SLankers Pet Food... If you believe in the 3 second rule...

[riy freeman]

I just got off the phone with Slankers and I was asking questions about their dog food. I was asking about the quality of the pet food. Mainly I was like what's the difference in the pet food is the meat 2nd grade? And she was like
"it's not safe for human consumption." ANd I asked why and she replied:
"Well, the for the dog food when stuff falls on the ground we know we can throw it back in because its for the dogs and they can handle it."

 <Silence>... mainly on my end.

I'm getting second thoughts about ordering their pet food now..

[CHK91]

Hahaha XD. It must have been an awkward conversation. Ignorance is bliss.

[TylerDurden]

I just got off the phone with Slankers and I was asking questions about their dog food. I was asking about the quality of the pet food. Mainly I was like what's the difference in the pet food is the meat 2nd grade? And she was like
"it's not safe for human consumption." ANd I asked why and she replied:
"Well, the for the dog food when stuff falls on the ground we know we can throw it back in because its for the dogs and they can handle it."

 <Silence>... mainly on my end.

I'm getting second thoughts about ordering their pet food now..

That's ridiculously squeamish; I mean, we long-term RPDers have all dropped raw meats on the ground by accident and then picked them up to eat afterwards. Trust me, once you've had "high-meat", you realise that bacteria are extremely healthy for you.

[riy freeman]

You've got to be kidding. A slaughterhouse factory floor has feces and all sorts of shit all over it. That WILL make you sick.

[TylerDurden]

You've got to be kidding. A slaughterhouse factory floor has feces and all sorts of shit all over it. That WILL make you sick.

  Not necessarily. I mean, a slaughterhouse could be efficiently run in a cleaner fashion. But, even so, since all one has to do is wash thoroughly in water afterwards....

[riy freeman]

JW...do you know ANYTHING about the slaughterhouse conditions in the US? I've read several books on it already and its quite ridiculous.

[TylerDurden]

JW...do you know ANYTHING about the slaughterhouse conditions in the US? I've read several books on it already and its quite ridiculous.

Well, I'd imagine that the slaughterhouses for intensively-farmed animals are far less hygienic than those used for grassfed/organic-raised animals.

[miles]

I'd be more worried about chemicals on the floor.

[CHK91]

I'd be more worried about chemicals on the floor.

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if they used bleach or other industrial solvents.

[KD]

can't vouch for anything, but I know my reaction would have been. " are you serious, thats it?"

people go crazy about the shit on chicken eggs too, don't understand it. I guess you wouldn't want to experiment with such things the day of a long car trip or something.

[riy freeman]

Well, that and the difference was also that they only use parts where they can make a steak or some cut of meat out of it she said. Basically its all trimming plus some organs. I wouldn't be suprised if the organs they throw in there are second rate also- ie. diseased and wouldn't pass USDA inspection if done properly.

[KD]

Well, that and the difference was also that they only use parts where they can make a steak or some cut of meat out of it she said. Basically its all trimming plus some organs. I wouldn't be suprised if the organs they throw in there are second rate also- ie. diseased and wouldn't pass USDA inspection if done properly.

Slankers is a pretty high integrity company. I believe ultimately if their rationale is that dogs can handle things humans cannot they are largely talking about bacteria in a fairly conventional way and need to be covered legally based on those conventions. They wouldn't sell a product that they felt was diseased to peoples healthy dogs. The 'danger' ultimately would be that it is ground, so in a way you are right you wouldn't be able to really tell what was what, in the way that if it smelled or tasted off while you were eating the individual organs and things. Again, ultimately you have to make the decision that makes the most sense to you.

[King Salmon]

Bottomline: If you don't trust the source,don't buy.

I can see the next wave of RPD: Trash RPD.That's right folks,got bacteria and chemical solvent laden foods on the floor going to waste?Well,why waste? Give it to those crazy RPD guys.They'll eat any damn thing!

Dogs and cats eat shit out of trash cans all the time.Of course there's a different standard.That's why it's called "pet food".What's wrong with you guys?


p.s. I know Lex eats it with seemingly no problems.The point is they sell it for pets.Wanna roll the dice?Knock yourself out.

[KD]

they make pet food because pets owers want healthy food for their pets, they happen to put trimmings and organs most people don't want to eat so its affordable and nothing gets wasted. thats the primary. Yes they might not care whether something falls on the ground or whatever other standards that are 'totally unacceptible' to humans, but its not like someone rubbing your mcDonalds hamburger on their ass or something, its not intentional to make crap product for dogs. If people have concerns about such bacterias then you are right, they shouldn't roll the dice, but then again, they probably shouldn't feed it to their dogs either.

