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What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future - The Cost of "Sustainable" Pet Food

Slate Daily Feed

Slate

Business, News, Society & Culture

3.91.1K Ratings

🗓️ 27 August 2023

⏱️ 24 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Most pet food is made from the byproducts of the meat that we, humans, eat. Recently, there’s been a rise in high-end pet food products - including things like lab-grown meat - that are touted as sustainable options for your furry friend. But a closer look raises questions about whether or not this food is actually better for the environment.


Guest: Chloe Sorvino, writer for Forbes and the author of the book Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Fight for the Future of Meat.


Special thanks to Patrick Fort and Garbanzo. 


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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi Patrick. Hello, Lizzie. Would you like to go ahead and introduce yourself?

0:09.4

My name's Patrick. I'm one of the producers of what next TV?

0:13.8

And who's sitting behind you on the floor?

0:16.2

Uh, well, behind me is my four-year-old Tuxedo cat named Carbonzo. I think she's currently

0:22.6

taking a bath.

0:26.4

And how would you describe your relationship with Carbonzo?

0:30.1

My relationship with Carbonzo is probably no different than other people's relationships

0:34.2

with their pets in that she's baby and she's always going to be baby and I love her so much.

0:43.9

What do you feed her?

0:45.9

So I actually brought visual aids for you.

0:49.1

It's very helpful on a podcast.

0:50.6

Yes, it's very helpful. So right here I have Earthborne Holistic Catalina Catch Wet Food.

0:58.8

What's in there?

1:00.0

So here on the ingredient label, it's got mackerel, fish broth, shrimp, sunflower oil and then

1:08.3

there's a lot of other words that I can't pronounce but they seem like vitamins.

1:14.5

The generous assumption. And what else do you have?

1:17.4

And then I have some dry food which is origin six fish which has whole mackerel, whole

1:27.2

hearing, flounder, a cadian red fish, monk fish and then a lot of other fish meals and

1:35.8

then further down the list, strangely enough, collared greens but I don't know, a lot

1:42.2

of these things feel like things that I'd like know what they are.

1:52.1

I'm asking Patrick these slightly ridiculous questions because what we feed our pets

1:57.4

is a fascinating social barometer and lately over the past decade or so there has been

...

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