# Nutro, bottom line, safe or not?



## pittiemouth (Mar 13, 2012)

I am sure most people here have heard about the Nutro dog food complaints that have been going around since 2012 or before. Of course every company has complaints against it, but many people believe Nutro in essentially poison. There was a rumor of an FDA investigation into Nutro but the FDA later denied that it was happening. No one seems to have any idea what the problem is or if there is a problem. Looking at the ingredients Nutro has no unnamed meats ect. and things that are of questionable quality. They own their own facilities, go through "600 quality checks a day" apparently, and are the ?only? facility certified by the American Feed Industry Association. So what is the problem?? Is the food contaminated? Do you believe all the hype over Nutro or not?


----------



## ChaosIsAWeim (Feb 12, 2011)

I fed it for years, with my dalmatian, as it was the only thing he could eat. I had no problems when I fed it, so I don't know.


----------



## Pugtown (Aug 9, 2012)

pittiemouth said:


> I am sure most people here have heard about the Nutro dog food complaints that have been going around since 2012 or before. Of course every company has complaints against it, but many people believe Nutro in essentially poison. There was a rumor of an FDA investigation into Nutro but the FDA later denied that it was happening. No one seems to have any idea what the problem is or if there is a problem. Looking at the ingredients Nutro has no unnamed meats ect. and things that are of questionable quality. They own their own facilities, go through "600 quality checks a day" apparently, and are the ?only? facility certified by the American Feed Industry Association. So what is the problem?? Is the food contaminated? Do you believe all the hype over Nutro or not?


Have you looked at this page? I know - don't believe everything you read on the internet! Have you asked Nutro where they source all of their ingredients from? Sounds like they have a vitamin premix issue - which alot of those come from China. We can't even find out what's wrong with the chicken jerky the past few years! They are also a part of Mars Corporation - a global company! So I'm sure they do alot of over-seas business and do their best to source out ingredients for the best price (for them). Also Nutro has a line of grain-inclusive foods. I remember reading that the drought a few years ago would lead to more *potential* issues with aflatoxins and other neurotoxins associated with grains/molds. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutro_Products

and of course Mars spent millions to oppose Prop 37 (which demands mandatory labeling of foods containing genetically modified organism). I'm sure they use GMO's in their dog foods, which if you dig around, GMO's aren't actually safe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars,_Incorporated


----------



## Bumper1 (Jul 14, 2013)

There are very few GMO products that could ever make it in dog food, in fact corn and soy are really the only ones. I don't particularly support GMO cultivation but there is no evidence it causes health problems.

The problems are all made up on forums like these and there is an amazing degree of double standard. 

Champion has had many more quality problems than Nutro or Royal Canin (they are sister companies) and people will flat out deny Champion has had recalls or its products killed cats while they delayed a recall. 

So what if Nutro is owned by Mars. Champion and Nature's Variety are owned by money grubbing investment funds. Wellness and Holistic Select are owned by a coal mining company with some of its own baggage.

There is nothing wrong with Nutro Products other than the cost, they are more expensive then they should be.


----------



## Pugtown (Aug 9, 2012)

I'm interested to see if Champion will use the Okanagan GM "Arctic" apple when it gets approval in Canada. They do like using local farmers they say. This might let the door open for a GM potato in the USA. Lots of pet foods are made with potato. Wheat and alfalfa are also GMO too. Del Monte has it's own GE pineapple. There's a GE papaya (can't recall who owns this one).


----------



## Jen2010 (Feb 12, 2013)

Honestly, I have never heard anything bad about Nutro. It is the only food I was able to find that agreed with her after we took her off the prescription stuff.


----------



## Bumper1 (Jul 14, 2013)

Pugtown said:


> I'm interested to see if Champion will use the Okanagan GM "Arctic" apple when it gets approval in Canada. They do like using local farmers they say. This might let the door open for a GM potato in the USA. Lots of pet foods are made with potato. Wheat and alfalfa are also GMO too. Del Monte has it's own GE pineapple. There's a GE papaya (can't recall who owns this one).


Wheat is not a GMO crop and its not approved to be grown in the USA. There is some very minor growing of gmo alfalfa. The pineapple mentioned is technically GMO but not like Round Up Ready Corn or Soy. All Del Monte did was develop a pineapple with Tangerine DNA to color the fruit a blush color. This could have been done by manual hybridization as well. Relax.

The bottom line is that in dog food the only GMO ingredients are possibly corn and soy.


----------



## Woofie2 (Oct 5, 2013)

Bumper1 said:


> The bottom line is that in dog food the only GMO ingredients are possibly corn and soy.


 Canola oil is another GMO.

It's not so much GMO that scares me, but rather the quality of the ingredients to begin with. Truth of the matter is dog/cat foods are considered pet feed, the sources will always be that of product unfit for human consumption. However, does one want that product from the USA or China.

I prefer USA.

That said, I fed Nutro's YEARS ago somewhere around the '96-'98 time frame, and I thought it had better results then Purina pro-plan personally. 

End opinion however, NEVER put total faith into any dog food company, always keep your eyes open for changes in your dog or in the product itself.


----------



## Bumper1 (Jul 14, 2013)

Canola Oil even from GMO Canola plants does not contain any protein so it would be impossible for the oil to contain any genetic material. In addition, there is more non GMO Canola on the market than GMO Canola.


----------



## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

Bumper1 said:


> In addition, there is more non GMO Canola on the market than GMO Canola.


Unless the majority of Canola grown in North American never hits the market, this simply isn't true. 87% of Canola grown in the USA is GMO; and it's 90% in Canada.


----------



## Bumper1 (Jul 14, 2013)

gingerkid said:


> Unless the majority of Canola grown in North American never hits the market, this simply isn't true. 87% of Canola grown in the USA is GMO; and it's 90% in Canada.


You forgot the rest of the world. Only the US, Canada and Australia grow GMO Canola. The European crop is huge, the EU is the largest grower.

In any event, the oil from even gmo canola does not contain any genetic material, it is impossible.

Do you know how easy it is to buy non-gmo canola oil?

http://www.wholeharvest.com/products/non-gmo-canola-oil/

Need a ton shipped by rail or tanker?


----------



## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

You're equating canola with rapeseed which is incorrect. Canola is rapeseed, but rapeseed is not Canola (which is a trademark). It is actually quite rare for Canola to be grown in Europe because most Canola seed is round-up ready.

Additionally, the EU produces only 19.2 tonnes of rapeseed... which does make it the top producer, but hardly producer of the "majority" of rapeseed considering that global production of rapeseed in 2012 was 58.4 tonnes. The second largest producer (Canada) produces 15.4 tonnes, and the third largest producer (China, also growing some GMO) produces 14.0 tonnes. (Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN). India is third, btw, but I couldn't find info on their GMO status.


----------