[King Salmon]

they make pet food because pets owers want healthy food for their pets, its not intentional to make crap product for dogs.

Seen any other good movies lately?

[raw]

I can buy slankers pet food, 'cause Lex is consuming this for many years and his health is vibrant. But don't consume it, if you have any confusion in your mind....great advice!

[TylerDurden]

Yes they might not care whether something falls on the ground or whatever other standards that are 'totally unacceptible' to humans, but its not like someone rubbing your mcDonalds hamburger on their ass or something, its not intentional to make crap product for dogs. If people have concerns about such bacterias then you are right, they shouldn't roll the dice, but then again, they probably shouldn't feed it to their dogs either.

  You have a very amusing way of putting it. You are, of course, quite right - they cannot afford to feed pets on very unhealthy foods. The primary reason why there is now a market of raw, grassfed meats for pets is because of the ghastly pet-food scandal where countless pets died after being fed on commercial pet-food laced with lethal chemicals from China,


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_pet_food_recalls ,

so it would not be in their interest to foul up their pet-food produce with chemicals or anything else. Now, they are well aware that humans are irrationally squeamish about any bacteria whatsoever, so they may throw away raw meats for humans that have fallen on the floor and had some tiny bit of blood on the meats as a result, but they know that pets don't care and indeed thrive on raw meats, anyway, so it's a non-issue.

[riy freeman]

Of course the decision to eat it or not is up to me.  Let's close this discussion here.

But I'm surprised no one in the RAF community here: 1. Knows about the slaughtering process 2. Knows about the trend toward efficiency at the cost of quality 3. Knows about the trend of increased deregulation in "inspections  and most importantly, 4.Wants to know about what's going on in the slaughterhouses.

I'm getting the impression that some people think meat companies are just magic boxes where meat come from. I wonder if there are RAFers who like to think about RP in the full the context of reality from beginning to end.

For example people who think
1. Yes I think RAF is the way to go for optimum health
2. Yes I think proper inspections should be held to eliminate contaminated meats/organs (feces-stained, diseased, puss-filled, tumors--- grassfed are not totally exempt from these) to minimize risk to public. (By the way this is not happening anymore due to companies being able to "police themselves")
3. Yes I think quality should be emphasized over quantity
4. Yes I consume RAF but that doesn't mean the animal torture, live slaughter, live skinning are acceptable practices (Shoving cow prods into a disobeying cows eyes? Yea they do it Boiling live pigs? Done. Stunning cows improperly with low voltage so the meat doesn't get "Spoiled" and go on with the rest of the slaughtering process fully conscious? It's also done. All over the US
5. Radiated raw steaks/ground beef should be banned
...etc etc

I know this forum is mostly about what RAF nutrition entails but you know, it doesn't hurt to know more about reality encompassing that lifestyle in general.

[TylerDurden]

Actually, quite a lot of us are perfectly aware of what slaughtering entails. However, as I pointed out before, the various extreme methods you pointed out are far more characteristic of intensive, grainfeeding agricombines than of the grassfed, organic farms such as we use.  Being  grassfed producers means by definition that the farmers generally take care to treat their animals with better care at all stages of life, because it is not in their interests to raise unhealthy cattle or feed unhealthy meats to humans.

The issue of irradiation only applies to supermarkets - again, most RVAFers avoid supermarkets like the plague and buy their raw meats direct from the source. Many RVAFers avoid the big farms even, concentrating on the smaller farms as they provide higher quality and are less focused solely on proft-margins.

More to the point, other RVAFers' experience is the exact opposite of what you claim - namely, that organisations like the FDA are constantly trying to over-regulate the food-industry with extra excessive, unnecessary regulations. Take the UK, for example:- there, grassfed meat farmers have complained to me bitterly that the UK forces the farmers to have their raw meats exhaustively  inspected TWICE prior to slaughter (the farmers have to pay for such inspection)- twice, because there are the UK government health inspectors plus some EU-appointed foreign vets who have to apply EU regulations as well re inspections.

[ys]

1. Knows about the slaughtering process 2. Knows about the trend toward efficiency at the cost of quality 3. Knows about the trend of increased deregulation in "inspections  and most importantly, 4.Wants to know about what's going on in the slaughterhouses.

what if you know about the process, then what?  there is only limited number of confirmed commercial slaughterhouses that most approve of.  if anyone finds there something they don't like in there, there is not much of other options.  the credibility of slaughterhouses is based on user reviews.  i can assure you that if enough people complain no one would buy from that place anymore.  if user reviews are not enough for you, then go find your own sources.

the whole thing how slaughterhouses are doing business is really irrelevant at this time as there are no much other options.

i personally prefer to hunt and prepare animal myself.  3-4 whitetail deers is enough meat for me to last almost a year.  i supplement it with fat and organs form Slankers and few other places.  this is the most cheapest and efficient approach for me.  there is no single "efficiency trend".  it'll be different for each and every one of us.

i suggest you figure out what works for you and do not worry that many of us don't give a rat's ass about slaughterhouses.

