Answers Pet Food Hits FDA with Declaratory Judgement Complaint
Lystn LLC, a raw pet food manufacturer doing business as Answers Pet Food, is challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the "public's freedom to choose safe, healthy, raw pet food." Company officials filed a declaratory judgment complaint in the United States Colorado District Court on July 5. Answers Pet Food is also seeking injunctive relief against the FDA.
"The FDA is unlawfully targeting the raw pet food industry, seeking to eradicate true, raw food from the marketplace through discriminatory and selective behavior," said company officials in a newly launched multimedia campaign called Freedom to Feed. "The FDA has been open in their bias against the commercial raw pet food industry, despite the fact that the majority of reported illnesses and deaths occur in connection with the feeding of cooked and heavily processed commercial pet foods. The FDA has chosen to define when a product is adulterated without following federal law and without proper science. The FDA has government regulators attempting to make raw and minimally processed food appear dangerous, when science has proven that animal health actually benefits from minimally processed pet foods."
The company's complaint challenges "the lawfulness of the FDA's actions, undertaken with cooperation of the Association of American Feed Control Officials [AAFCO] and participating state government members, in adopting a nationwide, zero-tolerance standard for Salmonella presence in pet food." This standard is non-compliant with federal laws, unsupported by science and beyond the powers properly delegated to the FDA by Congress, according to court documents.
Answers Pet Food's approach to food safety and controlling pathogens is "unique," company officials said.
"In lieu of using high heat, high pressure or irradiation that denatures proteins, Answers Pet Food employs fermentation, Hurdle Technology and other proprietary processes, to preserve the integrity of the food, controlling pathogens and potential pathogens by either eliminating them, reducing them or inhibiting growth whereby good bacteria can survive and out compete harmful bacteria," officials added.
"Answers Pet Food would be the first party to initiate a recall if there was any indication of one of their products being a likely health risk to either pets or their owners, but when the science proves otherwise as provided by federal law, a manufacturer should not be coerced based on administrative policy view in contrast to the law," said Keith A. Hill, president of Lystn, which is headquartered in Fleetwood, Pa.
The full complaint can be found here.