Since we do not eat horses in the United States,
they are not an agricultural edible commodity, and so the laws regulating what can and cannot be put into horse, cat and dog foods of animals not destined for the human food market are significantly different than for animals destined for slaughter like cows, chickens and pigs. Essentially, it is "anything goes" for the pet food market, including horses. Back in 1976, there was a law passed that allowed industrial wastes to be "recycled" in to products that is called with tongue in cheek, The Hazardous Waste Recycling Act" that allows contaminated wastes that may contain some minerals to be re-listed as "trace minerals" and added to pet foods and fertilizers that grow our food. That is why, in a recession when poor and elderly people have a hard time with food bills and turn to cat food tuna fish and other pet foods, the federal government issues public media warnings that the quality of cat tuna fish is not up to human standards, but they fail to say why however.
These industrial and pharmaceutical wastes also are being "recycled towards a profitable end" in the form of artificial colors, artificial flavors and artificial fragrances that enter our human market in everything from medicines to foods and drinks to heavy use in cosmetics.
Vita Royal was established in 1977 in direct response to the hazardous waste recycling that began in 1976, to provide a clean and non-adulterated feed and supplement line for performance horses who were athletes. It is absurd to feed athletes of any species contaminated feed and supplements and still expect them to perform competitively in any capacity. Vita Royal was the first to offer commercial supplements specifically addressing the increasing mineral deficiencies in our food supply, and also the toxicities of the metals being dumped in the fertilizers that grew the food, and also the skewed mineral ratios coming through our food and feed supply for both humans and animals. The consequences of such practices began to be predictably seen in population statistics of ill health for both animals and humans in the mid 1980’s and are epidemic today in obesity, metabolic syndromes, blood sugar irregularities, hormone imbalances, and mood disorders.
We carefully select the safest and most nutritional feed ingredients, and we have strict specifications for our partner mills producing Equine Plus® Feed.