[michaelwh]

A farmer who raises grass-fed beef told me that when he takes a steer to be slaughtered, he watches the entire process from start to finish. He cared for the animal from birth to finish, and got a bit attached to it, and wants to make sure that it is slaughtered in a humane and proper way. That's a much better control, to ensure that things get done properly and sanitarily, than any kind of official inspection.

[KD]

I know this forum is mostly about what RAF nutrition entails but you know, it doesn't hurt to know more about reality encompassing that lifestyle in general.

yeah but which reality? What are you talking about isn't so cut and dry. Many people here do take issues with large agri methods and some people might even be active politically in that respect. I think also many people are not so naive either in thinking that just because something is grass-fed that no animal suffers in any way or its all rainbows and sunshine. You have to determine what is fair and makes the most sense for your own health and how that compares to the plight animals...its not necessarily strait-forward..just is what it is. When it comes to the pure healthfulness aspect, the point is with the pet food they have to make disclaimers for a variety of reasons, and you just have to decide if those reasons resonate with you. The answer probably lies between citing a single person who eats it and does ok...and a piece of meat that might have fallen on a tumorous skinned animal.

good posts YS, tyler

[riy freeman]

I'm inclined to agree with kd, but not so much with tyler and ys.

As far as the regulation debate goes, I'm inclined to be skeptical of businesses who are able to regulate themselves. Marxist in that respect I suppose.
Of course small farms and businesses are sometimes exceptions but such businesses are being shutdown by bigger competition all the time now days.
Of course there is such a thing as over-regulation like Tyler describes in the case in UK. I'm relatively convinced the opposite is true in the US where inspection agents are sometimes not even allowed to do their job, harassed, and threatened to the point where all they are, are perfunctory, at best. Typically sanitary/etc abuses are worse the bigger the operation is.

BTW Slankers is not a small farm operation by any means.

ys... I'm not sure why he sounds so angry. I'm not worrying about anything really. All I stated was what  I heard from a Slankers Representative.
I never said that all people doing RAF have to be well-educated about slaughterhouse processes and regulations, I simply made the comment that I don't see people who know much about it on this forum. I'm not sure what you're asking me to "figure out what works for me." I didn't title this thread "I can't buy slankers pt food, please help me find a food source!"
Personally I find I benefit from thinking and learning about multiple aspects of this lifestyle and its larger implications and don't really find pleasure in parading a know-nothing attiutude, but that's just me.
 

[ys]

I simply made the comment that I don't see people who know much about it on this forum.

sorry if i misunderstood this particular comment

But I'm surprised no one in the RAF community here: 1. Knows about the slaughtering process 2. Knows about the trend toward efficiency at the cost of quality 3. Knows about the trend of increased deregulation in "inspections  and most importantly, 4.Wants to know about what's going on in the slaughterhouses.

you sounded like most of us should be very well versed in these 4 points and you are surprised that most of us aren't.  correct?

here is my personal view on each point (others will probably differ)
1.  this is irrelevant.  knowing or not knowing about the process has no effect on the end products

2.  there are no trends.  who's efficiency are you talking about? slaughterhouse efficiency?  no one knows much about quality, there are only federal guidelines and user reviews of the end products, there is nothing else.  quality for me is wild game grown far away from the farms.  anything else is barely sufficient.  so wild animals that i hunt turn out to be the cheapest.

3. your claim of increased deregulation in inspections has no effect on the end product.

4. why should this be the most important?  i honestly do not know and do no really care what's going on inside slaughterhouses as long as am satisfied with their products.  in my opinion most users on this forum don't care as well (i could be wrong) as i think there are more important things in life to be pre-occupied with.

you are the first person to bring up these mostly irrelevant points.  no need to waste time on things that do not matter.  if you plan to open up your own slaughterhouse and interested to know how they operate then i understand.

as far as pet's food, there are few people here that eat it regularly because of the price and i doubt that care much about how it is being prepared.  and they do not seem to have issues with it.  i personally would not eat pet food.

are you afraid that if you eat it and it makes you sick you can't really sue them?  the answer is simple, if you have any doubts don't eat it, there is not much to elaborate.

 

[riy freeman]