Ethoxyquin in pet food = Merged from two other threads...

[jp4m2]

I already have two other thread going concerning this ingredient. I thought I would merge the two so it is easier to see all both lists all in one place......All of this can be read at Truth about Pet Food.. here....

Part 1: Risk Ingredients Not Listed on Pet Food Labels

Part 2: Risk Ingredients Not Listed on Pet Food Labels

This is about a preservative called "ethoxyquin" that is put on fish meal before it is sent over to the pet food manufacturers to be used in pet food. There is evidence that this is a toxic chemical that is of great concern for causing cancer, in addition to affecting the thyroid and liver. 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.



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.



As of the writing of this article (9/5/09), the following are the companies that have responded.
UnSafe:

Artemis Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”

Canidae/Felidae Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”

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.”

Doctors Foster & Smith Pet Foods
“Ethoxyquin may or may not be in the fish meal that is contained in our foods.”

Natural Balance Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”

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.”

Loyall Pet Foods
“Fish meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”

Confusing Response
Solid Gold Pet Foods
Solid Gold responded quickly to my initial email stating fish meal is preserved with tocopherols. However, with further investigation, Solid Gold dry foods are manufactured by Diamond Pet Foods (confirmed by Solid Gold), and a representative from Diamond told me all foods manufactured by Diamond that contain fish meal, ocean fish meal, or salmon meal use an ethoxyquin preservative in the fish meal. This seems to mean that Solid Gold pet foods, despite their initial response to the ethoxyquin question, actually contains fish meal ingredients that are preserved with ethoxyquin. Three follow up emails to Solid Gold have gone unanswered; no response to the conflicting information.


Safe:

Blue Buffalo Pet Foods
“Fish meal is preserved naturally with Naturox.”

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.”

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.”

Castor & Pollux Pet Foods (Organix and Ultramix)
“Fish meal is preserved with Naturox.”

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.”

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.”

Timberwolf Organics Pet Foods
“Fish meal ingredients are preserved with Vitamin E.”

TLC Pet Foods
“Fish meal is preserved with tocopherols.”

Royal Canin Pet Foods
“Fish meal preserved naturally.”

Eagle Pack Pet Foods
“Fish meal ingredients preserved with natural tocopherols.”

Wellness Pet Foods
“Fish meal ingredients preserved with natural tocopherols.”

Nutro Pet Foods
“Fish meal ingredients are preserved with Vitamin E.”

Iams Pet Foods
“Fish meal ingredients are preserved with Vitamin E.”

No Response (four business days passed)
Azmira Pet Foods
Canine Caviar
Eukanuba Pet Foods
Evangers Pet Foods
Natural Life Pet Foods
Orijen Pet Foods (received message they will follow up)
Petcurean Pet Foods
Purina Pet Foods (received message they will follow up)
Science Diet Pet Foods (received message they will follow up)

Confusing Response
Solid Gold Pet Foods
Solid Gold responded quickly to my initial email stating fish meal is preserved with tocopherols. However, with further investigation, Solid Gold dry foods are manufactured by Diamond Pet Foods (confirmed by Solid Gold), and a representative from Diamond told me all foods manufactured by Diamond that contain fish meal, ocean fish meal, or salmon meal use an ethoxyquin preservative in the fish meal. This seems to mean that Solid Gold pet foods, despite their initial response to the ethoxyquin question, actually contains fish meal ingredients that are preserved with ethoxyquin. Three follow up emails to Solid Gold have gone unanswered; no response to the conflicting information.

My feeling on Solid Gold's safety would be it is not safe. If you check the list of unsafe foods Diamond is the manufacturer of many of them, including Solid Gold. If I'm not mistaken Diamond was responsible for the melamine that was in pet food, I don't trust them.....

[jp4m2]

This is a response that Kimberly, a Y.T. member, received back concerning Nature's Variety pet food and their use of ethoxyquin. This food was not on any of the lists I provided but appears to be safe......I noticed the Nature's Variety rep stated ethoxyquin is not destroyed during the manufacturing process like some companies are trying to claim....Thank you Kimberly..


Thanks for emailing! There are no preservatives. There are some rumors floating around about fish meal and ethoxyquin preservation. First, ethoxyquin cannot be destroyed by manufacturing conditions and any manufacturer who makes this claim is incorrect.

Secondly, most rumors of ethoxyquin and fish meal preservation are from unsubstantiated websites (Dog Foods - Or What In The World Should I Buy? for example). The websites mentions the Code of Federal Regulations, and if you read the actual code carefully, it simply implies that fishmeal/fish scrap on a shipping vessel entering US waters/ports needs to be heavily preserved with an antioxidant, the recommendation being ethoxyquin.

