TruthaboutPetFood.com

Careful pet owners closely scan the list of ingredients looking for possible health risks.  Thanks to our friends at AAFCO and the FDA, risk ingredients might not be listed on your pet food label, yet it could be in your pets’ food. 

Health conscious pet owners, many that have learned the hard way to be cautious of pet foods, closely scrutinize their dogs’ or cats’ food ingredient list.  They have become educated to the risks of some ingredients commonly used in dog foods and cat foods.  However, thanks to lax pet food regulations, additives such as chemical preservatives that are added to the bulk ingredient prior to pet food manufacturing are NOT listed on the label. 

Case in point, meet the pet food, pet treat, AND pet food ingredient preservative ethoxyquin.  I have a loud alarm bell that sounds off when I hear this preservative mentioned.  In essence, ethoxyquin is responsible for TruthaboutPetFood.com.  This chemical preservative, according to my beloved veterinarian Dr. Bruce Catlett (who knew more about pet food in 1991 than most do today), was responsible for the bone cancer of my eight year old best friend Samantha; a ‘Rotten-weiler’.  Dr. Catlett shed the first light of truth to me in 1991; he explained that ethoxyquin extended the shelf life of pet foods yet it was a high risk preservative.

Although I trusted my vet completely, it was difficult for me to believe back then that the #1 pet food in the U.S. would have such a lethal chemical in it.  So, I called them.  I’ll never forget what I was told.  The pet food company that I so completely and blindly trusted, told me the dog food had a shelf life of 25 years!  That’s a dog food remaining ‘fresh’ for more than 3 times as long as my dog lived thanks to a lethal chemical.

Today, you’ll rarely see ethoxyquin listed on a pet food label.  Most pet food manufacturers add natural mixed tocopherols to preserve ingredients.  However, because of the likelihood of rancidity of fish meal (ground whole fish and/or fish parts), many fish meal suppliers add ethoxyquin prior to ingredient delivery at the pet food manufacturing plant.  And guess what?  That ethoxyquin added to the fish meal, because it wasn’t added by the pet food manufacturer, is not required to be listed within the ingredients on the label.

Many dog foods and cat foods that state ‘Natural Preservatives’ on their labels, websites, and/or advertising contain fish meal preserved with ethoxyquin; a very un-natural chemical.

Dr. Jean Hofve, DVM states “Ethoxyquin is banned from nearly all human food products (except certain spices) due to its cancer-causing properties.  Most manufacturers have changed to less-controversial preservatives, such as Vitamin E (tocopherol), but ethoxyquin is still used in many "prescription" foods. Ethoxyquin is required for imported fish meal, a prominent ingredient in many pet foods, but not listed on the label; there is a natural substitute (NaturOx) but it is expensive and few companies use it.”  http://www.petfoodstory.com/pets/nutrition/holistic-vets-guide-to-pet-food-additives-preservatives-contaminants.htm

The EPA states “The primary target organs affected by ethoxyquin in experimental animals are the liver and the kidneys.”  http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/factsheets/0003fact.pdf 

However, our good friends at AAFCO and the FDA (pun intended) strongly believe ethoxyquin is safe in animal foods.  In a paper authored by David A. Dzanis published for the Animal Feed Safety Branch of the FDA:  “Although used in some animal feeds since 1959, first accounts of purported adverse effects were received by FDA in 1988.  Since that time, a notable number of consumer inquiries have been received.  Despite the fact that ETQ (ethoxyquin) is approved for use in all animal feeds, reports of adverse reactions have been almost exclusively in dogs.  Of types of dog food, the “premium” brands of dry dog foods are most often incriminated.  However, no correlation of adverse effects with age, gender or breed of dog is apparent.  The reported signs include liver, kidney, thyroid and reproductive dysfunction, teratogenic and carcinogenic effects, allergic reactions and a host of skin and hair abnormalities.  There have been anecdotal reports that some of these conditions have resolved after replacement of the ETQ-containing diet with a diet thought to be free of ETQ.  However, because of inconsistencies in labeling of pet food products containing ETQ secondary to its inclusion in other ingredients, the ETQ-free status of the replacement diets cannot be reliably established.
The original data upon which FDA approved the use of ETQ in animal feeds included a 1-year chronic toxicity study in dogs.  Subsequent to the original food additive petition, a 5-year, multigenerational study in dogs was conducted by the manufacturer.  The study failed to demonstrate adverse effects of ETQ at 300 ppm of food.”
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/reprint/121/11_Suppl/S163.pdf

By the way, the FDA based it approval of ethoxyquin in animal feeds on ‘research’ conducted by Monsanto; the manufacturer of ethoxyquin. 

