DOG and cat owners should have a new pet food complaints point, a Senate committee has recommended.
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The step is one of seven actions proposed by seven senators who looked at “regulatory approaches to ensure the safety of pet food”.
Their report was tabled in the Senate on Tuesday following hearings which included evidence from dog owners whose pets had died or been left permanently harmed after eating food made by Wodonga company Mars.
Investigations continue into links between Mars food Advance Dermocare and megaoesophagus cases and the report canvasses concerns over how the industry reacted to upset pet owners.
While none of the seven recommendations to the federal government specifically cites Mars, they do acknowledge broad failings in the pet food industry.
The committee wants the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to “establish a system for consumer reporting on its Product Safety Australia website, to enable members of the public to lodge complaints and concerns associated with pet food”.
It also wants Canberra to work with states “to establish a mechanism to investigate adverse pet food events and develop a complementary education campaign to raise awareness of the adverse pet food reporting, investigation and recall regime”.
The senators call for the existing PetFAST data system to be improved to allow consumers to share concerns.
It flags the US Food and Drug Administration’s Safety Reporting Portal as a model.
Other recommendations relate to standards.
They include a call for the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act to be expanded to include pet food standards and labelling and a new national pet food manufacturing and safety policy.
The committee stated it could not recommend forming an independent regulator, as pet food making was a state responsibility.
Inquiry witness and Wangaratta district dog owner Jodi Burnett, whose rottweiler Titan was diagnosed with megaoesophagus, cautiously welcomed the findings.
“I’d be recommending they hasten slowly,” she said.
“There needs to be further investigation before anything is put into legislation.”
Ms Burnett is particularly concerned that action is taken on what is defined as pet food and its dietary value.
“It needs to be based on appropriate species data, not what they can source as the cheapest filler product,” she said.
“Corn is cheap but it’s not good for dogs.”
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has three months to officially respond to the recommendations.
He has initiated a working group to oversee an independent review of the pet food sector’s safety and rules.