[DarkStars]

So the other day I was on my way home, listening to a local radio station, and this guy calls in and the radio host asks him what he does for a living and the guy says "I work for a company that goes to grocery stores and meat markets and I pick up bad/old meat and its used to make dog food. Or at least I really hope thats what they use it for" I've never heard of this before; but it does not surprise me. It drives me crazy - just what I want to be feeding my kids - rotten meat; and second whats wrong with this guy that he is implying lets hope they're not re-selling it to people....but its ok to use for dog food??!! Just plain gross.....and just plain upsetting!

 

[Jax08]

Unless he is talking about something like the Sustainable program. It's like a co-op that gets the meat from places like Walmart, grocery stores, etc. The stores save money by not having to pay for the garbage bill and people save money by paying a fee to be part of the co-op and they split the meat.

 

[Castlemaid]

A lot of times if fresh meat is not fresh enough anymore for human consumption it is completely safe for dogs. Dogs eat carrion, garbage, and poop, a bit of expired meat won't do them any harm.

I doubt that pet food companies pay people to go around picking up meat from grocery stores, probably not very cost efficient, and no control over what they get in on a regular basis. Though as Jax said, there are people who got organized and work together to collect meat that would otherwise been thrown out for their dogs. I feed raw and do not have any qualms about feeding expired meats - the dogs seem to relish it more too!

 

[Dainerra]

He could also work for a rendering plant. They buy expired meat, scraps and garbage from butchers amd slaughterhouses, etc and then grind it up and "render" it into meat meal. The meal is then sold to other companies that use it for ??. And yes, some of it does end up in cheap dog food - esp anything that just lists "meat meal" instead of a specific source.

Buying the expired meat from the grocery store for a raw co-op is different. The meat is still good, in many cases might even still be edible by people. Think of a gallon of milk, it can still be good, even though the date ran out yesterday. Plus, dogs actually relish the heavier flavor of slightly older meat - we're not talking burger that is slimy and green with mold, just something that is past date and therefore can't be sold for humans.

Rendering plants, though, take everything. Many slaughter houses keep the barrels waiting for pickup outside, even at the height of summer. the smell of the truck is highly reminiscent of a garbage truck in a traffic jam in mid-august. Bleech!

 

[DarkStars]

Interesting... I never knew it was ok to feed old meat - and when I heard this on the radio (seeing the condition some meat is in when I buy it at the grocery store ie. those nice shiny irridescent steaks ?) I just assumed it was like you had said - slimy green meat... Hopefully it was for a raw co-op and not a rendering plant - bleech is right!

 

[onyx'girl]

i am in a co-op with Sustainable selections/Quest recycling and get most all of my dogs food from this program. It is past sale date meat that really should go to Feed America, because the quality is still good enough for human consumption. Very little is actually tossed-maybe 2~ 40 gallon containers out of 6.
Rendering companies do get the nastier stuff, out of the meat cutting rooms...I'm sure they sell it somewhere to make $ instead of just bringing it to a landfill.