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Interview: Lucy Postins - The Honest Kitchen - And Christine Mandrake - Well Beings - Part 2
Posted on Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Part 2 of 2: Interview With Lucy Postins - The Honest Kitchen - And Christine Mandrake - Well Beings
Interview Topics:
================
The Honest Kitchen: about the company, dehydrated raw dog food line, ingredients, manufacturing, health benefits
Listen to the audio for part 2 of this interview. Running time: 5 minutes and 51 seconds.
Interview details:
=================
Interviewee: The Honest Kitchen: Lucy Postins
Interviewer: Well Beings: Christine Mandrake
Scheduled interview date and time: 9/27/2005 11:26 A.M. (Pacific Time)
====================================================
This interview was produced and edited by Well Beings - Senior Cat & Dog Products -
Copyright © 2005 http://www.wellbeings.com/ . All Rights Reserved.
====================================================
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Okay, great. Let's talk a little bit about how your product is made with only 100 percent human-grade food ingredients.
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Yes. Yeah, all our foods are made in a human food factory up in Los Angeles that makes bakery mixes and breakfast cereals, icing, sugar and ground coffee and that type of thing, and we're the only company in the United States that actually has their pet food made in a human food plant, and we had to jump through a lot of hoops with FDA to finally get approval to use the term "human grade" on our product labels, and we had to demonstrate where every single one of our ingredients came from, as well as where the foods are actually finally blended together.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Wow! And so, how will dogs actually benefit from having this human food grade rather than, I guess pet grade is what the other alternative would be?
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Right. Pet grade ingredients tend to contain a lot of by-products. This is not always the case, but they can contain a lot of by-products and chemical contaminants; things like ethoxyquin, BHA and BHT, and the way that pet foods are manufactured in pet food facilities; they undergo a lot less inspection than human food would in a human facility, so it just really speaks of the integrity of the raw ingredients in the manufacturing practices; everything is done under a USDA and FDA inspection and under the same stringent controls as a human food would.
So, it's not necessarily directly relating to the nutritional content of the food, although, obviously, human foods are generally a lot more nutritious than something that's a by-product used for animal feed, but it's just really the overall quality of the ingredients and the integrity of manufacturing.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Okay, great. Well, you can tell by reading the label; your foods read wonderfully. It's human-grade chicken, flaxseed, potatoes, celery, cabbage; there's nothing in there that you don't understand what that is, but with a lot of other food companies, the ingredient label can be awfully difficult to decipher, and so your foods don't contain any meat meal or chicken meal, and so can you explain a little about that and what kind of meals should people stay away from if they see on a label?
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
You'd really want to stay away from any type of meal that doesn't have a name species; something like lamb meal or chicken meal is not too bad. If you found something that contained poultry meal or meat meal, or even worse, meat and bone meal, that's definitely something to avoid, and you should put down the bag and look for something else.
Whether it's an unnamed species; if it just says a generic like meat meal, that can literally be any type of meat that you could think of, and it ranges from 4D meats, which are dying, diseased, disabled or deceased meats; for example, a cow that's passed away in a field and wasn't fit for human consumption all the way to road kill and other horrible -
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Which is pretty shocking that that can actually be put into pet food.
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Yeah, and it's perfectly legal, sad to say.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Wow! Another really complex issue that we try and help people understand is - because reading a label, it's really important to be able to read a label and understand exactly what's in that food and the quality of it, and so you've talked in previous seminars about a really questionable practice called ingredient splitting, and can you explain a little bit about that so the people can understand what that means and how -
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Yeah, that's a little complex to explain, but it basically - the list of ingredients include in order of predominance by weight so that the ingredient that's heaviest or makes up the majority of the formulation would be listed first, and a lot of manufacturers indulge in the shady practice of ingredient-splitting, which basically means if they have, for example, corn is their heaviest or largest components in their formulation, corn might be 30 percent followed by beef or chicken, at perhaps 20 percent, for example; they can actually get around keeping corn in the No. 1 spot by dividing the corn into its components, which would be, for example, corn husks, cornmeal, corn gluten, corn flour.
So, they can divide the corn into its full components, which obviously, constitutes less, perhaps 7 or 8 percent each, and so then that bumps up chicken to the No. 1 spot, and then they can space the corn out throughout the rest of the list.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Oh yeah, now, well, that's really important for people to know because it definitely does make it appear like, "Oh, well, this is lamb or beef or chicken," when it, in fact, is mostly corn, which you spoke of earlier, is a common intolerance in dogs that lead to the ear infections and skin problems and all that.
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Yeah, definitely. Anytime you see something listed more than once in the list, there's really no excuse for that, so everything should be lumped together, but unfortunately, it's legal to do that for pet food, so anytime you see it, it's definitely a red flag.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Okay, well, yeah, well that's wonderful information that people will definitely need to have. So, let's talk a little bit about what's new with The Honest Kitchen. I know you guys are in the process of coming out with a line of cat food, correct?
