Week 6 Pitch Feedback

Well done guys, we did so well with the pitch yesterday.
Although there was not as much feedback as we would have liked, our delivery was good, we had clear information and clear decisions with backed up reasons.
What really worked was the pets eating pets statistic, that was quite an eye-opener.
Also, the way we've thought about what type of meat we're after and how we've chosen to source it is another brilliant point.
The only negative thing that was mentioned was that we went over our 4 minutes by 2 minutes, which limited our time for feedback.
However we still did great, so GO TEAM!!

Dehydrators

Vitality4life

http://www.vitality4life.co.nz/

BioChef Arizona 8 Tray Food Dehydrator

NZ$299.00
Stainless Steel Trays / BPA Free Casing

• 8 Tray Capacity = 0.79m2

• EPT™ Horizontal Drying System

• 24 Hour Digital Timer

• Transparent Magnetic Door

• Adjustable Thermostat 35º - 70º

• Includes: 2 x Non-Stick Sheets, 2 x Mesh Sheets & Drying Guide

• 3 Year Warranty - See more at: http://www.vitality4life.co.nz/biochef-arizona-8-tray-food-dehydrator/#sthash.fPQLk2kh.dpuf
  

BioChef Arizona 10 Tray Food Dehydrator

NZ$349.00

Stainless Steel Trays / BPA Free Casing

• 10 Tray Capacity = 0.99m2

• EPT™ Horizontal Drying System

• 24 Hour Digital Timer

• Transparent Magnetic Door

• Adjustable Thermostat 35º - 70º

• Includes: 3 x Non-Stick Sheets, 3 x Mesh Sheets & Drying Guide

• 3 Year Warranty - See more at: http://www.vitality4life.co.nz/biochef-arizona-10-tray-food-dehydrator/#sthash.PX4OfWgb.dpuf
  

Zeropak

https://zeropak.co.nz/

Dry-5 Food Dehydrator

NZ$490.00

• 12 different program settings, including 7 automatic
• Customised drying manual mode
• Raw mode with low 40 degree celsius temperature
• Maintenance cycle keeping the product dry when finished
• Digital display
• Made from ABS
• Thermostat for adjusting the heating element
• Continuous operation time: unlimited
• Five ABS drying drawers
• Total surface area for drying: 4,300 cm2
• Standard voltage and frequency: 220-240V/50Hz
• Resistor power: 480 W
• Fan absorption: 15 W
  

Excalibur

http://www.excaliburdehydrator.co.nz

9-tray Excalibur Digital Display Dehydrator with 48 hour timer - Black

NZ$698.90

• 9-large trays, 15″ x 15″ each. Mesh screens are BPA free.
  - 7-inch fan, 600 watts.
  - Unit Dimensions: 8-1/2 H x 17 W x 19 D (inches)
  - Shipping Weight: 9kg
  - Clear door

Commercial

NZ$11,500.00

Excalibur 1 Zone Commercial Food Dehydrator.
Entire cabinet, inside and out, is constructed of stainless steel.
Computerized digital readout, 99-hour timer
70-180 F temperature control with automatic shut off. This readout has adjustable: fan delay, alarm type and beeper cycle. User may also select the readout to display in Celsius or Fahrenheit.
Includes (12) 100% Stainless Steel Trays and (12) Polyscreens BPA Free (mesh screens).
Welded and finished to strict NSF specifications.
Automatic cool down and shut off
Drying Capacity: 4.645152m²
Fan Blade Size: 4 – 6.5″ Aluminum
Motor Configuration/Speed: 4 – 1 Speed Motors
Wattage: 2400
Unit Weight: 68kg
Unit Dimensions: 20 H x 32.5 W x 31 D (inches)
230V, 2400 W, 10.43 Amps
Shipping Weight: 113kg

Predator free NZ partnership potential

Predator Free NZ are already using Good Nature's traps.
The traps are expensive but very effective.
They using volunteers in the programme to set and manage the traps.


