Many dog and cat owners are worried that the food they have been feeding their pet may not be as safe, much less as nutritionally balanced, as they were led to believe.

This concern is perfectly understandable, particularly since tainted dog and cat food has been linked to the deaths of at least 23 animals.

After all, the current recall has been quite widespread, with over fifty dog brands and more than forty cat brands recalled at this time, including some of the largest brand names out there such as Iams, Best Choice and Eukanuba. In a March 21, 2007 Newsweek article by journalist Matthew Philips entitled 'Is pet food properly regulated?' the report states:" .....authorities still cannot explain exactly what went wrong. Some critics and animal lovers are honing in on what they see as lax regulation of the fifteen billion dollar pet-food industry in the United States." It should be noted that this recall has not only impacted the U.S. Canada and mexico as well.

"There is almost a void there," states Bob Vetere, president of the APPMA, or the American Pet Product Manufacturers Association. "There is no real pet-food department of any federal agency." This news is very troubling, but it comes as no surprise to some. I have been hearing about the rendering plants for a while now, and it is clear to me that where there is smoke there is usually fire.

Sadly, the standard was low from the start.

The first dog food sold was produced in 1860. A salesman named James Pratt was visiting Great Britain from America and saw dogs surviving off of mere left-over biscuits from ships. So he decided to prepare a dog biscuit product consisting of wheat meal and meat, and begin selling them entirely to English rural gentlemen who owned sporting dogs. So at one time dogs subsisted of of scraps, meaning the quality of the produced food never had to be particularly high.

The current problem has been linked to rat poison by some sources, but there are many, many other problems with mainstream brands as well.

For example, artificial coloring is used extensively despite the fact that they are totally unnecessary and have been linked to medical issues. It is believed by some in the medical field that if an ingredient is foreign to the body the body reacts to it and can cause numerous health problems.

Pets are not concerned about color too much.

In addition, by-products are a way for dog food or cat food companies to keep their costs down and therefore profits up. Instead of using whole meats, they simply use by-products instead. These are simply the least desirable parts.

And there are a number of other items which the labels do not always reveal. For instance, condemned parts of animals which are not fit for human consumption are often rerouted into commercial treats. These parts may be the parts of animals who are dead, dying, decayed or actually diseased. Furthermore, specific meats & other ingredients can't be sold for use by people, because it is damaged or has some other kind of defect. The dimensions of the problem may be so sizeable that we might not know the reasons for this tragedy for some time. According to a recent MSNBC article, "Some of the 60 million cans and pouches of food have been blamed for kidney failure in scores of animals and killed over 16 pets. Neither the manufacturer nor the authorities have been able to determine why the pets died".

The article mentioned that articles are already being filed by consumers, which calls into question the future of some of these pet food firms.

Should you stick with a mainstream brand or go to a premium grade food? Considering that many of the mainstream brands are owned by the same parent company.

I would be inclined to go with the latter. Who knows what brand will be recalled next.

The best brand I an aware of is Life's Abundance but there are several top notch premium pet foods out there to choose from. Look for whole food ingredients and freshness above all else. The ones that mention they are human grade are also usually a safe bet in my experience.