Your Single Protein/l.i. Kibble - Probably Isn't

[Bizeebee]

Hi All!

 

I've lately fallen down the rabbit hole of food trial researching as well as joined the facebook group about Nutritional Dilated Cardiomyopathy

in dogs (which I highly recommend everyone join) and found this interesting article I think a lot of GT'ers should take a look at:

 

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/vms3.125

 

This was a study done last year at UC-Davis to DNA test commercially available limited ingredient/single protein dog foods to see if they actually only included the protein specified on their label and ingredients list. Almost every formula showed DNA from mammals that were not listed on the label, and one actually did not include the main protein advertised! While they don't get super specific in pointing out which brand is guilty of which contamination, none of the brands surveyed come out looking great, and they all are brands that I've seen GT'ers discuss and probably use.

 

This contamination could be intentional or simply because machines are used for multiple formulas and contamination happens, but either way I think for anyone intentionally trying to feed a novel or single protein diet because of allergies/sensitivities it's important to know that your kibble might not really be free of other protein contamination. And that you might be paying more for a label that isn't really true.

[LaFlaca]

Excellent resource. Thank you for sharing.

[Hubcitypam]

Thanks. Maggie the muttly can eat anything. I think this is akin to the human food label warnings that food may have been processed in a facility that manufacturers peanuts or tree nuts.

[MaryJane]

Many of the boutique brands do not have their own processing plant and instead rely on commercial processing plants that both create the product for them AND source the ingredients from their vendors. That's why when there is an issue with an ingredient, it usually affects more than one brand. Also, these plants do not usually do quality control and there is little information on how machines are cleaned between different batches of food.

 

I dug all this out when I was researching single protein foods for dogs with GI issues.

[Batmom]

Thanks for posting! It's a real eye-opener, isn't it?


Here's the link to the nutritional DCM group for folks who are interested. It's a really valuable group to join because they've collected so much research and expert veterinary commentary in their Files and learning Units.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TaurineDCM/

[JohnF]

Very useful. I'd be mad if I discovered the main ingredient wasn't what I thought it was!