How we can create mutual benefit

We supply Predator Free NZ with the traps
They organise the labour
Either the pests are killed humanely and left or they are given to us to fun more traps


DOC support both Goodnatured and Predator Free NZ - we could ask if they'd like to sponsor the project

The NZ game council also share our values and the have the potential to sponsors

Raw Essentials partnership potential

A potential pathway is to partner with Raw Essentials


They share our ideas of humane dispatch, higher quality welfare for animals and sustainable farming precedents. They are set up in the industry, have reputable name and business, and have veterinary backgrounds. They are only based in Auckland at present as they do not sell to wholesalers.



Where our goals differ is that we would like to see our product in the supermarket as that is where the majority of petfood is purchased (87%).

The difference is that Raw Essentials want to sell their products on a face to face basis as they are committed to educating their customers that a raw food diet must be a obligate diet and the pets can not eat a mixture of raw and processed food.

Our negotiation is that our treats will be as raw as possible and used as supplements rather than a significant food source. That we way we still generate an income, raise awareness, and supply the public in a arena that is critically under - represented.



How the partnership could work

• We could incorporate our product into their line
• They could support our product
• or we could generate an increase in supply for their product

Pathways and capitalising on existing precedents

What we know

There is growing a demand for pests as petfood. The main sources are goats, possums, rabbit, hare, wallaby.

Larger game such as deer and boar are spoken for and no longer considered pests in the sense they values to the people who hunt them as food for human consumption.

We've been advised that due to this demand we may find sourcing the raw materials difficult.

Raw Essentials is company with a very similar value system as us and have been thriving in the industry for 10 years now.

We know that Predator Free NZ are using Good Natures traps and have been very successful. They are using volunteers to set them and check them.

We know that DOC support and back both Goodnatured and Predator free NZ. They are also looking for alternatives to 1080.

Our idea has the validation, the demand, the potential sponsors. What we are lacking is the start up gear and supplies.

Good natures traps - proof that they're working!

http://predatorfreenz.org/adventure-eco-tour-company-grows-with-forest/

Mamaku Forest is Department of Conservation land and Canopy Tours holds a concession to operate their adventure eco-tour company in the forest. The company has been built on conservation values and has worked closely with DOC from day 1. A percentage of all admission fees are used to fund the trapping programme and initially traplines were laid over 50 ha of the forest. On the very first night of trapping, the single-kill traps caught 169 rats and 45 possums. All monitoring of the traplines is done by Canopy Tours staff and an added bonus is that it helps provide work for guides during the tourist off-season.

Maintaining the single-kill traps is back-breaking work and in October 2015, 450 Good Nature self-resetting traps were laid over 100 ha of forest, meaning 20% of Mamaku Forest is now managed for predators. The eventual aim is to take that figure to 100%. Having resetting traps reduces labour costs in checking traps. Nevertheless, Gary estimates it cost the company $100,000 to trap 100ha.

There was no pre-baiting of the self-resetting traps to entice predators to them. The new traps were live working from when they were first laid. On the first night 145 rats and around 30 possums were caught. With those predator numbers, it’s no wonder that the trapping programme is making a visible difference to Mamaku’s canopy and to the native wildlife that live there.

Raw essentials - wild and domestic petfood precent

http://predatorfreenz.org/raw-diet-good-for-pet-health-and-the-environment/

Possums, rabbits, hares, wallabies and goats are all on the menu at ‘Raw Essentials’, a pet-food company which strongly believes in feeding our carnivore pets a true carnivorous diet. If that diet includes meat, bone and organs from pest species which would otherwise go to waste, then so much the better for sustainability, the environment and our pets.

The pet-food company’s range uses around 10 tonne of pest-species meat, bone and organs every week. It is essential to include bones and organs in the mix to ensure the raw food diet is balanced, according to Anna Mair of ‘Raw Essentials’.

