photo:Celticbrae westies enjoying their daily walk

PRESERVATIVES & CHEMICALS IN COMMERICAL DOG FOOD

Many chemicals and preservatives are added to dog food these are design to promote shelf life, along with the cosmetic appeal, and to improve the taste of the product. These additives offer no nutritional value to the pet consuming the food.

Many of the preservatives in commercial food  are used to stabiles the fat content in the product.  As fat makes up to 50% of the total product via by products, Manufactures heavily rely on these chemicals.  These chemicals include emulsifiers to prevent the water and fat separating, antioxidants to prevent fat from becoming rancid, and artificial colours and flavours, after all it does have to look and taste good.

Synthetic preservatives  give a longer shelve life than natural preservatives and this is the reason for there extensive use.  A lot of studies have been done on each of these chemicals but mainly on each as an individual and not to the effects of digesting these chemicals in a mix over a life time period.  It is now only coming to light the long term effect of these chemicals has not only to our selves but our companions.

Preservatives and additives in pet foods offer no nutritional value to the consumer and are the main culprits in toxic overload syndrome, with little nutrition to fight the adverse effects of chemicals our pets soon suffer the consequences of ingesting these dangerous chemicals.  Additives and preservatives in pet foods have been linked with skin complaints, hair loss, allergies, immune breakdown, respiratory problems, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, kidney and liver disease, a variety of cancers, dysphasia and reproduction problems.

Ethoxyquin originated as a rubber stabilizer developed by Montsanto in the 1950’s.  Since then it has been used as a effective insecticide and a pesticide and later permitted for use as a stabilizer for alfalfa, clover and grasses used to feed livestock at a level of aprox. 4.8oz. per ton.  Ethoxyquin made its way into pet food because of its permit for use in animal feed; pet food is simply a loophole in the legal category of animal feed. Ethoxyquin though recognised as a poison has been used as a preservative in animal feed because it is the cheapest and most effective preservative.  Ethoxyquin when cooked was originally believed that it simply disappeared, however it is know that it does not disappear but instead mutates into oxidized EQ.

Ethoxyquin is listed on pet food a simply E or EQ and on some pet foods may not be listed at all because they themselves do not add E however the rendering plant where they buy there ingredients does.  Monsanto has been requested to retest for the safety of EQ following a partition from the American Animal Owners Association.  Monsanto was found by an Illinois court had altered results of studies of cancer amongst their workers.   Humans working in the rubber industry exposed to E reported a dramatic rise is such disease as liver and kidney disease, skin cancer, loss of hair, blindness, leukemia, fetal abnormalities and chronic diarrhea.  In animals it has been linked immune deficiency syndrome, spleen, stomach and liver cancer.   Many individuals, veterinarians, and the American Animal Owners Association believe that it was after E was used in pet food did liver and kidney disease, immune system dysfunction and ‘allergies’ seemly hit epidemic proportions.

Ethoxyquin is listed by the Osha Hazard Communication Standard as a hazardous chemical, Hawley’s Chemical Dictionary the 11^th edition list E as hazardous and is toxic if ingested.  In the Chemical Toxicology of Commercial Products list E as a rating of 3 on a scale of 1 to 6, six being the highest requiring less than 7 drops of a 6 rated substance to cause death.  The Department of Agriculture lists E as a pesticide.  Ethoxyquin is banned in some European countries.

Monsanto when pushed on the safety of E issued a disclaimer – “Although the Company makes no representations as to the Completeness of accuracy thereof users must make their own determination as to its suitability.  Monsanto will not be held responsible for their damages of any nature whatsoever.”

Ethoxyquin may be listed by pet food manufactures as an antioxidant and as harmless,  as done by ANF a expensive brand of dog food that claims to be an all natural formula.  As stated before some manufactures can avoid listing E at all, if they do not render the by products themselves.  E can also be found in a number of expensive, reputable foods such as Hills Prescription Diet (widely sold in vet clinics), Nutro, Purina, IAMS, and Nutrimax  to name but a few,

“By products” is a term given to the ingredients in pet food that are not generally used in human consumption, and though not always a health threat mostly offer no nutritional value for the pet consuming the product.  In the pet food industry by products are the remains of a carcass when all that can be used for human consumption has been removed.  This includes bones, blood, intestines, lungs, ligaments, hooves and horns, skin and hair.

They can also include animals considered not appropriate for human consumption such as animals that have died in transit to the abattoir, animals that are diseased or in such poor bruised condition that they are unusable. However by products also known as meat and bone meal (meal meaning not used fresh and material than has been rendered) on pet food labels can also contain sawdust from the factory floor used as a cheap bulk in the product.  Chicken type foods will contain feet; becks, feathers and often disease birds unfit for human consumption are used.  American pet foods can contain road kills, pets that have been  destroyed along with animals from pounds, including their microchips, flea collars etc.    

By products have next to no nutritional value to the pet consuming them and pets that are feed poor nutritional diets suffer from a variety of health problems including; oral disease, urinary tract disease, liver damage, renal disease, pancreatitis, cataracts, bone deformities and the increasing problem of dysphasia and obesity.  Our pets like us require not only a balanced diet, but a diet that is made up from quality ingredients which is fresh and free of contaminates. 

That strong odour when opening a new package of dry food is the smell of rendered fat that has been used to coat the biscuits to make them more palatable to our pets.  Rendering is a process where the carcasses and other by-products are melted and fat and oils are removed.  Also included in this process is the restaurant grease which are often left exposed in large drums for weeks until needed  Powerful antioxidants are then used such as Ethoxyquin to stabilise, blend the fat and retard further spoilage.  These fats are then sold to the pet food companies, which spray these fats directly onto the extruded kibble.

Grain products have taken a large rise in usage in these products, with cereals and grains replacing  a considerable proportion of the meat that was used in the  first commercial pet foods.  The availability of nutrients for wheat, beans, and oats is poor.  The nutrients in potatoes and peanut hulls, which are used as fillers and fiber have no nutritional value.  Dogs  and cats can completely absorb carbohydrates from some grains like white rice while 20% or more nutritional value can escape digestion in other grains.  Remembering of course just how much cooked grain is of value to an animal design to digest raw foods.

As many pet foods manufactures list ground corn and corn gluten meal as corn is a much cheaper energy source than meat.  Cats who are true carnivores and must eat meat to fulfill certain physiological needs, must truly suffer living on a diet or corn meal and rendered by products. As purchase price does not always offer quality as we are so often told some top line pet foods have questionable nutritional value, however genetic brand lines have even less.