The mayor of St. Louis says trucks will not be taking euthanized pets to
a metro east rendering plant any more. This all comes as a surprise
because no pet food company would admit getting its ingredients from the
rendering plant, but they came out of the bushes after the Allman Report
exposed the practice.
Pictures of a truck taking euthanized dogs and cats from the city pound
to the Millstadt rendering plant pretty much blew the doors open on a
dirty little secret kept by rendering plants and pet food manufacturers.
Dogs and cats are ground up and mixed in with raw materials that find
their way into some pet foods.
Our investigation also revealed government tests showing some pet foods
testing positive for the presence of pentobarbital, the drug used to
kill the animals. Millstadt officials continue to refuse to be
interviewed on camera, but an official tells the Belleville News
Democrat that it will no longer process dead pets from local animal
shelters.
The rendering plant's Clifton Smith says our report "has stirred up so
much controversy in the supply industry where our products go to, we've
had pressure from the industry that they will not take our products that
we produce here unless we will certify that there is no companion animal
in them."
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay says Millstadt never even told the city its
dead shelter animals were winding up in pet food.
Despite the hair-raising reality of its operation, Millstadt says it was
doing a good service for the shelters because it was getting rid of the
animals for free, but Slay says the city doesn't need the favor.
Millstadt Rendering refuses to name the pet food suppliers they deal
with and since there's no law against using dead pets in pet food, the
companies aren't required to reveal themselves.
Pet food companies have always denied using remains of companion animals
in their food. It's possible they simply didn't know that's what their
suppliers were doing.