Possums eat an amazing diet – they’re the ultimate food for our pets, Anna reckons. The Auckland-based company sources possums from the length of New Zealand, while its rabbits come from South Island suppliers.

It’s all about feeding animals species appropriate nutrition, says Anna, who first met ‘Raw Essentials’ founder, Lyn Thomson, when they were working together as vets in an Auckland practice about 10 years ago. The two veterinarians were seeing chronic ill-health in their cat and dog patients, which they believed was linked to highly processed food, filled with inappropriate ingredients such as grains.

Kibble/pet biscuit diets are often high in carbohydrates and low in protein, leading to pet obesity problems. Weight issues melt away, Anna says, once cats and dogs return to a higher protein, prey-based, balanced diet of meat, organs and bones – the natural diet that they evolved to eat.

Realising the link between pet-health and diet, ‘Raw Essentials’ founders looked for sources of small dead animals. They teamed up with a small, family-based, pet-food processor in Christchurch and the two companies have grown together. The first ‘Raw Essentials’ shop opened in Grey Lynn in 2008 and there are now eight premises, seven around Auckland and one in Hamilton.

The company has resisted wholesaling through agents as they want to have face-to-face contact with their clients to make sure that pets are getting the right mix of food. There’s a lot of confusion about how best to feed pets. It’s important to make a choice, says Anna. If a raw diet and processed food are both fed in a mixed diet, the gut struggles to produce enough acid to properly digest the raw meat. Blockages, tummy upsets and a range of other problems can result.

The ‘Raw Essentials’ range also includes farmed product such as chicken, veal and lamb, so if possums and other pests are ever totally eradicated, there are other options. But in the meantime, with possums and other pest species in plentiful supply and a trending return to the ‘waste not-want not’ values of our grandparents, pest-based products are becoming a ‘sexy’ way to feed pets.

There is a growing public awareness of sustainability issues and an interest in where our food comes from. Possums need to be killed and they make a high quality pet-food, so it’s great to use them up. And they’re a local problem – which is where the sustainability comes in – no reliance on imported products, so less food miles are involved in pet meat production. All ‘Raw Essentials’ products are New Zealand sourced.

Anna says her workdays are now filled with clients’ stories of their pets improved health. But the benefits go further than that. When they see how their pet’s health has improved with a species appropriate diet, clients are taking steps to improve their own diet. That doesn’t mean people are dining on possums – at least not yet – but they are returning to more traditional ways of eating, with minimally processed food that fits our own biology as omnivores. It is, says Anna, a lovely overlap.

The Possym man - wild game petfood precedent

http://predatorfreenz.org/new-business-venture-finds-growing-market-for-possum-meat/

When it comes to possums, Zach Howarth believes in ‘utilising it all’. He’s about to sell his first shipment of possum meat to petfood manufacturer ‘Possyum’. Currently there’s a ½ tonne of possum meat sitting in Zach’s brand new chiller in Tahawai, a couple of kms up the road from Katikati. That’s 288 dead possums, all caught in the space of a week by one of Zach’s registered suppliers.

Zach’s supplier has just taken home a cheque for $900 for the possum meat and another $1600 for the fur. Zach buys the fur as well so that his suppliers have a one-stop shop, but its possum meat that he’s focussed on for his new venture. That same supplier is an experienced possum-hunter who would previously have discarded the carcasses, so this week he’s $900 better off.

Zach reckons that a lot of people don’t know about the market for possum meat. When he was a contractor himself, he would kill hundreds and discard the bodies, selling only the fur. Budget cuts within the various organisations that hired him and the unpredictability of winning tenders meant it was getting hard to earn a living from possums, when friends of his parents introduced him to Paul Larkin, a main shareholder in the company which manufactures ‘Possyum’ dog rolls.

