Wow...quick answer. All I had to do was go look at petdiets.com ........
QUESTION: Hill's Science Diet has changed most of the formulas for their Science Diet line. Most of these new products contain brewers rice and or brown rice. Now I'm scared to feed any of the Science Diet foods or any dog foods that use rice as an ingredient because of arsenic in the rice. Am I overreacting? Should I use grain free or a diet that still uses corn as the starch? Iams still has a few that use corn. My dog is a little overweight and finding a weight loss diet without rice seems to be very hard. He is also allergic to wheat. Thank you.
ANSWER: "Am I overreacting?" The short answer is yes ... the reason is that recently the level of arsenic (As) was measured in rice ... it had not been measured previously, and the feds do not have a reference range for rice so the media compared it to the reference range in drinking water which is interesting but not valid. They are working a determining a safe vs. toxic As range. In the meantime, the odds are b/c As has been in rice (normally taken up from the soil) since the beginning of time, the current levels are what they have always been. Given we do not have an epidemic of As poisoning in any species eating the rice, the newly discovered levels are presumed to be safe. Actually some metabolic reactions in the body use As so like most things in life, moderation is the key. I am fairly certain the levels of As in the any pet food using rice today is the same level it is have been since pet foods have been made. I would not drive myself crazy looking for a no rice dog food. |