Embedded Files
Introduction
Introduction
Hi everyone! I am Xuan and I go by Monica. I am a third-year student at UCSD studying International Business and minoring in Math and I am also a first year BA/MIA graduate student at GPS. I am an International student from China, and this is my seventh year at the U.S. Aside from school. I am taking this class as my major class, and I will be graduating this coming Spring Quarter! One fun fact about me is I am the only one in my family who has not yet got COVID yet ^^
Interest
Interest
What I enjoy doing the most when I am free is watching Anime and playing video games with friends. My favorite Anime including the JOJO series, Maid Sama!, and Mob Psycho 100. I am also into KPOP culture, and my favorite groups including Seventeen, Twice, Mamamoo, etc. Moreover, I love doing Yoga in my free time, because stretching my body could help release a lot of pressure from work and school, and help me sort my thoughts together. Last but not least, I am a huge dog lover and I have two puppies back home:D
Foodwise, I am not good at cooking so I often go out to eat with my roommates. My favorite place to go is Convoy Street because there are a lot of Asian cuisines like Chinese hotpot, Korean BBQ, Japanese Sushi, etc. My favorite food is Korean Food, particularly the tteokbokki as the picture on the left.
INTL 190 Capstone Paper
INTL 190 Capstone Paper
Significance of Dogs and the Dark Side of the Commercial Dog Food Industry
Significance of Dogs and the Dark Side of the Commercial Dog Food Industry
Xuan(Monica) Wang
INTL 190: Food, Culture, and Society
3/22/2022
Introduction
Introduction
As the most prevalent and popular pet choice for millennia, dogs have played vital roles in the development of modern society, including providing emotional support to children and aiding law enforcement in detecting crimes. The purpose of this research study is to examine the three most general purposes of dogs, which include livestock animals, pet animals, and working animals. Yet, an increasing number of individuals consider their dogs to be members of the family; consequently, more people around the world are opposed to the consumption of dog meat, and dogs are treated with a higher level of respect and equality. Next, the second topic will investigate the growing concern that the commercial dog food sector has failed to meet the expectations of dog owners, and that malnourished dogs face possible health hazards. In other words, although the dog food industry is booming as dogs play increasingly important roles in human society, the dog food industry is becoming less reliable due to the possibility that dog food causes malnutrition and the probable presence of hazardous substances that are harmful to dogs. Last but not least, the research paper will propose further regulation and innovative technology should be enforced on the dog food industry, and dog owners should pay greater attention to the production line and demand more transparency in their dogs' food to safeguard their pets from harm.
General Function of Dogs
General Function of Dogs
Dog as livestock animals
Dog as livestock animals
Like with other livestock animals, the dog's primary function is as a livestock animal, and dog meat consumption is commonplace in several Asian nations, including Vietnam, Korea, and China. For example, dog eating is deeply ingrained in Vietnamese culture, and dog meat is one of the most popular sources of protein throughout the country.
According to Animal Welfare Worldwide, the figure above depicts the possible reasons why women and men in Vietnam began eating dog meat first. (Animal Welfare World, 2021) The dominant reasons for both groups in Vietnam are "it is Vietnamese culture," "to prevent bad luck," and "to fit in with friends, family, relatives, or neighbors," demonstrating that the ideology of dogs as edible animals is also associated with Vietnamese religion and culture due to the belief in good luck, and those who do not consume dog meat are considered "outsiders." Similarly, Colas noted, “In defining boundaries and making distinctions, elements (in this case, foodstuffs) that fall outside them may become taboo (literally “set apart” in the original Polynesian conception of the term), forbidden, or prohibited; and those people or groups that follow different rules, who practice customs (or in this case, eat) what we do not, become definitively “other.”(Colas, 2018, pg.59) Hence, like different food represents different cultures, the consumption of dog meat unites and divides Vietnamese individuals of the same culture from those of other cultures.