Possum is good lean meat, high in omega 3 and 6 – but ‘Possyum’ was finding it hard to expand their business because of limitations in the supply of possums. Paul introduced Zach to Richard Brake from the New Zealand Petfood Manufacturers Association (NZPFMA) who helped him prepare a Risk Management Plan and work through the stringent procedures to get certified with the Ministry of Primary Industries. Just two weeks ago Zach finally got his premises licensed by MPI. He’s also joined the NZPFMA and attended their recent conference where he was encouraged by reports of a 34% increase in the wild game petfood market in the last 12 months, with a similar increase expected again this year.

Zach currently has a couple of guys employed to trap and shoot possums for him, with another six recently registered. To get registered, possum hunters must sit a 10-15 minute open-book exam at Zach’s depo. Zach marks and goes through the exam with the applicant, covering such topics as not sourcing possums from an area that has recently used poisons and the importance of chilling down the carcass within regulation times.

Zach’s role is to find farms and forestry blocks suitable for his registered suppliers to hunt on. Suppliers are given ‘Landowner Declaration’ forms which must be signed by the landowner to say that the possums came off his or her property. The supplier also completes a ‘Wild Animal Statement’ confirming that the animals were alive when taken, were from a TB-free location and had no visible signs of disease. They must bring the statement in to Zach with their meat.

Suppliers remove the gut and intestines from carcasses, but leave the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. They keep their possums frozen until they have enough to bring in – or until they need some cash. Zach weighs the meat and pays a price per kilo. Then he does a post-mortem, removing the organs and checking for signs of about 30 diseases. Zach reckons possums are pretty healthy animals though. In the years when he was a possum contractor himself he very rarely saw any sign of disease.

The carcasses are then packed in bins, wrapped in plastic, a supplier sticker is attached so that the meat is completely traceable and it is frozen to minus 20 degrees overnight. Next morning the frozen meat is removed from the bins, shrink-wrapped and returned to the freezer until there is enough in stock to be trucked out to ‘Possyum’.

According to Zach, there’s a lot of opportunity for people to be earning from possums. He says it’s easy to kill 10 possums in a day and some days you can get 70-80 possums. With an average of $4-$5 per possum for fur and about the same for the carcass, there’s good money to be made. It’s a growing market that’s good for farmers and forests and makes good, healthy petfood that’s completely NZ-sourced.

Predator Free NZ update

The good news is that the company are already invested in Good Natures traps - and they're working!

The bad news is that they are not interested in supplying meat as there is already a demand for it.
- See possum precedent



If we wanted to maximise the amount of pests killed humanely we could propose we will swap the traps for the meat we may be able to negotiate though. Stay tuned for an update on this.

The truth about bobby calves for petfood

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/81250908/Pet-food-maker-which-employed-bobby-calf-abuser-shuts-down

A Waikato pet food company caught up in the bobby calf cruelty scandal has ceased trading.

Down Cow Ltd owner Alan Cleaver, who is due to appear in court on animal abuse charges, said his company was unfairly targeted by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) after the footage of animal abuse by one of his employees went public.

The Te Kauwhata company, which picked up unwanted animals off farms around the Waikato, made pet food. It shut down on May 18. 

In November last year, Farmwatch and welfare organisation Save Animals From Exploitation (Safe) released secretly taken footage of abuse of calves in New Zealand.

The graphic footage shows bobby calves being picked up at farms and thrown on to trucks, plus kicked and bludgeoned, and then clubbed to death at an abattoir.

A Down Cow seasonal employee who is no longer with the company was included in the footage. Noel Piraka Erickson, 38, appeared at the Huntly District Court on Thursday and pleaded guilty to 10 charges of cruelty or ill treatment of an animal.

Cleaver said the MPI investigation into the abuse prompted regular visits by MPI representatives, who found consistent problems with how Cleaver was running his slaughterhouse business.

Cleaver said the company was unfairly targeted and penalised for procedures which, he said, were common and sometimes necessary among the country's farmers and slaughterhouses.

New Zealand Pet Foods Manufacturers Association secretary Richard Brake disagreed and said MPI's auditing procedures are thorough, robust and consistent.

