Additives and Preservatives

Many chemicals are added to commercial pet foods to improve the taste, stability, characteristics, or appearance of the food. Additives provide no nutritional value. Additives include emulsifiers to prevent water and fat from separating, antioxidants to prevent fat from turning rancid, and artificial colors and flavors to make the product more attractive to consumers and more palatable to their companion animals.

Adding chemicals to food originated thousands of years ago with spices, natural preservatives, and ripening agents. In the last 40 years, however, the number of food additives has greatly increased.

All commercial pet foods must be preserved so they stay fresh and appealing to our animal companions. Canning is a preserving process itself, so canned foods contain less preservatives than dry foods. Some preservatives are added to ingredients or raw materials by the suppliers, and others may be added by the manufacturer. Because manufacturers need to ensure that dry foods have a long shelf life to remain edible after shipping and prolonged storage, fats used in pet foods are preserved with either synthetic or "natural" preservatives.

I am not going to go into the names and effects of each type of additive or preservative there are too many but I will mention a few.

Chief amongst the preservatives are BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquin. They are all potentially cancer-causing, as well as the cause of many skin irritations and infertility in dogs. Ethoxyquin is still claimed to be the safest of the preservatives, and also appears in human foods, particularly for things like preserving spices.

Some manufacturers have responded to consumer concern, and are now using "natural" preservatives such as Vitamin C (ascorbate), Vitamin E (mixed tocopherols), and oils of rosemary, clove, or other spices, to preserve the fats in their products. Other ingredients, however, may be individually preserved. Most fishmeal, and some prepared vitamin-mineral mixtures, contains chemical preservatives. This means that your companion animal may be eating food containing several types of preservatives. Federal law requires preservatives to
be disclosed on the label; however, pet food companies only recently started to comply with this law.

The list of common additives is as bad as it is in human food:

• Anticaking agents
• Antimicrobial agents
• Antioxidants
• Coloring agents
• Drying agents
• Emulsifiers
• Firming agents
• Flavor enhancers
• Flavoring agents
• Flour treating agents
• Formulation aids
• Humectants
• Leavening agents
• Lubricants
• Nonnutritive sweeteners
• Nutritive sweeteners
• Oxidizing and reducing agents
• pH control agents
• Processing aids
• Sequestrants
• Solvents, vehicles
• Stabilizers, thickeners
• Surface active agents
• Surface finishing agents
• Synergists
• Texturizers

And the list goes on and on, and I have no clue what half of these are for?

While the law requires studies of direct toxicity of these additives and preservatives, they have not been tested for their potential synergistic effects on each other once ingested (side effects when consumed in combination with other additives). Some authors have suggested that dangerous interactions occur among some of the common synthetic preservatives. Natural preservatives do not provide as long a shelf life as chemical preservatives, but

So, there it is, I am not a food scientist so I’m not going any further, this is quite bad enough in my view. My conclusion from all this is that we should choose the most natural foods for our beloved dogs that we can afford. They will be more expensive but they could be more effective in the long term if your pets health is improved by it. My own dog looks the picture of health on his regime. He is 12, which is a good age for a Briard, and he is generally in very good health. He eats raw minced chicken (no additives or preservatives at all because it is stored frozen) plus a meal that is hypo allergenic and contains only rice and some meal gravy with a very minimum of preservatives. It’s the best I can do for him and still provide a balanced meal for him.


 

Warmly Debbie Boffa Author of “Instant Dog Obedience” http:www.trainingdogsrus.com

2624 Vermont Avenue, Bismarck, ND 58504 *This product and these statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.