This practice, on the other hand, has seen a significant decline in recent years as an increasing number of individuals have come to recognize the significant roles that dogs have played in their lives. A successful example is the Yulin Lychee and Dog Meat Festival, a Chinese cuisine festival centered on the consumption of dog meat and lychee wine. The Yulin Lychee and Dog Meat Festival occurs each year on June 21 and lasts for ten days in Yulin, Guangxi province, in the southern region of China. (Brown, 2018) During the peak years of the event, as many as 10,000 to 15,000 dogs and cats are killed for their meat. The event is essentially a combination of a wet market, in which live and freshly slaughtered dogs are sold, and a number of restaurants, all of which serve dog meat as a main course. (Brown, 2018) Due to the cruel manner in which dogs are slaughtered, both Western and Chinese animal rights activists and pet owners criticize this practice. Due to outcry, China recently prohibited this festival and dog consumption, emphasizing that dogs are "companion animals" and not "edible animals." Afterward, the consumption of dog meat in China decreased substantially, and an increasing number of younger generations volunteered to protect dogs from being eaten. In addition, I was fortunate enough to conduct an interview with one of my Yulin-based friends, who informed me that the dog meat trade has fallen significantly due to the fact that more individuals are traveling to Yulin to educate the local people about the value of dogs, and dog eating is no longer permitted in public. (Personal Communication, 2023)
Dog as pet animals
Dog as pet animals
The earliest domestication of dogs can trace back all the way to “very early during the Upper Paleolithic period (35,000 BP), thus well before any other animal or plant domestication.” (Galibert Et al., 2011) The second common function of dogs as pets is to provide companionship to children and adults when needed, particularly for children who are the only child in their family or adults who live alone. Most importantly, dog-walking can dramatically improve the owners' emotional and physical health. Specifically, the dog's companion can drive people to adopt a healthier lifestyle and adopt a more optimistic outlook on their surroundings.
The table above compares the general health status of dog owners (including both mental and physical health). (Martin Et al., 2015) It is not difficult to notice the difference in scores between pet owners and non-pet owners in the health row at the bottom of the table. Dog owners score approximately 10 percent higher than non-owners on the excellent health condition row, indicating that having a dog as a pet could avoid poor health conditions. Moreover, dog walking can boost physical health, particularly in children. According to the survey conducted by Martin, “Secondary school students who reported that they had walked the dog in the past 7 days had 2.5 higher odds of meeting physical activity recommendations (60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day8) than those who indicated they had not spent time dog walking (95% confidence interval, 1.54, 3.95).” (Cui Et al., 2019) Hence, having dogs as pets can increase both mental and physical health, especially for children.
Moreover, a rising number of dog owners regard their dogs as family members instead of just pets. The graph above the average opinions of dog and cat owners obtained from around the world. Pet owners have the option of selecting their animal from one of five groups: family members, like children, like friends, companions, and just pets. (Human-Animal Bond Research Institute, 2022) In the majority of countries around the world, it is evident that dogs are seen as more than just pets, since 42% of people on average view dogs as a part of treasured family members. Dog ownership is regarded as an essential component of family life in Japan, where an average of 65 percent of dog owners report that their canine companions play increasingly important roles in their lives. This makes Japan the country where the value of dog ownership is highest. Only 21 percent of dog owners in Mexico consider their pets to be members of the family, making this country the one in which dog owners are least likely to perceive their pets in this light. Dog owners in Mexico, on the other hand, are more inclined to consider their pets as children, which suggests that dogs continue to play increasingly crucial roles in today's world.
Dog as Working Animal
Dog as Working Animal
The third purpose of dogs is to perform supplementary tasks in human society as working animals. The most prevalent sort of working dog is the service dog, which is used by disabled individuals such as blind people to assist with navigation. More specifically, “service dogs may help to conserve energy and prevent further injury by activating devices and door openers, assisting with obtaining supplies, and helping people undress. They can retrieve dropped items, drag a laundry basket, and provide a counterbalance for transitional movements. In addition, they may detect and respond to medical crises including carrying medications, alerting to monitors, retrieving a phone, using a switch to call emergency services, and going for help.” (Winkle Et al., 2012) In addition to making a variety of activities in human society easier to complete, service dogs have the ability to promote human interaction, which may be of particular benefit to those with disabilities.
