Vegetarian Pet Food

If you’re living life as an eco-friendly vegetarian, get your pet in on the green lifestyle.


While many people either don’t eat meat or eat only organic meat products to avoid risk of disease, they may not consider that the meat that doesn’t pass inspection for human consumption goes into pet food.


The same problems that affect humans, including allergies, cancer, and kidney, heart, and bone problems also affect pets. The diseased animals in the food supply that cause mad cow disease can also cause the same illness in pets as they do in humans.


To avoid health problems and risks for your furry friends, change their diet to vegetarian. There are cookbooks, supplements, websites and other resources that ensure critters get all their nutritional needs without any meat.


Wild animals subsist a great deal on plant matter, so it is not unnatural to exclude animals from their diet. In fact, it may even help them live longer, as the 2002 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records cites Bramble, a 27-year-old border collie as the oldest dog in the world.


While rice, lentils, and organic vegetables can make up much of a pet’s vegan diet, it is also important that they get more nutrition in the form of supplements. L-carnitine and taurine are important to help dogs from developing heart disease and may not be sufficient in either a vegetarian or store-bought diet, but supplements can be found at a health food store.


While dogs are natural omnivores, making them perfect vegetarians, it can be a little more difficult to convert cats to a meatless diet. For recipes and ideas about getting your pets to eat green, visit this link, which also contains valuable information about the benefits of a vegetarian diet for furry friends.

Organic Products Safety Called into Question

According to an article found at the NYTimes.com, organic products may not be safer than their conventional counterparts.

Organic products are generally purchased who think they are healthier and taste better than their conventional counterparts. But with the recent outbreak of salmonella in organic peanut butter, many organic buyers are beginning to have their doubts.

“Because there are some increased health benefits with organics, people extrapolate that it’s safer in terms of pathogens,” said Urvashi Rangan, a senior scientist and policy analyst with Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. “I wouldn’t necessarily assume it is safer.”

However, organic certification processes do not include testing for safety, just health inspections and pest-management plans.

The Department of Agriculture has given permission to use the green and white “certified organic” seal to certain parties, but they aren’t directly testing for food safety standards.

Now, in light of the recent salmonella outbreak, Barbara C. Robinson, acting director of the agriculture department’s National Organic Program is sending directions to ensure that investigators look beyond pesticide levels and crop management techniques and report things like finding rodents and droppings to the proper agency.

“For example, while we do not expect organic inspectors to be able to detect salmonella or other pathogens,” Ms. Robinson wrote, “their potential sources should be obvious from such evidence as bird, rodent and other animal feces or other pest infestations.”

Organic foods and suppliers have long been in need of stricter regulations and it seems as though the recent outbreak of salmonella might prove a catalyst, as conventional brands are declared safe and organic brands remain ambiguous.

To learn more about the recent salmonella outbreak in peanut butter, as well as the possible changes in organic food regulation, read the original article here.