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Yes, we are; yeah, that's going to be actually launched at a big trade show in early October; it's going to be called Prowl, and it's a chicken recipe; it's also grain-free. It just has a couple of vegetables and some fruits, but it's predominantly chicken, about 70 percent meat.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Which is really important for cats because, unlike dogs, they actually do need to have mostly protein in their diet, correct?
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Yeah, definitely; they are definitely obligate carnivores.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Well, wonderful. We'll definitely be looking forward to that. I will especially, and my five cats, I'm sure will be thrilled when they get a taste of it, and so we're going to go ahead and wrap up today, but we definitely look forward to speaking with you again, so until next time -
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Okay, and thanks for the chance to speak with you.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Yeah, thank you so much for speaking with us.
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Thanks, Christine.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Okay, Lucy.
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Bye, bye.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Bye.
[End of Audio]
====================================================
This interview was produced and edited by Well Beings - Senior Cat & Dog Products -
Copyright © 2005 http://www.wellbeings.com/ . All Rights Reserved.
====================================================
---------------------------------------------------------------------
End transcript - Part 2 of 2:
Interview with Lucy Postins from The Honest Kitchen and Well Beings
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Related Products:
The Honest Kitchen - Verve: "Ideal for adult maintenance, for dogs who do well with some grain in their diets. Verve is a low fat., low calorie formula, with beef as the protein source."
The Honest Kitchen - Embark: "It is particularly suited to puppies and more active dogs and is ideal for those who are intolerant of grains."
The Honest Kitchen - Force (grain-free): "For adult dogs who are intolerant of grains. Force is formulated with moderate protein, higher fat and total calories, with a moderate level of carbohydrates."
** Attention Ezine editors and Webmasters **
Please feel free to reprint this transcript in its entirety in your ezine, blog, autoresponder, or on your website.
Our only requirements are that you agree to:
If you do use this article please send us a note so we can take a look at your site.
Thanks.
The Well Beings Team.
Visit our blog: http://blog.wellbeings.com for interesting news and information about pet care.
[Related Tags: the honest kitchen, well beings, dehydrated raw dog food, ethoxyquin, fda, usda, ingredient splitting, lamb meal, chicken meal, meat meal, dog allergies, bha contaminant, bht contaminant, food intolerance, ear infection, skin problems, cat diet, grain free diet, cat nutrition, the honest kitchen prowl cat food]
Interview Topics:
================
The Honest Kitchen: about the company, dehydrated raw dog food line, ingredients, manufacturing, health benefits
Listen to the audio for part 2 of this interview. Running time: 5 minutes and 51 seconds.Interview details:
=================
Interviewee: The Honest Kitchen: Lucy Postins
Interviewer: Well Beings: Christine Mandrake
Scheduled interview date and time: 9/27/2005 11:26 A.M. (Pacific Time)
====================================================
This interview was produced and edited by Well Beings - Senior Cat & Dog Products -
Copyright © 2005 http://www.wellbeings.com/ . All Rights Reserved.
====================================================
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Okay, great. Let's talk a little bit about how your product is made with only 100 percent human-grade food ingredients.
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Yes. Yeah, all our foods are made in a human food factory up in Los Angeles that makes bakery mixes and breakfast cereals, icing, sugar and ground coffee and that type of thing, and we're the only company in the United States that actually has their pet food made in a human food plant, and we had to jump through a lot of hoops with FDA to finally get approval to use the term "human grade" on our product labels, and we had to demonstrate where every single one of our ingredients came from, as well as where the foods are actually finally blended together.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Wow! And so, how will dogs actually benefit from having this human food grade rather than, I guess pet grade is what the other alternative would be?
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Right. Pet grade ingredients tend to contain a lot of by-products. This is not always the case, but they can contain a lot of by-products and chemical contaminants; things like ethoxyquin, BHA and BHT, and the way that pet foods are manufactured in pet food facilities; they undergo a lot less inspection than human food would in a human facility, so it just really speaks of the integrity of the raw ingredients in the manufacturing practices; everything is done under a USDA and FDA inspection and under the same stringent controls as a human food would.
So, it's not necessarily directly relating to the nutritional content of the food, although, obviously, human foods are generally a lot more nutritious than something that's a by-product used for animal feed, but it's just really the overall quality of the ingredients and the integrity of manufacturing.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Okay, great. Well, you can tell by reading the label; your foods read wonderfully. It's human-grade chicken, flaxseed, potatoes, celery, cabbage; there's nothing in there that you don't understand what that is, but with a lot of other food companies, the ingredient label can be awfully difficult to decipher, and so your foods don't contain any meat meal or chicken meal, and so can you explain a little about that and what kind of meals should people stay away from if they see on a label?