According to the study conducted by Hart, the presence of service dogs could effectively increase the number of friendly approaches by strangers to disabled people as the figure demonstrates on the left(Hart Et al.,1987); the right side experiment group with service dogs has a significantly larger median number of friendly approaches to disabled people for both adults and children from strangers, implying service dog’s presence could effectively increase the human interaction between disabled people and others. Hence, service dogs are essential for disabled people, not only because they make day-to-day activities easier but also because they help raise the physiological acceptance toward disabled people.
Another common application of service dogs is in the field of law enforcement, where they are known as police service dogs and are used for a variety of purposes. Police service dogs are significantly useful for identifying criminals, as “their sense of smell is almost 50 times more sensitive than a human's. A dog can sniff out criminals, drugs, weapons, and bombs in situations where a human officer would have to search every inch of a dangerous task. In addition to sensitivity, a dog's sense of smell is picky. It can discern a specific scent even when there are dozens of other scents around. Drug smugglers have tried to fool drug-sniffing dogs by wrapping drugs in towels soaked with perfume, but the dogs find the drugs anyway.” (Dimovski, 2015) For instance, it is common to find police service dogs at the airport where the airport has the highest risk of drug transportation. With the presence of security checks by police service dogs, the risk of spreading drugs significantly lowers and ensures the safety of the public. Thanks to police service dogs, the police are able to fight against crime in a way that is both more effective and easier, which is to the benefit of all members of society.
Dark Side of the Commercialized Dog Food Industry
Dark Side of the Commercialized Dog Food Industry
Because of the fact that dogs provide major contributions to human society, as was seen in the previous section, dogs are increasingly considered as members of families in human society. Thus,the primary duty that falls on the shoulders of dog owners is to guarantee that their dogs live long and healthy lives. Despite this, the dog food industry has frequently fallen short of meeting these requirements, primarily as a result of malnutrition and contamination. In this section, I will delve into these two concerns and how they may lead to major concerns for dog owners.
Malnutrition
Malnutrition
According to Sachs, there are three distinct forms of malnutrition: chronic hunger (also known as undernourishment), concealed hunger (also known as a lack of micronutrients), and obesity. (Sachs, 2015, pg.318) The existing dog food industries have generally failed to overcome the second condition, when “The calories and proteins may be sufficient, but micronutrients like vitamins or particular fatty acids are not adequately present in the diet. Such micronutrient deficiencies result in various kinds of ill health and vulnerability to infection and other diseases. (Sachs, 2015, pg.318) Several commercially available canned and dried dog meals have much fewer essential nutrients than their labels imply, which could lead to malnutrition and severe health problems in dogs.
For instance, according to the study conducted by Harris, many commercially available dog foods contain significantly less Creatine than is required by dogs. Creatine, which is an essential component of the energy delivery process in several tissues, particularly those characterized by a high and/or fluctuating energy demand. (Harris Et al, 1997) As shown in the graph below, the greatest mean concentration of Creatine in eight different dog food samples is 2 mmol, but one kilogram of raw meat may contain up to 35 mmol of Cr and dog food contains no more than 5 percent raw meat. (Harris Et al., 1997) Moreover, for a 35 kg wolf, a normal average meat consumption will amount, therefore, to 3.5 to 4.5 kg of meat per day, with a Cr content of 120 to 160 mmol kg-1, which implies an average size of dogs with 10 kg weight should consume at least 35 mmol kg-1, and this is absolutely not enough for meeting a dog's daily diet goal. (Harris Et al., 1997) Moreover, Creatinine is cheaper and the waste product of Creatine can only partially perform the same task as Creatine. In this graph above, almost every sample of dog food contains more creatinine than creatine, which suggests that it is a common practice for the dog food industry to switch the two minerals in order to maximize their profit and mislead customers into believing that their "nutritious dog food" contains significantly more nutrients than it actually does and could lead to long term health issues for dogs.
Furthermore, it is not uncommon for the commercial dog food sector to substitute cheaper and less nutritional components. For instance, the lawsuit resulted in a pet food ingredient manufacturer Wilbur-Ellis Co. and a commodities broker paying a total of $7 million after admitting to replacing poultry meals with cheaper feather and bone meals and omitting ingredients altogether. (Dunham-Cheatham et al., 2019) More specifically, the dog food manufacturer falsely claimed on the dog food labels that the product contained nutritious ingredients but instead substituted cheaper ingredients. It is not wrong for firms to outsource cheaper ingredients to earn greater shares in the market. However, it is not ethical to substitute with other less nutritious ingredients other than what the label indicates. This could directly result in a deficiency in the macronutrients and micronutrients that dogs require, which poses significant hazards to their health. More similar practices are hidden within the dog food industry, as manufacturers prioritize profit over producing nutritious and healthy food for dogs. That raises an ethical question for pet owners as to whether they can rely on the dog food brand and its ingredient labeling.