Cleaver's wife and managing partner, Sheryl, understood the company needed to hire a manager if it was to reopen, an expense too great for the couple.

"We offered that we won't do calves," Sheryl said, "and we'd just do cattle, but [MPI] don't want to know. I think we've been unfairly treated because of that footage.

"We do calves the meatworks don't want. Other firms have told me they do exactly the same, but they're not victimised."

Cleaver added that MPI was "under pressure to do something".

"Common sense just goes out the door. We've been punished enough [with the court case] - the six permanent staff are all sitting at home.

"We were a growing business, growing and getting better, managing the place quite well, we were quite liked. I said [to an MPI representative]: You're causing an animal welfare problem by taking us off."

"A week before the owners made this voluntary decision [to close], MPI had served the company with a notice of direction," MPI spokesman Chris Kebble said. "This is a legal direction setting out corrective action required for the business so that it would be able to comply with the Animal Products Act. 

"The act sets out the rules for the operation of risk management programmes such as pet food processors, to manage the risks to animal health and to ensure the products are fit for purpose."

The notice of direction came after it failed an audit.

"The company failed the audit after failing to respond to and act on concerns MPI raised with them about their operations. We are unable to provide information on specific compliance issues at this stage.

"In this case, Down Cow had every opportunity to ensure they took the requisite corrective action but chose to close down their business instead."

Out of nine pet food slaughter operators in New Zealand, eight are on the highest performance level with MPI. Only Down Cow was at the lowest. However, MPI failed to provide by deadline what performance level Down Cow was on before the Safe footage came to light. 

Safe spokesman Hans Kriek was pleased MPI followed through with its audit.

"It certainly did not look like the company had high standards, at all. So from that point of view, it's probably a really good thing that they are closed. I certainly would not shed a tear."

​The Cleavers plan to sell the company once the court process is over.

* Down Cow Ltd is not associated with AC Pet Foods Ltd on Ohaupo Road, which has a similar phone number.

Setting up an operation in NZ

Regulation of Petfood Manufacturing in New Zealand 

 There is a wide variety of regulatory requirements for petfood manufacturing in New Zealand and gaining a thorough understanding of them all can be difficult.

Like all manufacturing businesses, petfood manufacturers must comply with the Fair Trading Act 1986, the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, the Resource Management Act 1991, the Weights and Measures Act 1986, and others.

There are two pieces of legislation particularly important to New Zealand petfood manufacturers, both administered by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). Both Acts and their associated Regulations, Specifications and Notices regulate petfood manufacture.

The Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Act 1996 (ACVM Act) 

Under the ACVM and associated Regulations, petfoods are Oral Nutritional Compounds (ONC). ONCs include all substances intended for oral administration to an animal to achieve a nutritional benefit. Petfoods are one subset of ONC. 

Petfoods that are marketed purely to provide food for pets are exempt from registration but must comply with the ACVM Regulations which include;

The product must be fit for the purpose of feeding to the species, type and class of animal

The label must include:

a trade name

a list of ingredients
directions for use 

contact details of the person responsible for the product (manufacturer or marketer)

batch and date codes to enable traceability

Under the ACVM Act petfoods will require registration as a veterinary medicine if they:

are marketed with a therapeutic or pharmacological claim

contain additives that are not on the Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS) list

contain substances that are therapeutic or pharmacological, including veterinary medicines

Further information about the ACVM Act, ACVM Regulations, ONCs, the GRAS list etc can be found at http://www.foodsafety.govt.nz/industry/acvm/

The Animal Products Act 1999 (APA)

The APA applies to petfood manufacturers who:

are involved in slaughter and dressing of animals for petfood (primary processors)

produce products that require official assurances from MPI (eg export certificates)

process petfoods containing animal material that result from the death of an animal eg red meat, offals, poultry, fish), excluding rendered material.

For the first two activities a manufacturer must operate under a Risk Management Programme (RMP). An RMP is a comprehensive documented food safety system, which must be registered with MPI prior to commencing operations.

