "all USDA" something or other. It's too bad they can't use "human grade" anymore!

I was looking into Party Animal Organics canned food this morning...it looks great and is reasonably priced. I have a bag of Grandma Lucy's Artisan Venison freeze-dried on order and couldn't decide between going canned or dehydrated/freeze-dried/frozen.


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## aprilb (Jul 9, 2010)

LJSquishy said:


> That is really interesting that companies are not able to use "human grade" as wording on their packaging. I would assume they will probably say something about "all USDA" something or other. It's too bad they can't use "human grade" anymore!
> 
> I was looking into Party Animal Organics canned food this morning...it looks great and is reasonably priced. I have a bag of Grandma Lucy's Artisan Venison freeze-dried on order and couldn't decide between going canned or dehydrated/freeze-dried/frozen.


The Party Animal does look good. I can't buy it here so I would have to order online. I would try a few cans, but the shipping costs more than the food. :smilie_tischkante:


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## Bailey&Me (Mar 8, 2010)

LJSquishy said:


> That is really interesting that companies are not able to use "human grade" as wording on their packaging. I would assume they will probably say something about "all USDA" something or other. It's too bad they can't use "human grade" anymore!
> 
> I was looking into Party Animal Organics canned food this morning...it looks great and is reasonably priced. I have a bag of Grandma Lucy's Artisan Venison freeze-dried on order and couldn't decide between going canned or dehydrated/freeze-dried/frozen.





aprilb said:


> The Party Animal does look good. I can't buy it here so I would have to order online. I would try a few cans, but the shipping costs more than the food. :smilie_tischkante:


Party Animal Organics is GREAT! It's such a huge seller at both my local healthy pet food stores and I know several people who are big fans of it. I think I first read about it here on SM (Suzan posted about it I believe) and then my local stores started carrying it and they rave about it. Bailey loves it and has done really well on it. If you can find it, I would definitely recommend trying it out.


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

Nida -- after reading your post about Party Animal, I went to their website and found that they're available here locally. :chili::chili:

As soon as we run out of Wellness, I'm going to give Party Animal a try.:aktion033::aktion033:

Thanks for recommending this.:thumbsup:


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## Bailey&Me (Mar 8, 2010)

Lacie's Mom said:


> Nida -- after reading your post about Party Animal, I went to their website and found that they're available here locally. :chili::chili:
> 
> As soon as we run out of Wellness, I'm going to give Party Animal a try.:aktion033::aktion033:
> 
> Thanks for recommending this.:thumbsup:


Excellent, Lynn!  Let us know how it goes when you try it out! One of the reasons I really like this food is that it has simple ingredients - one source of protein and a couple of veggies/fruits. It was really easy to transition Bailey from his limited ingredient Addiction Duck & Sweet Potato canned food to Party Animal's "Ducked Up" canned food - I think it had one or two additional ingredients than the Addiction. 

Hope your girls love it as much as Bailey does!!


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