[Reese B]

If anyone’s curious, this is the response I got from Champion pet foods regarding their response to the test:

Thank-you for contacting us. After numerous attempts to contact the Clean Label Project between April 10th and 13th, we had a conference call with the members of their team as well as Ellipse Analytics lab on April 18th.

Clean Label Project explained their objective to test pet food brands for difference contaminants, then compare and rate them based on their own star-rating system. Clean Label Project noted that they did not conduct any safety assessment of the results against the National Research Council (NRC) or FDA safety standards for companion animals. Rather, the results were compared to the EPA water quality levels which they believe the general public would be familiar with. We suggested that a comparison to the correct NRC or FDA standards would be more valuable to both pet lovers and the industry.

Although actual testing results and detailed methodologies were not provided, as a follow up to our conversation, we later received a quote from Ellipse Analytics where we could pay to receive detailed test results as well as a reference to their pet food certification process.

Our Champion guidelines for toxic heavy metals are based on the limits determined by the NRC for cats and dogs. Monitoring heavy metal levels is an important control point for us, and part of our HACCP program. We preform testing on our own foods and they are also tested for all heavy metals by a third-party accredited laboratory and these results range far below stipulated NRC levels.

Again, we affirm that our foods offer exceptional nutrition, food safety and peace of mind to pet lovers. We are committed to producing Biologically Appropriate dog and cat foods that are trusted by pet lovers everywhere and will continue to keep you updated on this situation as information becomes available.

I hope this information was helpful to you. If you have any questions please let me know.