The Great Dog Food Scare is now one year away. In the first months a lot of websites and blogs were writing about this topic and many more people were searching for information to find safe dog food.

Menu Foods stock was sent into a free fall and faces more than 100 class-action lawsuits. Last month, many of the lawsuits in the US were consolidated into one class-action lawsuit.

The search is now over as is clearly reflected in the Google Trend. Pet food is also off the radar of regulators and other agencies.

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Many people get nervous when they have to travel with their pets, but traveling with your dog can be a very rewarding experience for both of you.

If you are planning a trip by car, the first thing you need to do is to get your dog used to riding in the car. The best way to do this is to take short trips in town to places such as pet stores, the dog park, or other places that are fun for your dog. He will learn that car trips mean great fun and you will experience much less of a hassle when traveling longer distances.

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These days, unfortunately, pet food safety has become a very hot topic. As seen in the latest recall, customers want control and many dog owners turned either to holistic dog food or started making their own dog food. Still, according to a survey held by Pet Food Institute inquiring US pet owners, 70% of consumers were NOT changing brands.

For tomorrow July 12th, Petfood Industry has scheduled a web seminar sponsored by PetFood Forum ASIA about this number one topic. Pet food safety experts Julie Lenzer Kirk (traceability expert at Interstates Companies) and Matt Frederking ( Director of Regulatory Affairs at Poet Nutrition), will present this forum and discuss preventative measures (the why’s and how’s of automated traceability systems) and present practical ideas on what to do when a contamination crisis occurs.

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China’s export of contaminated vegetable protein resulted in one of the largest pet food recalls in US history (March 2007).

Last tuesday, China’s watchdog AQSIQ (General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine) published their findings. The results so far: 180 plants were closed, 37 firms lost their licence and 11 cases have been forwarded to court. Director Han Yi addressed a press conference and said: “These are not isolated cases”.

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On July 31th, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a list of ‘best practices’ on how food safety experts should inspect US businesses that manufacture, process and package food, including dog food.

For 5 years this has been discussed by federal and state officials and as such this is not a direct consequence of the melamine and botulism related dog food recalls the US faced this year. It just comes at an opportune moment.

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