Target: Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Director General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, New Delhi, India
Goal: Enforce new veterinary certification rules and impose maximum penalties, including license suspensions, on any exporters shipping uninspected animal by-products for pet food.
India’s export rules for animal by-products used in pet food now require strict veterinary oversight—post-mortem inspections, segregation, and certification tied to registered abattoirs. These safeguards exist because by-products such as guts, bladders, intestines, hides, bones, and glands, when sourced without proper checks, can reflect upstream neglect and cause immense suffering for animals, alongside significant biosafety risks.
Despite the strengthened framework, animal welfare groups frequently document how unregulated or poorly monitored segments of the by-product trade can conceal cruelty: animals processed in unsanitary conditions, carcasses cleared without proper disease screening, and paperwork that is incomplete or misleading. In such cases, animals are the first victims—treated as disposable inputs rather than sentient beings whose lives and deaths must meet humane standards.
To ensure the rules work as intended, rigorous enforcement is essential. Authorities should conduct surprise audits, trace shipments back to source facilities, and immediately sanction any operator bypassing inspection or certification requirements. When violations are substantiated, penalties should be swift and meaningful: suspension or cancellation of export privileges, heavy fines, and referral to relevant enforcement bodies. Sign below and demand decisive action to uphold the law and protect animals from hidden cruelty within supply chains.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Mr. Sarangi,
We appreciate that India has issued detailed requirements for veterinary inspection, donor facility registration, and certification for animal by-products used in pet food. These measures exist to prevent cruelty and contamination. Yet without firm and visible enforcement, bad actors can sidestep inspections, mislabel origins, or move material from unregistered slaughterhouses—leaving animals to suffer in unsafe, unmonitored conditions.
We therefore respectfully urge your office to direct immediate and ongoing compliance checks across exporters handling animal by-products for pet food. Please prioritize random audits, documentation reviews, and source-to-shipment traceability to identify operators who are bypassing mandatory post-mortem inspection, segregation, or veterinary certification.
Where violations are substantiated, we ask that you impose the maximum administrative penalties available under trade law, including suspension or cancellation of export privileges, blacklisting of repeat offenders, and referrals to appropriate authorities for any cruelty or fraud that is uncovered. Publicly reporting enforcement actions will deter future misconduct and affirm that animals are not mere commodities, but lives worthy of humane treatment and lawful protection.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Anne Hornyak