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
You'd really want to stay away from any type of meal that doesn't have a name species; something like lamb meal or chicken meal is not too bad. If you found something that contained poultry meal or meat meal, or even worse, meat and bone meal, that's definitely something to avoid, and you should put down the bag and look for something else.
Whether it's an unnamed species; if it just says a generic like meat meal, that can literally be any type of meat that you could think of, and it ranges from 4D meats, which are dying, diseased, disabled or deceased meats; for example, a cow that's passed away in a field and wasn't fit for human consumption all the way to road kill and other horrible -
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Which is pretty shocking that that can actually be put into pet food.
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Yeah, and it's perfectly legal, sad to say.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Wow! Another really complex issue that we try and help people understand is - because reading a label, it's really important to be able to read a label and understand exactly what's in that food and the quality of it, and so you've talked in previous seminars about a really questionable practice called ingredient splitting, and can you explain a little bit about that so the people can understand what that means and how -
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Yeah, that's a little complex to explain, but it basically - the list of ingredients include in order of predominance by weight so that the ingredient that's heaviest or makes up the majority of the formulation would be listed first, and a lot of manufacturers indulge in the shady practice of ingredient-splitting, which basically means if they have, for example, corn is their heaviest or largest components in their formulation, corn might be 30 percent followed by beef or chicken, at perhaps 20 percent, for example; they can actually get around keeping corn in the No. 1 spot by dividing the corn into its components, which would be, for example, corn husks, cornmeal, corn gluten, corn flour.
So, they can divide the corn into its full components, which obviously, constitutes less, perhaps 7 or 8 percent each, and so then that bumps up chicken to the No. 1 spot, and then they can space the corn out throughout the rest of the list.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Oh yeah, now, well, that's really important for people to know because it definitely does make it appear like, "Oh, well, this is lamb or beef or chicken," when it, in fact, is mostly corn, which you spoke of earlier, is a common intolerance in dogs that lead to the ear infections and skin problems and all that.
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Yeah, definitely. Anytime you see something listed more than once in the list, there's really no excuse for that, so everything should be lumped together, but unfortunately, it's legal to do that for pet food, so anytime you see it, it's definitely a red flag.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Okay, well, yeah, well that's wonderful information that people will definitely need to have. So, let's talk a little bit about what's new with The Honest Kitchen. I know you guys are in the process of coming out with a line of cat food, correct?
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Yes, we are; yeah, that's going to be actually launched at a big trade show in early October; it's going to be called Prowl, and it's a chicken recipe; it's also grain-free. It just has a couple of vegetables and some fruits, but it's predominantly chicken, about 70 percent meat.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Which is really important for cats because, unlike dogs, they actually do need to have mostly protein in their diet, correct?
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Yeah, definitely; they are definitely obligate carnivores.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Well, wonderful. We'll definitely be looking forward to that. I will especially, and my five cats, I'm sure will be thrilled when they get a taste of it, and so we're going to go ahead and wrap up today, but we definitely look forward to speaking with you again, so until next time -
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Okay, and thanks for the chance to speak with you.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Yeah, thank you so much for speaking with us.
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Thanks, Christine.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Okay, Lucy.
Lucy Postins [The Honest Kitchen]:
Bye, bye.
Christine Mandrake [Well Beings]:
Bye.
[End of Audio]
====================================================
This interview was produced and edited by Well Beings - Senior Cat & Dog Products -
Copyright © 2005 http://www.wellbeings.com/ . All Rights Reserved.
====================================================
---------------------------------------------------------------------
End transcript - Part 2 of 2:
Interview with Lucy Postins from The Honest Kitchen and Well Beings
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Related Products:
The Honest Kitchen - Verve: "Ideal for adult maintenance, for dogs who do well with some grain in their diets. Verve is a low fat., low calorie formula, with beef as the protein source."
The Honest Kitchen - Embark: "It is particularly suited to puppies and more active dogs and is ideal for those who are intolerant of grains."
The Honest Kitchen - Force (grain-free): "For adult dogs who are intolerant of grains. Force is formulated with moderate protein, higher fat and total calories, with a moderate level of carbohydrates."
** Attention Ezine editors and Webmasters **
Please feel free to reprint this transcript in its entirety in your ezine, blog, autoresponder, or on your website.
Our only requirements are that you agree to:
- leave all links in place in the article and resource box
- not modify the content of the article
- include our resource box with the article without modifying the links
If you do use this article please send us a note so we can take a look at your site.
Thanks.
The Well Beings Team.
Visit our blog: http://blog.wellbeings.com for interesting news and information about pet care.
[Related Tags: the honest kitchen, well beings, dehydrated raw dog food, ethoxyquin, fda, usda, ingredient splitting, lamb meal, chicken meal, meat meal, dog allergies, bha contaminant, bht contaminant, food intolerance, ear infection, skin problems, cat diet, grain free diet, cat nutrition, the honest kitchen prowl cat food]
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