This applies only to fish meal that is shipped; Nature's Variety fish meal is not shipped. Our fish is frozen at sea to prevent degradation and immediately processed into a fish meal once it reaches the manufacturing facility. We have a special contract to ensure our fish meals are naturally preserved.

Third, federal law requires all preservatives to be disclosed on the ingredient panel. We are a transparent, honest, and trustworthy company and comply with all state and federal laws. We test our products for synthetic preservatives to confirm that our suppliers are selling us high quality ingredients meeting our strict specs.

Sincerely,
Customer Service
Nature's Variety
Nature's Variety

[FlDebra]

I hope everyone is sure to understand that all varieties within the brands are not affected with the ethoxyquin. For instance, I use Canidae Chicken Meal and Rice All Life Stages -- no fish meal, no ethoxyquin. I am glad to know about the ethoxyquin though as I recently mentioned the Grain Free Variety to someone here on YT -- evidently from your report it does contain ethoxyquin. I started out with the Chicken & Rice because I was cooking the same thing for them. They liked it and I have stuck with it.

I also use Royal Canin Babydog for weaning puppies due to the great size/shape for tiny mouths. IT is also free from fish meal. I would think most every brand would have a variety without fish meal. So, I wouldn't abandon a company just to avoid the ethoxyquin.

Makes me wonder how my dachsund got to be 17 years old. She only got quality food after I got the Yorkies. Until then, I thought Science Diet and even an occasional can of Alpo was fine! She has never had a health problem and is still trucking at 17 -- just a little arthritic.

[jp4m2]

I tried to stress the fact that it is fish meal in several of my posts so as to avoid this confusion....... .....The other products not using fish meal in the ingredients list are most likely fine ......

It could include salmon meal , ocean fish meal, etc. etc. You would have to ask the manufacturer if the supplier put it on too....

This is the quote I've included to try and clarify any confusion.....


"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."


Yes it is amazing that some pets are more susceptible to the vast amount of toxins they're exposed to and some seem to be able to handle them....

.... Reactivity to chemicals in a population is similar to other population statistics and is represented by a bell-shaped curve. In other words, at one end of the spectrum are sensitive individuals, and at the opposite end are resistant individuals; these groups are relatively small compared to the vast middle group, who show varying degrees of susceptibility – but who are all susceptible. Thus the sensitive group – dogs who have displayed signs of toxicity – happen to be the sentinels for the younger, healthier ones who will eventually be affected; it’s just a matter of time.

[Kimberly812]

FlDebra - that is incorrect!! Canidae All Stages DOES contain ocean fish meal. AND - all products produced by Diamond (and that includes Canidae) that contain fish meal containe ethoxyquin!!!

[jp4m2]

Originally Posted by Kimberly812

FlDebra - that is incorrect!! Canidae All Stages DOES contain ocean fish meal. AND - all products produced by Diamond (and that includes Canidae) that contain fish meal containe ethoxyquin!!!

I just went to Canidae to check the ingredients and they do have products with fish meal in them:

CANIDAE® All Life Stage:
Chicken meal, turkey meal, lamb meal, brown rice, white rice, rice bran, peas, potatoes, oatmeal, cracked pearled barley, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), millet, tomato pomace, natural flavor, flaxseed meal, ocean fish meal, choline chloride, sun cured alfalfa meal, inulin (from chicory root), lecithin, sage extract, cranberries, beta carotene......


CANIDAE® Grain Free All Life Stages:
Chicken meal, turkey meal, lamb, potatoes, peas, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), lamb meal, ocean fish meal, tomato pomace, natural flavor, choline chloride, sun cured alfalfa meal, inulin (from chicory root), lecithin......

Just for the fact that Canidae is manufactured by Diamond Pet Foods I would not be comfortable using any of their products. Diamond has a history of using deadly ingredients in their food....It's just not worth the risk to lose your pet over when there are many other safe foods to choose from....It would give a person piece of mind to use something else......Just plain scary....

[kristy47]

This is directly from Orijen food's website. Orijen & Acana are made by Champion Petfoods in Canada & they DO NOT use ethoxyquin to preserve food/fish meal. Here is the quote & link to their site.

Q | ETHOXYQUIN - Does ORIJEN contain Ethoxyquin?

A | Champion’s ingredients and foods are never preserved with Ethoxyquin or any other chemical preservative.

Ethoxyquin is typically used as a preservative in fish ingredients, and is commonly found in fish ingredients produced within the United States. Champion uses two kinds of fish ingredients in – fresh fish, and fish meals.

