No black pet food —Watties

Press, 26 July 1983, Page 8

No black pet food —Watties

PA Wellington The country’s biggest pet food producer has said it will not dye its pet food black.

J. Wattie Canneries, Ltd, said yesterday that the meat used in its canned pet foods was all obtained from export slaughterhouses and was specifically exempt from the regulations requiring black dye to be added. The general manager of the company, Mr B. R. Helm, said there had been a strong public reaction about a claim that an amendment to the meat regulations would mean people would have to buy canned pet food that looked black.

“This will not happen,” said Mr Helm. “It is unfortunate that the statement of the Minister of Agriculture (Mr Maclntyre) has been misinterpreted and led many people to believe that when they open a can of our pet food they will be confronted with a black mess.”

He said his company’s products would keep their present appearance. The desire-4° ensure that meat intended far consumption by animals did not enter the human food chain was fully understood by his company, he said. In the case of canned pet foods, this possibility was avoided by clearly marking the cans as “pet food only” and “not for human consumption.” Watties Canneries manufactures tinned pet food under the labels “Chev,” “Rival,” “Felix,” and “Fido.”