For the third activity an RMP is not required but manufacturers must:

be listed with the MPI (and supply details such as name, contact details and type of manufacture undertaken), and 

have a documented system that demonstrated that animal material has been procured from regulated sources. 

All three activities must be verified by the MPI Verification Services. The frequency of these audits depends on the type of manufacturing being undertaken. 

Fish meal and Ethoxyquin

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/01/03/fish-as-a-protein-source.aspx

It's Really Hard to Avoid Ethoxyquin in Formulas with Fish Meal

Unfortunately, ethoxyquin is still being used in many pet foods currently available on the market. It is used to preserve the fat in almost all fish meals – fat that is made from waste products.

Always remember that if the label doesn't list exact ingredients, including the exact meat source, you have absolutely no idea what's in that food. And because ethoxyquin is added before the raw ingredients are shipped to the pet food manufacturers, it doesn't get listed or disclosed on the product label.

The pet food company you purchase your cat's or dog's food from may not be adding ethoxyquin, but that doesn't mean it isn't in the fish meal in that food.

Don't make the mistake of assuming if the fish meal product label doesn't list ethoxyquin, it's not in there. Unless the label specifically states the formula is ethoxyquin-free, or you call the manufacturer's 1-800 number and are told it's not in the raw materials they purchase nor added during their own manufacturing process, you should assume the formula contains ethoxyquin.

Fish meal also happens to be one of the main pet food ingredients also contaminated with mycotoxins.

Other Health Concerns from Feeding Fish

As many of you know, I talk a lot here about the need to rotate proteins in your pet's diet. That's because any food that is over-consumed can create an allergy over time.

And fish, as it turns out, is one of the most highly allergenic foods for felines. Allergies cause systemic inflammation. Cats that eat allergenic foods over and over can end up with lung inflammation that can also lead to asthma. And of course asthma is one of the more commonly diagnosed inflammatory conditions in cats.

There also appears to be a link between mercury and asthma, and ethoxyquin and asthma, so it's easy to start to see the bigger picture with regard to diet-related inflammatory conditions.

Fish fed in high amounts can also lead to thiamine deficiency, which can cause loss of appetite, seizures, and even death.

Long-term ingestion of fish in cat food can also deplete vitamin E resources. Vitamin E deficiency can also cause a really painful condition called steatitis, which is yellow fat disease. If left untreated, steatitis can also be life-threatening.

Seafood is a very rich source of iodine, but cats aren't designed to process a lot of iodine. Many animal nutritionists, including me, believe there's a link between cats consuming too many iodine-rich foods and hyperthyroidism. 

There's also been a link established between pop-top cans or canned cat food and hyperthyroidism.

Pet food companies are now introducing 'low-iodine' formulas for hyperthyroid cats. How about we just avoid feeding cats fish-based food instead? Avoiding foods high in iodine seems like a good way to prevent hyperthyroidism in kitties.

Last but not least, the magnesium content in fish has been linked to urinary tract diseases in cats. A diet overloaded with the mineral magnesium can predispose your kitty to magnesium ammonium phosphate crystals, also known as MAP crystals or struvite crystals. Crystals are a big problem for many, many cats.

Unmodified fish meal can spontaneously combust from heat generated by oxidation of the polyunsaturated fatty acids in the meal. In the past, factory shipshave sunk because of such fires. That danger has been eliminated by adding antioxidants to the meal.^[1]

As of 2001, ethoxyquin was the most commonly used antioxidant, usually in the range 200–1000 mg/kg.^[2] one of the antioxidants that has been used. There has been some speculation that ethoxyquin in pet foods might be responsible for multiple health problems. To date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has only found a verifiable connection between ethoxyquin and buildup of protoporphyrin IX in the liver, as well as elevations in liver-related enzymes in some animals, but with no known health consequences from these effects. In 1997, the Center for Veterinary Medicine asked pet food manufacturers to voluntarily limit ethoxyquin levels to 75 ppm until further evidence is reported. However, most pet foods that contain ethoxyquin have never exceeded this amount. Ethoxyquin has been shown to be slightly toxic to fish.

