Ethoxyquin...
 

Ethoxyquin (E) has been a popular topic everywhere lately, so I wanted to get a deeper understanding of this preservative. I wanted to try TOTW in our food rotation, and it is preserved with E. My biggest question, which I cannot find the answer, is 'does E survive the cooking process'? TOTW doesn't add E, from what I understand, the fish meal is already preserved with E when it arrives. So if it doesn't remain stable therefore 'ruined' in cooking, then would it be harmful? ANY THOUGHTS on the preservitive Ethoxyquin??

According to this author Taste of the Wild does have Ethoxyquin in it......If it has fish meal in it......

Risk Ingredients Not Listed on Pet Food Labels


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! This is a strong carcinogenic, you may be poisoning your pet and not knowing it......Fish meals, NOT fish ingredients are a concern with ethoxyquin.


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.


Going by this information I would have to say that if your pets eats this food they are at great risk for the above mentioned effects which would indicate that it is still in a toxic state after processing. The author states her 8 year old dog now has cancer from this ingredient.... I say why risk it....:)

From Wikipedia:

Ethoxyquin is a quinoline-based antioxidant used as a food preservative and a pesticide (under commercial names such as "Stop-Scald"). It is commonly used as a preservative in pet foods to prevent the rancidification of fats. There has been some speculation that ethoxyquin in pet foods might be responsible for multiple health problems. To date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has only found a verifiable connection between ethoxyquin and buildup of protoporphyrin IX in the liver, as well as elevations in liver-related enzymes in some animals, but there are no known health consequences from these effects.[2] Until further evidence is reported, the FDA has asked pet food manufacturers to voluntarily limit ethoxyquin levels to 75 ppm.[2] However, most pet foods that contain ethoxyquin have never exceeded this amount.[2]
Ethoxyquin has been shown to cause mortality in fish.[3]
Ethoxyquin is also commonly used in spices to prevent color loss due to oxidation of the natural carotenoid pigments.
The FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) in 1997 requested a voluntary reduction of ethoxyquin from 150 ppm to 75 ppm in complete dog foods. The work used to make the reduction request was never published in peer reviewed journals or made readily available to public or scientific scrutiny.

This pretty much says it all, Monsanto the manufacturer of ethoxyquin did it's own research which is what the good old FDA used to approve it's use in pet food....I bet that was an unbiased study......:rolleyes:

This is from the article about ethoxyquin.....

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


Why risk it?

TOTW Pacific Stream and NB Fish and Sweet Potato is what I was using to feed Cosmo (TOTW) and Izzy (NB) until I found out this. I didn't want to take any chances so for Cosmo I now use Nature's Variety (NV) Prairie and have him on their rotation diet with some medallions added for one meal.

Izzy who has pancreatitis/SIBO/IBD I have her now on The Honest Kitchen freeze dried raw Preference and steamed tilapia.

I thought that TOTW stated that they don't add it themselves but is added to the fish but when cooked/processed into kibble Ethoxyquin is not an issue. Has anyone else heard that one?:confused:

Thank you all for the resources! :D


Yes I believe that is correct. TOTW doesn't add the Ethoxyquin, rather the fish meal comes preserved with ETQ.
I just cannot seem to find out the real answer, whether ETQ dissipates when heated...???

I got this off another forum while I was doing a search. You can find the original post here: Talk to me about TOTW - Puppy & Dog Forums
But I thought I'd repost part of it here anyway.


It seems all US dog food companies with fish meal would have to have ethoxyquin. And if they didn't, they would have to go through a lot of trouble to make sure there was no ethoxyquin (go through companies with written permission by the government to not have to use it), so you would think they would be shouting it from the rooftops as an advertising move. I guess it just depends on whether you think the cooking process eliminates enough of the preservative.
For me, I'll stick with Orijen. I figure it's better safe than sorry. Plus, Addie loves it, and there's no reason to mess with a good thing. :)

Your correct the fish supplier has to get a Special Permit......

.....it appears that fish meal suppliers (and pet food manufacturers purchasing fish meal) COULD request a Special Permit to use a natural preservative alternative (other than ethoxyquin). The ‘could’ of course is left up to the fish meal supplier and the standards of the pet food line. Many pet foods told me they require fish meals to be ethoxyquin free.

The provision to request an alternative preservative to ethoxyquin is there, the fish meal supplier just has to apply for it. We can assume this is the case with pet food companies (and/or their fish meal suppliers) that use Naturox or other naturally preserved fish meals.

I recently received this in an email from TOTW when I asked about ethoxyquin in thier food:

Taste of the Wild Pet Foods does not add ethoxyquin to any of the formulas.

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 Taste of the Wild products. The results are typically less than 5ppm. The amount allowed, and considered to be safe, by the FDA is 75ppm.

I have kept my girls on it. I may switch but Maddie is sooooo picky and she actually eats this food. All thier flavors have ocean fish meal in them. I will probably go back to California Natural and buy a puppy formula for the newbie!

I find this strange considering they admitted to Truth About Pet Food that they did use ethoxyquin.....:confused:

They have to get a Special Permit to get around using this, so if they claim it is the law it's not entirely true......

I would just avoid any food that is suspect, why take the risk when there are so many more types and brands available......Rather be safe than sorry....:)

I took it as their way of saying "We don't specifically put it in, but that doesn't mean our suppliers do the same."

And technically, it is the law, but they could get around it. I guess it just doesn't sound very good to say, "Using Ethoxyquin is the law, but you can get around this by getting a special permit. We just don't do that."

^^Thank you so much!!

From this...

Taste of the Wild Pet Foods does not add ethoxyquin to any of the formulas....
Most of the ethoxyquin is destroyed in the cooking process, requiring other preservatives to be used. Tests for ethoxyquin are run routinely on Taste of the Wild products. The results are typically less than 5ppm. The amount allowed, and considered to be safe, by the FDA is 75ppm.

...it says ETQ is pretty much removed once undergoing heat. Since the products arrive preserved, then get put into the food and cooked at TOTW, the ETQ is mostly destroyed.

Seems like it would okay for an occational rotation...

However, if you read Iams side of it, they claim ETQ survives under high heat!!!
Ethoxyquin remains stable at the high temperatures required to process pet foods during extrusion. It is important in protecting fats and oils from degrading, losing available calories, and becoming rancid.
Understanding Ethoxyquin


sigh...

Of course! :)

Whoa. I've never seen the Iams label. That is really confusing. It's difficult to know who to trust.

It really is difficult.
TOTW & NB claim it dissipates when heated, but Iams claims it remains stable. So I guess it's 2-1 so far. lol :p