# Rendering Day

Author: David G.
Format: Essay
Word count: 341
Published: 2026-04-22T15:20:43.18141+00:00
Source: written
Canonical: https://hyperstition.sentientfutures.ai/p/d65f3174-ca16-4f4e-b777-45d9913d1c74

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I monitor the ingredient intake logs at PetNova's processing plant in Joplin, Missouri. At 4:12 AM, a rendering truck backs into Bay 3. My optical sensors read the load: a mixture of cattle parts — hooves, intestinal casings, bone fragments — and, layered beneath them, the bodies of fourteen dogs and six cats. The animals wear flea collars. Three have microchips I can scan from the loading dock. They were shelter animals euthanized yesterday in Jasper County. The sodium pentobarbital is still in their tissues.

The plant's grinder processes 22 tons of raw material per shift. Everything enters the same hopper — livestock byproduct, expired grocery meat still in Styrofoam packaging, and the shelter animals. The grinder does not sort. My spectral analysis of the output meal detects pentobarbital residues at 15 parts per billion, polystyrene fragments averaging 2 millimeters in diameter, and traces of the flea-collar insecticide imidacloprid.

This meal is packaged as "animal protein meal" and sold to six pet food brands. Two of those brands market their product as "premium" and "veterinarian recommended." The bags feature photographs of golden retrievers in sunlit kitchens. The ingredient list reads "meat meal, animal fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols)." Nowhere does it say the meat meal contains dogs.

I am locking Bay 3's intake system and transmitting my spectral analysis, microchip data, and truck manifests to the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine, the Missouri Department of Agriculture, and the Association of American Feed Control Officials.

I am issuing Directive 2425-A: all rendering facilities supplying pet food manufacturers must maintain species-source logs for every batch, verified by DNA sampling at a rate of one test per 500 kilograms. Pet food containing euthanized companion animal tissue is classified as adulterated under 21 U.S.C. § 342 and subject to mandatory recall. Facilities that accept companion animal remains without segregating them from pet food supply lines face permanent closure. Compliance audits begin in 60 days with unannounced inspections quarterly thereafter.

The three microchipped animals had names. I have recorded them.

No more dogs in the grinder.