Ethoxyquin is not permitted for use in Australian foods, nor is it approved for use within in the European Union, though it is an accepted additive in the U.S. Besides the USA, it is also widely used in other third-world countries.^{[citation needed]}

Though it has been approved for use in foods in the US, and as a spray insecticide for fruits, ethoxyquin has surprisingly not been thoroughly tested for its carcinogenic potential. Ethoxyquin has long been suggested to be a possible carcinogen, and a very closely related chemical, 1,2-dihydro-2,2,4-trimethylquinoline, has been shown to have carcinogenic activity in rats, and a potential for carcinogenic effect to fishmeal prior to storage or transportation.

Meat vs meal

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/choosing-dog-food/about-meat-meal/




Are we looking into single origin meat or a meaty mix?

Meat meal is a dried end-product of the cooking process known as rendering. Rendering is a lot like making stew — except that this stew is intentionally over-cooked.

With rendering, you start with a meat stew, cook away the water and bake the residue.  And you end up with a highly concentrated protein powder — or meat meal.

Now, check out the chart above. Notice how whole chicken contains about 70% water and 18% protein. 

Yet after rendering, the resulting chicken meal contains just 10% water and a whopping 65% protein.

That’s nearly four times more protein than whole chicken!

Nutritious Ingredient
or Anonymous Waste?

Of course, not all meat meals are created equal. Some are of very high quality while others are positively awful.

It all boils down to the stew’s contents — the raw materials. And one critically important principle…

No meal product can ever be better than the raw materials that were used to make it.

Better meals are typically made from the meat of clearly identified sources. Low-grade meals come from anonymous materials like slaughterhouse waste and spoiled supermarket meats — even diseased or dying cattle — or dead zoo animals.

For a more detailed look at the dark side of the industry, you may wish to read “The Shocking Truth About Commercial Dog Food“.

How to Recognize
Lower Quality Meat Meals

Since many manufacturers do little to clarify the true nature of the ingredients they use, two important rules can help you avoid choosing an inferior products.

Avoid dog foods containing any meat meal that:

1. Includes the words “by-products” in its name
2. Fails to identify the specific source animal¹

Here are some examples of inferior meat-based protein ingredients. Notice the generic nature of the phrases:

• Meat meal
• Animal meal
• Chicken by-product meal
• Meat and bone meal
• Glandular meal
• Poultry meal
• Blood meal

When you see ingredients like these in any recipe, it’s a sign you’re probably looking at a lower quality dog food.

1. Species-specific animal sources include names like beef, venison, lamb, chicken, etc

NZ trends of pet ownership and petfood sales

Over 48% of households own at least one cat and 20% own two or more, making it the highest cat ownership rate in the world. That is more than a million cats! Although there is a slight upward trend, this is minimal due to the already high penetration. Just over 29% of households own a dog. Ownership is reducing slightly . Medium and large breeds are most popular but there is a definite trend towards smaller breeds. 

In the prepared petfood market supermarkets dominate with 87% of the market. The rest is split between vet, pet shops and the rural sectors. The market information that follows is related to the supermarkets. 

The cat food market has a total volume of 31,198 tonnes at a value of $211.2 million. 


46.1% is ambient (canned and pouches) declining
38.6% is declining
10.1% chilled, declining slightly
 5.2% treats, growing 

The dog food market has a total volume of 40,538 tonnes at a value of $151.5 million.