Contamination of Dog food
Contamination of Dog food
The contamination of dog food is yet another widespread issue that commonly occurs in the dog food industry. To be more specific, it has been discovered that a number of different brands of dog food contain dangerous substances that might be lethal to dogs. As the illustration below demonstrates, various brands of dog food all around the world have mycotoxins in their ingredients. Mycotoxins are one class of harmful substances that can produce acute toxicity as well as long-term health problems in animals. (Boermans & Leung, 2007)
As can be seen in the table below, almost twenty percent of pet food across the globe had mycotoxins, which indicates that at least one in every five of the pet diets now available on the market was tainted. In addition, the samples of dog food that were taken in Brazil and Portugal had the worst findings, with 26.7% of the dog food in Brazil carrying mycotoxins and 100% of the dog food in Portugal containing mycotoxins respectively. (Boermans & Leung, 2007) In addition, this issue is not unique to the market for dog food; it affects other industries as well, including those that produce food for cats, birds, and even horses. This presents substantial challenges for the regulation of the pet food industry and opens up the issue of how to lessen the risk posed by this potential hazard.
In addition, mercury contamination is frequently detected in the dog-food sector, despite the fact that it “is not an explicitly identified hazard under the FSMA and CGMP, and PC rules are not in place to monitor for mercury in pet food ingredients and products, though long-term consumption of low concentrations of mercury can result in serious health issues.” (Dunham-Cheatham et al., 2019) It is completely unacceptable for the pet food industry to not have any standards in place regarding mercury, as this could result in significant hazards to the health of dogs. What’s worse, “101 commercial pet foods from the U.S., including dry and wet foods, and found 5 of the foods contained mercury at concentrations above the 267 μg kg−1 MTL and another 11 foods were above the 67 μg kg−1 MTL”, implying that approximately 20 percent of the pet food including dog food in the U.S. market has the risk of exposure to mercury. (Dunham-Cheatham et al., 2019) Failures in regulatory oversight have led to the presence of a surprisingly high number of harmful compounds in the canine food industry, which puts the health of dogs in jeopardy.
Possible Solutions
Possible Solutions
Many commercial dog food can no longer be relied upon as trustworthy as a result of the emergence of the two problems discussed above. What kinds of choices do we have? In the following paragraphs, I will introduce two potential approaches for lowering the risk of dark practices occurring in the dog food industry.
NIRS Technology
NIRS Technology
Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a rapid, objective, easy-to-manage, chemical-free, and non-destructive method that is already available in the food industry for the prediction of gross composition (such as minerals, moisture, protein, and fat, etc.), with prediction accuracy over 90 percent on minerals. (Goi et al., 2019) This method intends to test the sample's composition using infrared in an effort to save time and money. This is beneficial for both pet food makers and pet owners. Pet food manufacturers could test their dog food samples in advance to reduce the likelihood of litigation regarding substandard dog food tests. This would be preferable to the alternative of directly submitting their samples to the administration, which carries a high risk of return and requires a significant amount of time and energy to transport. Also, this may be of assistance to the dog food industry in the creation of a label that is more trustworthy for customers, which may in turn increase the likelihood that customers would make a purchase. In addition, with the aid of this technology, the dog food industry can determine whether a container of dog food contains a suitable amount of minerals, such as Creatine, to minimize the possibility of hidden hunger. In addition, the NIRS can aid in the detection of harmful compounds in contaminated dog food in order to detect the contaminated dog food and eliminate the likelihood of it reaching the market. For pet owners, It is a double test of the dog food to confirm that it meets the qualification standards, which enables pet owners to purchase it without any concerns.