FRESH FISH. Our fresh fish is caught wild within our region and arrives FRESH – which is defined as ‘never frozen and with no preservatives’. Our fresh fish never contain Ethoxyquin.

FISH MEALS. Ethoxyquin preservatives are common throughout the fish meal supply chain, so Champion works directly with our fish meal suppliers (no brokers or middlemen) and we pay them a premium to have our fish meals preserved with our proprietary blend of Vitamin E and botanical extracts. Our fish meals are never preserved with Ethoxyquin.

Champion’s Ethoxyquin standard is set at true trace level, not to exceed 5 ppm (parts per million) of Ethoxyquin, which is 0.0005%, or one half of one thousandth of 1% – the lower limit of what most certified laboratories are able to detect or measure.

[Breny]

Just wanted to mention Life's Abundance does NOT contain Ethoxyquin

[jp4m2]

Since this thread has both lists on it it has the most recent updated info I wanted to add the response that members got from Taste of the Wild and the Chicken Soup companies .....

MaddiesMommie contacted Taste of The Wild company and Enlighten60 contacted Chicken Soup, apparently they both received the identical e-mail response:


Dear Marcina,

Thank you for your inquiry.

The Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul products are excellent quality formulas. They provide optimal nutrition for overall good health and do not contain anything harmful.

Fish meal is required by law to be preserved with ethoxyquin. Ethoxyquin is most effective at preventing rancidity in the highly volatile fish meal. Rancidity in ingredients can lead to severe illness.

Most of the ethoxyquin is destroyed in the cooking process, requiring other preservatives to be used. Tests for ethoxyquin are run routinely on Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul products. The results are typically less than 2ppm. The amount allowed, and considered to be safe, by the FDA is 75ppm.

Fish meal is an important ingredient that provides quality amino acids and omega-3 fatty acids. These nutrients are important for all aspects of a healthy life, including great skin and coat, control of inflammation and a strong immune system.

Sincerely,
Dr. Brookshire

My response to this e-mail:
I must say that looks like typical damage control from a company when trying to skirt an issue.....The pet food manufactures on the safe list appeared to have no problem having their fish meal supplier apply for the Special Permit that allows them to use an alternative preservative other than ethoxyquin. So to claim it is the law that they have to use it is a half truth.....

The author of these articles has an 8 yr. old dog with bone cancer, the vet and the author firmly believe it was brought on by eating pet food with ethoxyquin. So to say you can consume a "safe" level of a toxic substance is ridiculous. What Chicken Soup reps fail to mention is the fact that a pet is exposed to ethoxyquin on a daily basis, not from a one time event. Therefore the exposure of their "safe" level now becomes a question of a cumulative level....

If you look at the list of foods using ethoyquin most are manufactured by the Diamond Pet Food Co. and all of them claim they do use ethoxyqion. In 2008 Diamond was also responsible for the many deaths of pets from using melamine ....

I wouldn't trust any foods made by the Diamond company, they can't be trusted. There are far to many companies out there that make good quality foods and have a better track record for safety....Why risk it....


This had been a very enlightening and sad thread.....This is very important info that needs to be out there, if one of our pets where to start having kidney or liver issues or to come down with cancer we would probably never suspect it was from the food they where eating...... Sometimes it feels like I'm playing Russian roulette when I pick up a bag of pet food.....

And I would like to send out a huge THANK YOU!!! to Susan Thixton from Truth about Pet Food for starting this search concerning this ingredient, without her I wouldn't have had a clue.......

[FlDebra]

Originally Posted by Kimberly812

FlDebra - that is incorrect!! Canidae All Stages DOES contain ocean fish meal. AND - all products produced by Diamond (and that includes Canidae) that contain fish meal containe ethoxyquin!!!

"Incorrect" with 2 exclamation points?????
Maybe you did not read my post right -- I said: "I use Canidae Chicken Meal and Rice All Life Stages --no fish meal"

From their site:

"CANIDAE All Natural Ingredients
Chicken meal, brown rice, white rice, rice bran, cracked pearled barley, peas, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), millet, tomato pomace, natural flavor, flaxseed meal, potassium chloride, choline chloride, sun cured alfalfa meal, inulin (from chicory root), lecithin, sage extract, cranberries, beta carotene, rosemary extract, sunflower oil, yucca schidigera extract, dried enterococcus faecium, dried lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried aspergillus oryzae fermentation extract, dried bacillus subtilis fermentation extract, saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation solubles, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid, cobalt proteinate, organic selenium, papaya, pineapple."