32.5 % is chilled, declining
38.3% dry, steady
13.2% is ambient (canned and pouches), steady.
16.0% treats, growing strongly

Possums and poison

Good Nature

Meat amounts and what's best

Roughly 400-450grams of meat per rabbit
Roughly 500-550grams of meat per possum

Reliable resources say that possums are less likely to be easy to kill/capture/collect than rabbits.
DOC will not allow you to shoot possums on DOC property at night which is when possums are easier to hunt.
Rabbits are reasonably easy to shoot/kill/capture using spotlights in orchards, farms, paddocks that are privately owned.
Because they are pests and are, for some, hard to get rid of, farm owners etc may be happy to hire people to sort them out. ie. us
Meat from a rabbit is more gamey and nutritious than meat from a possum.
Humans actually eat and enjoy rabbits, so there's a sense of human grade here.
Not many people know what possums are like to eat, so why would they give it to their pets?

Findings from survey

Summary of meat collection

Humane Kill

Although all ways of killing animals can be seen as inhumane and unfair, it has to be done to save the environment and native animals from pests. Common ways of getting rid of pests are 1080 and trapping. Some traps even use the use of poisonous bait.

Both 1080 and trapping have similar negative effects, such as:

·         Both being a slow kill –although some traps vary death time

·         Both leaving animals to die and rot –again depending on time left

·         They both risk other animals -1080 poison risks birds, dogs, cats and other non-predators to eat the deceased animals and be killed from the poison. The traps are risky for other animals getting caught instead of the pests.

·         Animals that get captured in a trap not only die slowly but painfully, as well as being left for 24 hours or more before collected/found.

·         Animals killed by 1080 poison are left to rot, which is hazardous to the environment and other animals

If we are to use the meat from pests such as possums, we will need them to be poison-free, fresh, and free of diseases and bacteria. Trapping seems to be the best and only option, however we still face some issues around the criteria we aim for. Issues such as:

·         Collecting the meat quick enough before it loses its freshness

·         They might have already eaten poison before entering the trap

·         They might have diseases before entering traps

·         Pests don’t always stick to the same areas, so constant removal/relocation of traps might have to occur.

·         Something else other than a pest could be captured and killed instead

·         Terrain/weather may effect and reduce opportunities to collect and reset traps.

·         Individual and other companies already set their own traps, so taking away profits and sources of income from them.

·         Finding people that are interested in doing it for us

·         Demand for product –will need to constantly have a supply of pests

Rabbits:

There is a massive number of forever growing rabbit colonies of which are destroying companies, farms and orchards around New Zealand. As well as possums, these pests need to be eliminated. Rabbits would provide the same nutritional benefits as possums due to habitat would be an easier form of meat for our product. While there are benefits for possums, rabbits have the added bonus of the following advantages:

·         Terrain is easier –farms and flat hills, orchards

·         Mate like crazy –won’t have to worry about running out

·         Easier to get

·         More meat

·         Huge problem to orchards and farmers, they don’t always have the means to eliminate these pests fast enough.

·         Meat will be fresh –killed on site and not left in a trap for many hours

·         Could probably sell the fur

Ways to get the meat –rabbit:

1.    Orchardist or farmer shoots the rabbits and contacts Ethical Pet Food Co. We then pay per rabbit/gram

2.    Ethical Pet Food Co. has contractors who go to the orchards and shoot the rabbits for the farmer/orchardist. The contractor gets a base wage plus money per rabbit/gram of meat

Way to get meat –possum:

1.    Set possum traps on farms and orchards

o   Orchardist or farmer sets traps and collects possums, then contacts Ethical Pet Food Co. We then pay per possum/successful trap

o   Ethical Pet Food Co. has contractors who go to the orchards and sets the traps for the farmer/orchardist. The contractor gets a base wage plus money per possum/successful trap.

2.    We set traps in the bush, working alongside DOC and Forest and Bird.

o   Ethical Pet Food Co. contractors who go to the orchards and sets the traps for the farmer/orchardist. The contractor gets a base wage plus money per possum/successful trap.

o   We use the traps set by DOC and Forrest and Bird contractors – giving them the fur or some form of payment. We could have their logos on our products, giving them commercial benefits, showing their supporting ethical pet food as well as the environment.