The following graph demonstrates the accuracy of the NIRS in regression analysis. The linear line(prediction regression line) almost accurately represents the sample value(the black dots) slightly off with some outliers. The most accurate prediction is the leftmost graph(graph c) with P(phosphorus) and the least prediction is on the bottom right graph(graph f) with B(Boron) as the cluster starts dispersing off after the 6 mg/Kg DM. Even though it cannot predict the values in 100 percent, it can nevertheless accurately reflect the majority of the composition of the sample.
This method has the drawback that it can not make more accurate predictions about minerals that are not related to organic molecules than it can about minerals that are connected with organic molecules. (Goi et al., 2019) The mineral content of cheese, for instance, has a more accurate assessment of its composition than that of vegetables. Despite this, there is no reason to be concerned about the safety of the dog food sample because the vast majority of dog foods have both protein and organic ingredients. The only exception to this is the relatively limited number of vegetarian dog foods.
Stronger Regulation and more Transparent Report
Stronger Regulation and more Transparent Report
The absence of oversight in the dog food sector is at the core of the issue. Stronger regulation is needed and more transparency is needed to persuade pet owners that dog food in the market is trustworthy and minimize the possibility of malnutrition and contamination. I believe that the regulatory framework for the pet food industry in the United States should be more along the lines of that of the European Union, which has a regulatory framework that is both considerably more developed and stringent than that of the United States. According to Miller, in the United States, pet foods do not have to be pre-approved before they go to market, and only one FDA regulation is in charge of the dog food industry. (Miller, 2022) While pet food manufacturing in the EU is governed by three administrations (The Council of the European Union (The Council), The European Parliament (EP), and The European Commission (EC)) based on three product categories (materials of animal origin, non-animal origin, and additives with certificates and clear labels), the European Pet Food Industry Federation (FEDIAF) is in charge of the industry. (Miller, 2022) To be more explicit, if the dog food is to be sold on the market, it must first receive approval from the four administrations that have been listed above. This makes it significantly less likely that unqualified dog food will be distributed to customers. More importantly, the EU places an emphasis on the verification of the origin of the ingredients and the sanitation of shipping at each stop in order to prevent the spread of animal diseases and to give labels that accurately reflect the composition of the components in order to prevent problems with mislabeling. (Miller, 2022) In addition, in order to sell their products, manufacturers of dog food will be forced to register with the government beforehand, and they will be subject to frequent inspections to guarantee that the manufacturing process is carried out in a manner that does not compromise product quality. (Miller, 2022) Consumers of dog food will have the ability to confidently identify the elements of dog food and track the sources from which the food's ingredients originated once they have access to this information. Hence, stronger regulation and more transparency to consumers are urgently needed to protect the health of dogs from malnutrition and contamination.
It is not guaranteed that the regulations in the industry of dog food will completely eliminate the possibility of malnutrition and contamination issues; as a result, owners of dogs should also pay close attention to the background checks of the dog food manufacturers, the reviews, the distribution channel, and the labeling of the dog food. In spite of this, I noticed that there are relatively few dog food channels, such as blogs, news, or videos on YouTube, to educate dog owners on how to balance their dog's diet in the same way that humans should pay attention to maintaining a balanced diet. I believe there should be more instructional advertising directed toward dog owners on how to scientifically choose good dog food, how much to give out, and how to balance the diet with other food. It is also essential for dog owners to exert pressure on the manufacturers of dog food in order to voice their concerns and call for greater transparency regarding the origin of the ingredients used in the products. This will ensure that dog food is produced that is of a higher quality and is less likely to be harmful.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As a result of the many ways in which dogs contribute to human civilization, an increasing number of people are beginning to acknowledge the importance that dogs play in their own personal lives. Although there are still people who consume dog meat, this practice is becoming less common as more people shift their attitudes toward dogs. In today's society, dogs are given a higher level of respect and are dealt with in an impartial manner. Unfortunately, the dog food industry lacked the ability to supply safe and nutritious food, as the absence of mineral elements and the contamination of dog food posed significant health risks to dogs. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that people who own dogs are aware of this problem, that they push for increased regulation of the industry that produces dog food, and that they make use of the appropriate technology, such as the NIRS method, to reduce the likelihood of such occurrences. Last but not least, it is imperative that we speak out against such practices and lobby for reports that are more open and dog food that is rich in nutrients.
Citation
Citation
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