Per Department of Homeland Security regulations, bulk fishmeal is required to be preserved at 400 ppm; ethoxyquin is provided as an example preservative.  Section 148.04-9 (c) “At the time of production of the material, it must be treated with at least 400 ppm antioxidant (ethoxyquin); in the case where the material contains more than 12 percent fat by weight, it must be treated with at least 1000 ppm antioxidant (ethoxyquin) at the time of production.”  http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2008/octqtr/46cfr148.04-9.htm
 
Thank goodness, there are many pet food manufacturers that have chosen to avoid ethoxyquin regardless of the cost.  I have this past week (9/3/09) emailed requests to dozens of pet food manufacturers (every manufacturer reviewed in Petsumer Report) asking if their fish meal ingredients (fish meal, ocean fish meal, salmon meal, and so on) are preserved with ethoxyquin.  If they were not, I asked to know the specific method of fish meal preservation.

As of the writing of this article (9/5/09), the following are the companies that have responded.
Artemis Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”
Breeders-Choice – AvoDerm Natural Pet Food
“Breeder's Choice does not use ethoxyquin in any of it's foods.  However, because it is found in the food chain, trace amounts cannot easily be eliminated.”
Blue Buffalo Pet Foods
“Fish meal is preserved naturally with Naturox.”
By Nature Pet Foods
“Fish meal is preserved with natural tocopherols.”
California Natural, Innova, Evo Pet Foods
“Fish meal is preserved with Vitamin E and mixed tocopherols.”
Canidae/Felidae Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”
Castor & Pollux Pet Foods (Organix and Ultramix)
“Fish meal is preserved with Naturox.”
Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”
Diamond Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”
Evolve Natural Pet Foods
“Fish meal is preserved with mixed tocopherols.”
Flint River Ranch Pet Food
“Fish meal is flash frozen until time of manufacturing; no preservative needed.”
Fromm Family Pet Foods
“Fish meal is preserved with citric acid.”
Kumpi Pet Foods
“Fish meal is preserved with Naturox Plus.”
Merrick Pet Foods
“Fish meal preserved with mixed tocopherols.”
Natural Balance Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”
Nature’s Logic Pet Food
“Fish meals are preserved with natural tocopherols and rosemary.”
Newman’s Own Pet Foods
“Fish meals preserved with Vitamin E.”
Petcurean Pet Foods
“Fish Meal is preserved with Vitamin E.”
Premium Edge Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”
Taste of the Wild Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”
Timberwolf Organics Pet Foods
“Fish meal ingredients are preserved with Vitamin E.”
TLC Pet Foods
“Fish meal is preserved with tocopherols.”

Many other pet food manufacturers were contacted, no response as of 9/5/09.  The holiday weekend could be the delay in their responses. 

Fish meals, NOT fish ingredients are a concern with ethoxyquin.  As example, ‘salmon’ listed on a pet food label would not be an ethoxyquin preserved ingredient; ‘salmon meal’ might be.  The ONLY way to know is to ask the manufacturer specifically.  Warning however, some responses I have received did not directly answer my ethoxyquin question.  As example, one manufacturer told me “we do not add ethoxyquin to any of our pet foods”.  This response does NOT tell me if their supplier might add ethoxyquin.  I am waiting for their follow up response.

All reviews in Petsumer Report Online have been updated with the above information and ratings have changed if needed; as more information comes in, Petsumer will be updated accordingly.  Meat meal (example chicken meal containing muscle meat only or containing bones and/or internal organs) and fish meal preservative information is listed at the top of each manufacturer page with other company information.

Add to your growing list of questions to your pets’ food manufacturer “Is your fish meal ingredient preserved with ethoxyquin?”  And for your pets’ health, don’t accept an evasive answer. 


Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Truth about Pet Food
Petsumer Report
www.TruthaboutPetFood.com

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