• BubbleMonkey@slrpnk.net
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    6 months ago

    You can just gnaw on dog treats if you want. Like nobody is stopping you. My parents tried and failed many many years ago, but the sandy texture of the treats they bought was a major turnoff for me, so no need fam. If dentabones or whatever had been a thing back then I might have a different story…

    Fun fact; most pet foods and treats are tested at some stage by humans for flavor, because animals can’t really give proper critique. So someone, somewhere, has probably already eaten them.

    • Turbofish@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      I’m a very small sample size being one guy who works in a dog food factory. But we absolutely do not test our products on humans. All our meat products are marked not for human consumption.

      The seasonings and what have you are often tested by the npd crowd but I can’t imagine a scenario where anyone would actually try the finished product.

      • BubbleMonkey@slrpnk.net
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        6 months ago

        The seasonings and what have you are often tested by the npd crowd

        This is the “at some stage” portion, I assume (tho I don’t understand the lingo you are using tbh)

        Dry foods are bland and flavorless kibbles without the flavor coating, often using the same meal for multiple lines, so you just test the coating. But other products don’t have that luxury, like wet foods and treats that have soft core or whatever.

        Obviously nobody is consuming it as a diet, but they do test it :)

        https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/food-facts/food-careers/food-taster3.htm

        https://www.buzzfeed.com/stephenlaconte/i-just-found-out-that-dog-food-gets-taste-tested-by-humans

        https://www.merieuxnutrisciences.com/na/sensory-and-consumer-testing-of-pet-food/

        • Turbofish@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          New product design.

          What testing is done is that core temps are monitored, moisture levels checked and there’s micro testing for bacteria and what not. Its all also run through metal detectors at multiple stages throughout the process.

          This should theoretically be safe for human consumption but all of the unprocessed meat is marked as cat 3 and isn’t fit for humans. A company would be opening themselves to liability if they were to make people test it.

      • Maalus@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        In many places catfood and such is mandatory to be safe for human consumption.

            • flicker@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              I dunno what to tell you. It’s been a thing since I worked a retail job as a kid and was warned to advise management if someone was buying “a lot” of cat food and seemed poorer than average. Found an article. It’s one of those things where there were PDAs about it in the 80s, there’s articles of it happening during the pandemic, but I’m not finding any scholarly articles.

              Probably hard to get someone to admit to.

            • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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              6 months ago

              “real” food is cheaper, but also has to be cooked and can’t sit on a shelf for 15 years and still be edible.

              This is why stuff like spam continues to be sold, it’s cheap and easy and lasts forever.

              • Aux@lemmy.world
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                6 months ago

                When someone talks about cat food the real alternative is food like SPAM. And SPAM IS cheaper than cat food. Buying cat food to eat is an expensive enterprise, thus the original point is false.

      • BubbleMonkey@slrpnk.net
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        6 months ago

        I haven’t tried those but the generic ones that were bbq flavor back in the 90s were made from flour and water and probably nothing else, and crumbled on bite into nasty wheat sand.