Witnessing Cat Fatalities – Jay Lee’s U.S. Report (127)

Cat Deaths on the Rise – Jay Lee's US Dispatch (127)

Cause of Death Pointed to Pet Food – Huge Lawsuits if Animals Die or Get Hurt

Increase in Exports of Korean Pet Food, Need for Higher Certification Standards

△ Lee Jong-chan, CEO of J&B Food Consulting

Recently, the increase in cat deaths has pointed to pet food as one of the causes. While the exact cause of death has not been confirmed, recalling past incidents of pet food and treats safety issues in the US, it seems that Korea should strengthen its regulations on pet food.

In the United States, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was passed in 2011, and since 2016, the Preventive Control for Animal Food regulation has been implemented for animal food, mirroring the regulations for human food.

The content of the US animal food safety regulations is similar to those for human food. It requires identifying biological, chemical, and physical hazards, assessing their likelihood and severity, and taking measures to prevent and control these risks.

However, under Korean food law, HACCP certification for animal food is not mandatory. Instead, companies voluntarily obtain it. Countries like the US and Europe treat animals with the same dignity as humans, ensuring that even the food they consume complies with food safety standards on par with human food. They also obtain individual certifications such as BRC and SQF.

With the recent K-Food boom, not only human food but also pet food is being exported to the US in increasing amounts. However, when checking whether pet food companies in Korea have food safety plans or HACCP certification for export, few are adequately prepared. Many Korean companies are unaware of international standards and do not have sufficient preparations for international expansion, especially since there are no related laws in Korea.

In the US, companies that cause harm or death to animals through pet food or treats face enormous lawsuits. This has driven companies to voluntarily implement high levels of food safety. The mindset is different from Korea, where animal rights are not yet treated with the same level of seriousness as human rights. In Korea, as the number of one-person households increases, there is a growing trend to consider pets as family members.

As the pet food market in Korea and the export market grow, I believe that food safety regulations need to be strengthened to match international standards. In the past 2–3 years, exports of Korean pet food to the US have surged, particularly with small businesses and startups exporting through platforms like Amazon. However, most of these companies have little awareness of US regulations.

In 2007, pet food imported from China caused the deaths of approximately 8,500 dogs and cats in the US. Since then, the FSMA has implemented importer verification systems (FSVP) and overseas audits to ensure safety.

Korea is also seeing an increase in imported pet food. Although some filtering can be done through random sampling tests, the mandatory HACCP certification and raising certification levels for imports are necessary to ensure the safety of imported pet food.

Tag: #PetFood #AnimalFood

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