SEE, No Fish Meal!! If you look on their site -- all of their varieties are All Life Stage formulas -- but they have lots of different choices!! They do NOT all contain fish meal!! Why the angry reply anyway?

[FlDebra]

Originally Posted by jp4m2

I just went to Canidae to check the ingredients and they do have products with fish meal in them:

CANIDAE® All Life Stage:
Chicken meal, turkey meal, lamb meal, brown rice, white rice, rice bran, peas, potatoes, oatmeal, cracked pearled barley, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), millet, tomato pomace, natural flavor, flaxseed meal, ocean fish meal, choline chloride, sun cured alfalfa meal, inulin (from chicory root), lecithin, sage extract, cranberries, beta carotene......


CANIDAE® Grain Free All Life Stages:
Chicken meal, turkey meal, lamb, potatoes, peas, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), lamb meal, ocean fish meal, tomato pomace, natural flavor, choline chloride, sun cured alfalfa meal, inulin (from chicory root), lecithin......

Just for the fact that Canidae is manufactured by Diamond Pet Foods I would not be comfortable using any of their products. Diamond has a history of using deadly ingredients in their food....It's just not worth the risk to lose your pet over when there are many other safe foods to choose from....It would give a person piece of mind to use something else......Just plain scary....

I understand that and even mentioned it in my post, saying I was glad to know that because I had mentioned the Grain Free variety to another member and now see that it has the fish meal in it! I was just trying to say that ALL of their products do not contain the fish meal. For instance the one I feed my dogs, Canidae Chicken Meal and Rice All Life Stages has no fish meal.

Just did not want to "damn them all" when that is not the case.

[FlDebra]

One other factor to consider is that many of the supposed "safe" foods may not be at all. From wellpet.com: "But here's a news flash: Even if the label doesn't list ethoxyquin (a carcinogen used, among other things, as a rubber preservative), it could still very well be in that food. "Because of labeling law loopholes," says Anitra, "many pet foods containing ethoxyquin do not have to list it on the label. If the food you buy already has ethoxyquin in the fat, it doesn't have to be listed on the label, because the food manufacturer didn't actually put it in."

[jp4m2]

Originally Posted by FlDebra

One other factor to consider is that many of the supposed "safe" foods may not be at all. From wellpet.com: "[I]But here's a news flash: Even if the label doesn't list ethoxyquin (a carcinogen used, among other things, as a rubber preservative), it could still very well be in that food. "Because of labeling law loopholes," says Anitra, "many pet foods containing ethoxyquin do not have to list it on the label. If the food you buy already has ethoxyquin in the fat, it doesn't have to be listed on the label, because the food manufacturer didn't actually put it in[/I]."

I did include this statement in several of my posts. I'm trying to make it clear and I've included the links for people to read the articles in their entirety. I don't know if people are just skimming the posts or actually reading them in their entirety.....

The only way to know for sure is to contact the manufacturer of the fish meal and ask them specifically, do you use ethoxyquin?.... and if not what do you use?...... Some pet food companies will skirt the question by saying , no WE don't use ethoxyqiun.......I believe that is the case with Chicken Soup and TOTW .....

There is a natural substitute (NaturOx) but it is expensive and few companies use it, these three say they use it....

Blue Buffalo....Castor & Pollux Pet Foods ....Kumpi .... so if you chose these brands and the price seems higher this may be a reason for it.......




..All of these other foods that are manufactured by Diamond Pet Food have ethxyquin in them

Unsafe:
Artemis Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”

Canidae/Felidae Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”

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 DiamondPet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”

Natural Balance Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”

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.”

At this point I wouldn't feel comfortable using any food put out having anything to do with the Diamond....ethoxyquin and melamine.....they are both killer chemicals....Not worth trusting my pets too.......
__________________

[Kimberly812]

FlDebra - I am sorry if you perceived my post as "angry" it was not meant that way at all - but rather an "alert" to you, hence the two exclamations. However, I see that I was reading the ingredients for the traditional All Stages formula (which is what I used to feed) and not the Chicken and Rice formula that you feed which does not contain fish meal...

[jp4m2]

Originally Posted by Kimberly812

FlDebra - I am sorry if you perceived my post as "angry" it was not meant that way at all - but rather an "alert" to you, hence the two exclamations. However, I see that I was reading the ingredients for the traditional All Stages formula (which is what I used to feed) and not the Chicken and Rice formula that you feed which does not contain fish meal...

I understand how that can happen......I find myself inserting smileys to avoid any confusion in my posts........ Reading these posts is very subjective, it's funny how the meaning of a post can change the intent of the post by reading it in a different tone.......I probably have a couple of posts in this thread that could be taken the wrong way ....