[Scott C]

For those of us who are stuck living in this corporate-owned United States of America and whose dogs love and have thrived on Orijen products, this is nothing short of a disaster.

Champion may choose to “wheel out” the fact that they are a small private company whenever it suits their purposes

(for example, to decline answering questions in an FAQ which they created, themselves… such an odd thing, to identify a question only to answer it by saying, “we’re a private company and won’t answer that question”)

but they are certainly behaving like a corrupt corporate giant.

The reality of Champion shifting its USA market products to production in financially destitute Kentucky, enjoying a tax credit in a state where they can pay “market competitive” wages to financially destitute employees, purchasing land from financially destitute owners, and sourcing ingredients at “competitive” prices from financially destitute farmers means that all of their high-sounding rationale boils down to “we can’t make enough food in Canada because we’ve grown too popular, and it will cost too much to employ Canadians, build Canadian factories, and purchase safe Canadian ingredients, so we’re cheating out on all of you loyal customers south of the border.”

Of the questions they do answer, the majority of answers in Champion’s FAQ about sourcing ingredients are vague “weasel-speak” and the entire concept fills me with dread.

American food ingredients may not–depending on whom you ask–(yet) contain actual toxins, like some Chinese (et al.) products do. However, the American diet is one of the worst on the planet among First- (or Second-, depending on whom you ask) World countries. That wretched level of nutrition is nevertheless largely in keeping with the quality and inspection standards and recommendations that multi-billion dollar agribusiness has purchased from the United States government. Would anyone who can afford to do otherwise ever buy Tyson chicken again, or trust Kellogg to provide a healthy balanced breakfast, or eat Wonder Bread? Clearly, not.

Does this mean that all American foodstuffs are corrupted? Clearly not (yet), but as the cliche’ goes, “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”

Indeed, there are strong, and likely successful, movements in our Congress to specifically deny the American people information about where the ingredients in their food are sourced, because such information is “bad for bid’ness.” If passed, these laws would allow corporations to respond to inquiries with something like, “Our food products are made to meet or exceed government standards and we are not required to release information regarding ingredient sourcing to the public.”

Why, then, would those who are blessed with the option of spending $100/month per dog on dog food (which is roughly what Orijen Regional Red costs) EVER consider it acceptable to trust our beloved pets to foods (like Purina, or Science Diet, or what have you) made with unreliable US (or, soon, “worldwide”) ingredients, meeting untrustworthy US guidelines for healthy nutrition, in factories held to unreliable US standards of sanitation?

I have sent a letter to Champion explicitly asking whether the reality of this change is that their Canadian products will only be available in Canada, Europe, and Asia, as their FAQ suggests. I will share whatever reply I receive.

Certainly, for us, if “Made in Canada” becomes “Made in USA” we will stop purchasing Champion’s products immediately.