VALPARAISO | Burns Pet Health Inc. has made all-natural, human-grade pet food for more than seven years.

Owner Debi Brockway-Burns said she and her husband, George, have seen their share of mystery ingredients in various brands of dog food, which is why she finds the current pet food troubles no surprise.

The recent pet food recall has involved the pulling from shelves of some 60 million cans and pouches manufactured by Menu Food and sold under the names of more than 90 brands. The action was spurred by the discovery of toxically contaminated wheat gluten, which has left thousands of pets dead or suffering from kidney failure.

The wheat gluten, imported from China by manufacturer Chem Nutra Inc., was tainted with melamine, a chemical used in the manufacture of plastic kitchenware and other industrial products.

"High gas prices are affecting everyone, and because of shipping costs, ingredient costs go up. We've lost customers over the years due to an increase in the price of our foods, but other companies keep their costs the same and cut costs elsewhere, like in the quality of their ingredients," Brockway-Burns said.

The real question, she said, is what is the real cost of cost-cutting?

"If they went to such great lengths to get Chinese wheat gluten in order to cut costs, then what have they done to source their other more expensive ingredients, like proteins? If you're going to go cheap, you go to your expensive ingredients first, so what have they been doing there?" Brockway-Burns said.

She said her foods don't contain any wheat gluten -- only ingredients that animals should eat to stay healthy.

"We don't use wheat gluten at all in our products. Dogs find wheat hard to digest. We use only human-grade ingredients like whole grain brown rice, chicken or fish as protein sources; peas, oats, sunflower oil, seaweed, vitamins and minerals; no coloring; no artificial flavors; and we preserve naturally," she said.

Brockway-Burns said her Valparaiso-based company doesn't spend extra money on advertising or flashy packaging and instead puts money into the quality of the ingredients, purchased only from companies within the U.S.

"Even though we also own a company in the (United Kingdom), we do not cross the waters with our foods. Everything here is U.S.-made because you have to support your own country and believe in the regulations here," she said

There are "a lot of misconceptions in the industry" that could have led to trouble, she said.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

For a list of stores that carry Burns Pet Health Inc. pet foods, visit www.burnspethealth.com or call (877) 923-9651 or (219) 531-4600.