(Sign reads ‘Dog Food $5 Bag’)

As a producer of raw and dehydrated foods I’m fairly versed as to the cost of quality meats and the costs to produce them.  So, when I see Asian made dehydrated chicken fillets being sold for ridiculously low prices like $13 a pound, I’m left wondering how exactly that is done.

First, if you’re unaware, the FDA in the United States just released yet ANOTHER warning regarding illnesses linked to feeding these Asian produced ‘treats’.  This is their third warning (also issued in 2007, 2009, and now November 18 2011).  The warning is available for review here: http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/NewsEvents/CVMUpdates/ucm280586.htm.  The CVMA also issued a warning last summer.  How many warning are needed before people stop buying this poison!

Personally, I am not the least surprised.  Why?  Because I am involved with what it costs to make the same pound of dehydrated chicken fillets using quality inspected North American human grade chicken.   So I thought I’d share some figures to help illustrate my point:

• It takes 4 lbs of fresh chicken fillets (aka tenders) to produce approximately 1 lbs of dehydrated fillets.
• The cost per pound, bulk wholesale, for chicken fillets is approximately $4 per lb but fluctuates according to season/supply/demand.  So the raw material cost to make 1 lbs of dehydrated treats using 4 lbs of fresh fillets is $16.00
• To pickup the product at the producer, prepare the fillets for dehydrating, load the dehydrators, unload when drying, scale and package can easily consume 0.3 man-hours or about $5.00 per pound.
• Using small commercial dehydrators, you can get a few lbs of dehydrated product per unit.  At 800 watts, and a 36 hour dry time, the current Ontario energy guide states that it will cost approximately $3.33 to operate for that period of time ($1.50 per lb) - note that forecasts state energy prices could rise by as much as 45% in the next 4 years.
• Add to that contribution towards the costs of the dehydrators, coolers, packaging equipment, facility rent, insurance, staff, support staff such as admin and finance, marketing, packaging, labeling, and shipping to name but a few.

So without factoring in anything apart from the chicken, some labour, and electricity the cost is already at $22.50 per pound!

• Next add a fair profit margin for the manufacturer (say 10%) takes the product up to $25.00 per pound.
• Now add shipping costs to the retailers.
• And finally add a fair profit margin for the retailer (again say 10%) takes the costs close to $30.00 a pound and that’s with MANY costs not yet accounted for.

Therefore, how does one come even close to making a pound of the treats for $13?  Especially given that imports from Asia have an 18% duty placed on them when imported to Canada.  Then add the costs and profit margins to insert an importer into the mix (versus just a manufacturer and retailer).  And then of course the costs to bring the product in from the other side of the planet when fuel is at all time highs? When you start working the costs backward it is beyond comprehension how chicken could even be grown for such costs.

The simple truth of it is that this is non-human grade product produced in a far away country outside of the governing bodies that control the high standards of our own locally (North American) grown products.  Add to that the Asian factory worker who likely earns next to nothing. 

Then, it gets even more difficult to see where the product is actually made.   Someone asked on our Facebook group last week (http://www.facebook.com/boldraw) if their ‘Canadian company’ chicken strips were okay.  But when you actually investigate the ‘Canadian company’ yes they have an ‘office’ in Canada, but their production facility is in Thailand and none of it is actually made here.

Another major raw company who advertises on the packaging as ‘Made in the USA’ actually has all of it’s rabbits shipped in from China.  So, if you wonder about how China grows their animal feed chicken you may also want to consider how their rabbits are raised.

Hopefully the next time you see any of the locally produced dehydrated products instead of wondering why it costs so much in comparison, hopefully instead you will ask yourself why the ‘other’ products cost so little. 

Whether it be product that we make here ourselves, or other quality manufactures like Nothing Added (http://www.nothingadded.ca) or Crumps Naturals (http://www.crumps.ca/) you can be assured that your product is being made using only locally raised products from inspected facilities. 

Like the old saying goes ‘if it’s too good to be true it probably is’.