In order to provide your pet with the healthiest nutrition possible, responsible pet owners need to know how to read ingredient labels.
Virtually all ingredients in consumable pet products must meet ingredient definitions by the American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). Even though there is no regulating body overseeing the pet industry, AAFCO definitions are universally followed by manufacturers to ensure consistency with industry peers.
With that said, not all ingredients in pet food are sunshine and rainbows – there are components to pet consumables that downright scare the you-know-what out of educated pet owners.
Here are the scariest ingredients found in common pet foods:
Meat Meal/Meat By-Products
AAFCO Definitions:
Meat and Bone Meal - the rendered product from mammal tissues, including bone, exclusive of blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents, except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices.
Meat By-Products - the non rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low-temperature fatty tissue and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth and hooves.
Why is this scary?
For one simple reason: “Meat” is not specific to any particular animal, so meat can legally include euthanized dogs and cats as a meat source in pet food products. Essentially, meat can include any mammal, in any mixture or variation.
I’m not kidding. Dogs and cats are eating dogs and cats.
If that’s not bad enough, consider the amount of vaccines an average dog or cat receives in their lifetime. Putting euthanized pets in pet food means that your pet may also be consuming an immeasurable amount of chemical vaccinations.
There is also a common term used in the pet industry called 4D, which stands for dead, diseased, dying, and disabled. Any livestock categorized as a 4D animal is a perfect candidate to end up as a meat ingredient in pet foods.
Yummy…
Pictured above: not meat by-products.
Chemical Preservatives
Ethoxyquin: is a quinoline-based (aromatic organic compound) antioxidant used as a food preservative (E324) and a pesticide. It is commonly used as a preservative in pet foods to prevent the rancidification of fats.
The January/February 1994 issue of Natural Pet Magazine states that at a meeting in 1956 between Monsanto, the maker of ethoxyquin, and the FDA, Dr. Lehman (of the FDA) said that if he was asked, he would have to rule that ethoxyquin is “harmful and deleterious,” and that no amount of retesting could convince him, or others in his division, otherwise.
BHT: Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), also known as butylhydroxytoluene, is a lipophilic (fat-soluble) organic compound that is primarily used as an antioxidant food additive (E number E321) as well as an antioxidant additive in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, jet fuels, rubber, petroleum products, electrical transformer oil, and embalming fluid.
In the 1970s, Benjamin Feingold, a San Francisco MD who established the Feingold diet, claimed that BHT could produce hyperactivity in some children. In addition, some controversy surrounds the link of BHT to cancer risk, some studies showing the potential to increase and some showing a decrease in risk. Some food industries have voluntarily eliminated this additive from their products, and since the 1970s it has been steadily replaced with the less studied BHA.
BHA: The primary use for BHA is as an antioxidant and preservative in food, food packaging, animal feed, cosmetics, rubber, and petroleum products. BHA also is commonly used in medicines.
The US National Institutes of Health report that BHA is reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen based on evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals. In particular, when administered in high doses as part of their diet, BHA causes papillomas and squamous cell carcinomas of the forestomach in rats and Syrian golden hamsters.
To learn more about the dangers surrounding pet food ingredients, check out my article Four Books on Pet Health You Must Read.
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Information credit: Wiki
Well said!
The world is full of people and companies that mislead consumers. They are masters of making things look better than they really are. Pet food is no exception. Do your own research or do your business with people that know and understand the pet food industry…pet food professionals. Not all pet foods are created equal and not all pet food professionals make the cut! Look for professionals that know and understand the products they sell and the ones they don’t sell. People that take the time to discuss issues and answer your questions. It’s all about the relationship!
~Bigdog
This is an important article. Your point on what meat is, and ensuring your animal is not eating the remains of dogs and cats is eye opening. Diligence and research is just as critical to find the right food for your pet as it is for their owners.
Thank you for your comments, Veronica. I agree with what you say – researching your pets’ purchasing decisions is of utmost importance.
Good article. Thanks for all the information. I once bought a famous branded dog food (in yellow box) for my dalmatian Cable. The next morning his balls were all swollen. When my vet saw Cable, he suspected that it must be his food. So I showed him the box. He told me that next time I should see the content before I purchase. Since all the pet foods around are imported, some have already had molds maybe due to poor storage and handling.
@Popty-Wopty recently posted..2nd Pops-less Christmas
Thank you for your comments. I find it odd that your veterinarian suggested the reason your dog has swollen ‘balls’ is due to the diet – I don’t see how that would work. Did your vet explain why he/she came to this conclusion? Something doesn’t make sense here.