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If anyone would like to know-this same issue was posted about a month ago-and someone had gotten a response from Merrick on that forum. I have included the link and Merrick's response then:
Food & Nutrition > Feed Merrick? May want to reconsider....
However they did receive a response from Merrick:
"We only use Human grade ingredients in our Merrick 5 Star products (and always have) and we 100% do not use any rendered meats in any pet food products that we manufacture."
Please note that they are specifically speaking of their 5 Star line-this line is usually what we are all speaking of-when it comes to their dry and wet foods. As for the amount of time that it is currently taking them to get return your call-I can only imagine how utterly swamped they are with the very same call not to mention every other question-I would not assume they are trying to ignore or hope you go away-it just sometimes takes more time than anticipated to return that call.
Hope this helps you to make a decision-we love Merrick-not sure you can beat whole chicken wings with sweet potatoes and blueberries...Mmmmmmm!!!!!!
After doing research on Merrick, I wouldn't feed it either due to the ethics, I feed my own dogs raw, my rescue dogs I keep on kibble simply because I find a raw feed dog is sometimes reluctant to go back to kibble (can you blame them!), and very few adopters feed raw! I've been using Canidae for years, I fed it to all my dogs before switching my own to raw, and have never been disappointed, they also have a program just for breeders where if you save the UPCs, they give you a free bag for every 10 you buy, and it's a great price even without that, as far as premium foods go, I've never found one I'm happier with then Canidae.
OK, Merricks owns their own slaughter house. Take it from a farm girl, if you have a slaughter house than you need to have a rendering plant nearby. Just because they own a rendering plant doesn't mean that they use the rendered meat for DOG food. You need to have a rendering plant, or what else are you going to do with the wasted animal meat? You know soap is made from rendered meat. If they use any rendered meat in their dog food, than they needs to state it on their list of ingredients. It doesn't, In fact I contacted the company last month about HUMANE Grade Meat and ingredients, (when there was a post about a letter that Garth Merricks sent 3 years ago the USDA) they came back and said all their 5 star food is Human Grade, and they only use the best ingredients.
It makes sense that they own a rendering plant, since they sell dog treat chews, rawhide, hooves, tendons, bones etc... I am glad to know they have a rendering plant rather than buying these products from other countries like many companies or having them prepared elsewhere in plants not owned by them. Without a rendering plant I don't think they would be able to manufacture their own chews in their own facilities!
I only buy thier chews. They have really good stuff like puffy ears that are not greasy, hooves with the feet in them, lambs ears mmmmmmmmmmmmm narnia loves wing a ling wet food as a treat, it has real chicken wings in it!
If you feel that strongly about it check out Tom's of Maine or Burt's Bees line of soaps and cleaners. You can find them both at Whole Foods.
I have three cans of Merrick. I usually keep them around for when Mr. Fussy-Pants decides he doesn't want to eat--like when we leave him with the dog sitter for a while. And I personally feel safe feeding it. And he loves it--so I'll keep it on hand for those occasions.