# Feeding Orijen but very concerned about fish



## anguilla1980 (Aug 13, 2013)

The breeder started Einstein on Purina Pro Plan which he lost interest in after a bit, same for Blue Buffalo, but he totally freakin LOVES Orijen. When he is off the puppy food I would like to switch the flavors up for him and since they offer a fish mix, the thought led me to a simple concern...

I shy away from food with fish because I'm deeply concerned with the toxins that are in most fish from the ocean pollution. For humans, they test for toxins by ppm, for pets, I don't believe it's regulated :uhoh: I intentionally only buy plastic toys (Frisbee as an example) which are BP-A free so why would I let him eat fish which are filled with that and many other harmful pollutants. Especially if pet food manufacturers are buying the fish that tested too toxic for human consumption. 

When Orijen says their food is made from human "grade" ingredients, does that REALLY mean all ingredients including fish are "approved for human consumption" literally? 

I know their website has this in the FAQ, but how true is it?

"All of our fresh poultry, fish, eggs, red meats and game are of table quality and passed fit for human consumption by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency before arriving at our kitchens fresh each day. Our chicken, fish and turkey meals and fats are produced exclusively from animals passed as fit for human consumption in facilities that are fully dedicated to this ingredient quality and certified as such by the USDA, FDA and Canadian Food Inspection Agencies (CFIA)."

I'm concerned they may simply mean their ingredients are equal to, not actual. Maybe I'm just way over thinking it lol. Hell, even getting healthy people food is **** near impossible nowadays.

Thanks! Alex


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## Lennap (Jul 9, 2010)

Unfortunately we have been seeing a lot of vets lately and each one starts off by asking what I feed Remy. When i say Orijen Every single one replies, oh that is the best. They never ask which formula they are happy with the whole line.

One less thing for me to worry about.


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## Bumpers (Jun 21, 2013)

Yeah right...

You can't believe a word from that company....everything from Canada right? Yeah sure.....the chicken meal comes from the US...the herring is from Denmark...quality I am sure is fine, but they say everything is from Canada.

Everything fresh? So if that is the case and everything is from Canada, where do the fresh fruit and vegetables comes from? The grow all that stuff year round in Canada?

:no:


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## anguilla1980 (Aug 13, 2013)

Bumpers said:


> Yeah right...
> 
> You can't believe a word from that company....everything from Canada right? Yeah sure.....the chicken meal comes from the US...the herring is from Denmark...quality I am sure is fine, but they say everything is from Canada.
> 
> ...


All good valid points. Their web site shows the following as the sources. I'm still concerned about the fish and the testing that undergoes.










CAGE-FREE CHICKEN
ALBERTA, PRAIRIES 








CAGE-FREE TURKEY
ALBERTA, PRAIRIES 








PACIFIC SALMON
VANCOUVER ISLAND, BC 








NORTHERN WALLEYE
NORTHERN CANADA 








HERRING
VANCOUVER ISLAND, BC 








NEST-LAID EGGS
CAMROSE, ALBERTA 








FRUITS & VEGETABLES
BRITISH COLUMBIA


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## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

I started Rusty on Acana Pacifica about 1.5 months ago, and he is doing awesome on it. He loves the food, and his coat looks amazing, high energy and poops are firm. But I'm worried about fish as well, but it's also very good for dogs. 

After this bag is done, I want to try Acana Wild Prairie (and Orijen Regional Red) and see how it goes. I plan on making them both part of Rusty's cycle of dry foods.


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## Reese9 (Jan 11, 2012)

I just posted this on another thread but I think it is good to post it here too. I found this on dogfoodadvisor from a lady who emailed Champion pet foods, this was their response:

Hi Ashley,

Thank you for your email, I'm pleased to hear that the ACANA Regional diets work well for your 3 dogs! I'll try to answer all of your questions below, I apologize for the length of the email. 

Salmonella
In over 27 years of making ACANA, we have never had a recall. When it comes to food safety, we follow the same protocols as any food processor making human foods. Our Quality Assurance protocols require all products must have a negative Salmonella lab result from a Government of Canada accredited laboratory before shipping-there is no exception to this policy.

The FDA regularly examines and samples all food products entering into the USA, and on January 31, 2011 the FDA concluded that a sample of ACANA Grasslands Dog "appears to contain Salmonella". The FDA refused the product for import and issued an Import Alert. This resulted in border crossing delays and subsequent shortages of ACANA Grasslands Dog.
Although all of our previous lab results showed negative Salmonella results, the FDA required extensive additional sampling. Champion complied with all FDA requirements, sending samples of ACANA Grasslands Dog to a third party FDA certified lab. Without exception the test results from each sample tested negative for Salmonella.
While these samples tested negative for Salmonella, the FDA maintained an Import Alert until they finalized their documentation process, this was a very lengthy process.The ACANA Grasslands product was never recalled, having never tested positive for Salmonella.

Chicken Meal
All of our fresh meat ingredients and many of our fruits and vegetables originate in Canada. There are some however that do not. While our focus is “fresh and regional”, our greatest objective is always to be ‘Biologically Appropriate’, which means matching our foods to the eating anatomy of dogs and cats. As high protein dry dog and cat foods cannot (yet) be produced using fresh meats alone, we use the highest quality dried meat ingredients that are available. For example, in the case of chicken meal, the highest North American quality is without question from the USA. It’s important to note that we do not source from any US producer, but from one of the 2 USA chicken processors that produces chicken meal exclusively from USDA chickens that are passed ‘fit for human consumption’ by the FDA, and that has the appropriate European Union quality designations (EU 1774).

