Testimonials
Fans of Steve’s
Nicole
Strut Your Mutt
Saturday May 21st we will be joining thousands of other mutt stutters in order to raise money for No More Homeless Pets In Utah. We are teaming up with the PawsZow dog pack and looking forward to the festivities. If you want to strut with us, join the team by going to our Donner page here. If you are already registerd be sure to come by the booth and buy some food or treats. We will be donating the proceeds from all sales to No More Homeless Pets.
Where:
Veterans Memorial Park
7800 S, 2011 W
When:
Check-in Starts at 8:00 and the walk is at 9:15
The festivities will end around noon
What:
There is more then just a walk in the park. There will be lots of entertainment:
- Dog Agility Courses
- Live Music
- Food Vendors
- Pet Product Vendors
- Demonstrations
- Contests
Join the PawsZOW dog pack for a post walk VIP lunch at the Real Food booth and to BeDazzel your own doggie bandanna.
Cooking’s Effect on Food
When kibble is cooked it is exposed to multiple levels of heat. First it is put under extreme pressure and high heat from steam when it is extruded. The final round in its actual “cooking” phase where it goes through dryers and is typically baked at 350F. Therefore the numbers found in the 2003 study may be higher then what is truly available in kibble.
The Cost of Cooking
Many pet owners feel raw pet food is too expensive. However, as we have illustrated, cooked food does not give you the same bang for your buck. If you increase the price of canned or kibble 25-50% to account for the loss in nutrient value, you will see that raw is competitively priced.
QUICK FACTS – Raw vs. Cooked KibbleKibble can have fillers and non-digestible ingredients that tax the pet’s organs. Kibble absorbs water which can contribute to dehydration and diarrhea and eventually kidney disease. Kibble causes teeth decay and gum disease. 75-85% of domesticated cats and dogs suffer from periodontal disease at a level requiring treatment by 3 years of age. Cooking = Up to 50% Less Nutrients Kibble can have fillers and non-digestible ingredients that tax the pet’s organs. Kibble absorbs water which can contribute to dehydration and diarrhea and eventually kidney disease. Kibble causes teeth decay and gum disease. 75-85% of domesticated cats and dogs suffer from periodontal disease at a level requiring treatment by 3 years of age. Cooking = Up to 50% Less Nutrients
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The FDA’s Salmonella Scare
The raw pet food industry is regulated by the FDA. This is because pet food is considered to be a ready-to-serve product where the chicken you buy from your butcher is not. Recently the FDA feels that regulations on the raw pet food industry needs to be changed and that “certain criteria should be considered in recommending enforcement action against animal feed”. In other words they want to do more testing on pet food and determine if they should reject food with very minute amounts of bacteria.
Here’s the problem; bacteria is good for your pet. Their natural diet is to eat dead carcass meat. Their intestinal tract needs this bacteria to be strong so that it can fight of more harmful bacteria. If you feed raw, you know this.
Last month the FDA put out a notice saying that it is accepting feedback from consumers, manufactures, retailers, veterinarians and anyone else with an opinion on this subject. This comment period was to end soon, but because of the gravity of this kind of decision they have extended the commenting period. This extension was announced shortly after the release stating the FDA will be doing random tests on pet food in 2011.
It is so important that everyone from consumers to animal health exporters weigh in on this issue. We know bacteria is a good thing in limited amounts. Therefore we are very clean in our production and careful in where we buy our ingredients. We go to extreme measures to ensure that even when the product leaves our plant is is kept at below 0 temperatures to maintain it’s safety. If the FDA starts rejecting food with any level of bacteria then they will be choking the raw industry and you may have to start buying your raw pet food from a bootlegger.
Please submit your comments to the FDA and to us.
Docket Folder at regulations.gov – go here to find out more about this issue.
To HPP or to not HPP
Seems some raw companies have changed their tune on raw diets. Several raw producers have chosen to pasteurize or pressure sterilize their meat material to be sold as frozen raw diets. This decision may be due to pressure from the FDA after recalls or a mind change about the safety of raw diets.
Raw diets were not favored by a pet food industry that had developed around grain by-products produced in extrusion plants costing $20 million or more. Canneries are even more costly. So from the start a big brouhaha developed over possible salmonella or e-coli contamination of raw products. The industry was so used to using 4D beef (these are downers or dead stock) and charcoal chicken (these are spoiled chickens blackened with charcoal) that the idea of not cooking the life out of it was alien to them. The cooking allows a producer to use low grade materials because they kill all the contamination in the steam retorts or extrusion cookers. The problem is that everything else is also killed including the vitamins and good bacteria.
Raw products have been on the market for many years now and have done extremely well at improving pet health without causing any problems. The dry kibble and canned producers can’t say that. We do not think pressure sterilizing the product will improve the raw diet in any way. As a matter of fact we believe it will degrade the diets to do that. We want the good bacteria to remain in the food. If the raw material is sterilized it will become a Petri dish for growing bad bacteria. For raw producers to change manufacturing process to allow for contaminated raw material is not a good idea. The best way to avoid recalls is to use the highest quality meat material and produce in a clean environment. You need trusted ingredient sources and trusted distributors to ensure that what you are taking home is safe for your pet. Sterilization may make manufactures lazy since they will be cleaning the product.
We do not use HPP and have not had a recall in our 10+ years of distributing raw food. We really hope that manufactures, retailers and customers become educated about this before deciding if HPP is what they want.
Eco-Diet Bonus Bags Are Available
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We managed to put an additional pound of raw dog food in our 4lb. ECO-DIET bags and we did it at no cost to you. Now you can get an organic, eco friendly product at a retail price of $3.59 a pound. |
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We introduced our ECO-DIET a while back because we wanted a product good for the earth. With organic fruits and veggies and a biodegradable package we have done that. If it ends up in a landfill the bag will turn to dust in 6 years. This product is a little higher meat content than our Steve’s line (85%) and includes almonds and cranberries that is not in our other diets. We think protecting the earth is very important to pets as they are much closer to the ground than we |
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Because this is a new product it is not in all the retail stores yet. Be sure to call your retailer and ask for Steve’s Eco Diet. They can now order it for you. |
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Eco Diet Quick Facts:
It is rare to find a green product at a great value. Steve’s is holding true to it’s promise of controlling costs and passing the value to you. |
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Visit www.ecodietdogfood.com for more on Eco Diet. It the same great recipe gone green. Retailers: a new product pamphlet is available. Ask your distributor for supplies. |
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