Canadian pet food makers say little has changed since the Chinese melamine scandal rocked North America one year ago.
The controversy erupted last spring when it was discovered that cats and dogs were getting sick and sometimes dying after eating pet food contaminated with melamine, a hard, plastic-like material used to make countertops.
It was later determined that Chinese exporters had been adulterating wheat gluten with the substance to boost protein test results.
The scandal had a long-lasting effect in the United States, where Menu Foods, an American contract manufacturer, was forced to recall hundreds of high-end and low-end products.
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Sales of wet pet food in the U.S. are reportedly down 25 percent since last year, while dry pet food continues to grab market share.
However, Jenine LaFayette, a spokesperson for Nestle-Purina Petcare, said the Canadian industry was not significantly affected.
The industry north of the border has been bucking the trend, she added, with sales of wet cat food growing from one to four percent in the past 52 weeks.
“We really didn’t see too much sales wise as far as industry-wide impact,” LaFayette said.
“There was a lot of concern, and a lot of reassurance of consumers about the food that they were already feeding.”
Since then, she said, melamine and cyanuric acid have not been found in shipments of ingredients, apart from a few in the immediate aftermath of last year’s scandal, when North American pet food makers began tightening their testing procedures.
LaFayette said the big difference between the American and Canadian pet food industries is that the smaller Canadian industry acquires most of its raw materials in North America.
“For our Canadian production, most of our ingredients come from Canada,” LaFayette said.
“They (the U.S.) have to source from the global market simply because they produce so much.”
Ted Ellwood, who co-owns two Petacular Food and Supply stores in London, Ont., and a prominent pet food website, said that in the wake of the recall, sales of his premium canned cat food soared 50 percent and have stayed there ever since. It sells for as much as $3.99 for a 12-ounce can.
“We don’t sell anything cheap,” he said, adding that no products from his stores were involved in the recall.
“What’s happened to some degree is that people have gravitated to the better quality rather than dropping wet food entirely.”
In recent years, the industry has been regulating itself through the Pet Food Association of Canada, which uses the same standards on both sides of the border.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which conducted a review of its role in overseeing the industry last spring, has apparently decided to allow business to continue as usual.
“We don’t have a regulatory role – that’s the bottom line,” CFIA spokesperson Marc Richard was quoted as saying in a Canadian Press story.
“We’re the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. We deal with food – and food is for humans.”
Richard added that the agency has a “very minor role” related to pet food through its handling of traditional disease control, which means ensuring livestock don’t transfer avian influenza or BSE.
Canadian Press said pet food regulations fall under three federal levels: the CFIA for disease control; Industry Canada for packaging and Health Canada’s Veterinary Drugs Directorate for therapeutic food claims.