While there are producers of chicken meal in Canada, none are producing from chickens passed fit for human consumption and none attain the ingredient quality available from our US supplier (which is, by the way, also much more expensive than the Canadian suppliers). At present, Canadian chicken meal is made with spent hens (from egg laying operations) as well as chickens that have died, but are not processed in a federally inspected facility, or were not passed as ‘fit for human consumption’ by the Government of Canada.
When faced with choices we are again guided by our Biologically Appropriate mandate and know that our consumers expect us to uphold the highest possible standards. In this case, chicken meal made from chickens passed fit for human consumption in a USDA certified facility is preferable to local chicken meal made from chickens not subjected to any standards and certainly not passed fit for human consumption.

Fish
I think that the confusion with the article by Freshwater Fish Company comes down to terminology. The Freshwater Fish Company considered a “by-product” to be what is left of the fish after the fillet has been removed and sold into the human market. In the pet food industry a by-product refers to parts of the animal or fish that would not be classified as fit for human consumption.

All ORIJEN and ACANA meat and fish ingredients are produced exclusively from animals and fish that have been passed as fit for human consumption, and all are produced in human grade facilities (no by-products, no 3-D animal parts). After the fish has had the fillets removed we put the fish rack through a process that allows us to pull the remaining meat off the carcass. It is the remaining meat and fat that we are using, a very high quality ingredient- the same fish that goes into human-grade “fish cakes”.

Previous to Champion’s partnership with The Freshwater Fish Company of Canada, they only used the traditional cuts of fish. After fillets were removed, the rest of the fish was disposed of.

In 2005, Champion approached Freshwater Fish Company and proposed that we provide them with the processing equipment necessary to remove the remaining meat from the fish rack — provided they sell the fish to us exclusively and that it be fresh. If we did not purchase this fish, and the Freshwater Fish Company owned their own processing equipment, this fish could be sold to the human food market for use in fish cakes. Did you know that most of our fish is Kosher too?

Australia
On November 20, 2008, Champion Petfoods announced a voluntary recall of its ORIJEN Cat food brand sold in Australia. The recall was restricted to AUSTRALIA ONLY and was issued in response to reports from the Australian veterinary community of cats showing symptoms of a neurological syndrome after consuming ORIJEN CAT food.

The recall was unique to Australia and did not affect any of the other 50 countries to which ORIJEN is exported. The Australian cases resulted from the high-level irradiation (exceeding 50kGY) applied to ORIJEN upon entering Australia. Champion Petfoods no longer exports or sells its ORIJEN pet foods in Australia.

The Australian government has officially accepted that irradiation applied to ORIJEN was indeed the cause of the problem with the Australian cats, and has now banned the practice of irradiating cat foods entirely. Please see below for a link to the latest article in the Sydney Morning Herald.

National News | smh.com.au...


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## anguilla1980 (Aug 13, 2013)

Impressive, thank you!!!!!

This is EXACTLY what I wanted to know:

"*Fish
I think that the confusion with the article by Freshwater Fish Company comes down to terminology. The Freshwater Fish Company considered a “by-product” to be what is left of the fish after the fillet has been removed and sold into the human market. In the pet food industry a by-product refers to parts of the animal or fish that would not be classified as fit for human consumption.

All ORIJEN and ACANA meat and fish ingredients are produced exclusively from animals and fish that have been passed as fit for human consumption, and all are produced in human grade facilities (no by-products, no 3-D animal parts). After the fish has had the fillets removed we put the fish rack through a process that allows us to pull the remaining meat off the carcass. It is the remaining meat and fat that we are using, a very high quality ingredient- the same fish that goes into human-grade “fish cakes”.

Previous to Champion’s partnership with The Freshwater Fish Company of Canada, they only used the traditional cuts of fish. After fillets were removed, the rest of the fish was disposed of.

In 2005, Champion approached Freshwater Fish Company and proposed that we provide them with the processing equipment necessary to remove the remaining meat from the fish rack — provided they sell the fish to us exclusively and that it be fresh. If we did not purchase this fish, and the Freshwater Fish Company owned their own processing equipment, this fish could be sold to the human food market for use in fish cakes. Did you know that most of our fish is Kosher too?"*


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## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

I'm very happy with Champion’s pet products, and I hope they don't change their standards anytime soon (aka being bought out by a large company).


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## Bumpers (Jun 21, 2013)

That is all BS. The company Freshwater Fish actually put out a press release explaining the deal with Champion.

http://www.freshwaterfish.com/system/files/L2PNewsletter%20Winter%202011.pdf

They stated clearly before Champion took the by-products, they material was trucked and thrown away. There is no mention of fish cakes. LOL.

And for the record, Champion has had three recalls. 1) For using a BSE positive cow in 2) For sharp fish bones and 3) For the fiasco in Australia. These are on top of the importation ban, which is a recall as well. It was not allowed to be sold.

If you adjusted for water content, what you would find is that most of the dry matter content of Champion products is from other than Canada. That is why Champion has never filed a Pledge of Quality & Origin with Truth About Pet Food.

Champion is easily one of the most misleading companies out there.


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