By Julie Lauzon, agr, MSc, Pet Nutrition
One thing that I particularly enjoy, is going through the nutrient and ingredient panel of pet foods. For some, this may be confusing, but when you know what to look for, the amount of information you can find on a brand is impressive. This information can be deduced from the nutritional value of the food versus transparency of the brand. It is very easy to hide information, using marketing to make a food look more attractive. However, numbers don’t lie if we know how to read them. Let me give you some tips…you might never see a nutrient label the same way.
Listing by Weight
It is common practice to believe that there is no way to hide anything in an ingredient list. This is because, by law, the ingredients used need to be listed by weight, from the highest to lowest amount. This simple idea can be misleading and here are two things to keep in mind:
- The weight listed is before cooking, and in kibble, this means 60% of fresh meat weight will be lost, compared to grain or vegetable flours which are already dry – ingredients can appear lessened in the ingredient list. This is because once the product is cooked and extruded, it might make up most of the product. As an example, an ingredient list with the first ingredients being “fresh chicken meat, pea flour”, makes it looks like there is more chicken than peas, but once cooked, it is likely the opposite.
- Ingredients can have multiple names or synonyms – which can lead to the use of terms that have a better marketing reputation, as well as fractioning of ingredients. I will focus more on this below, as it can apply to raw food as well.
Multiple Names or Synonyms in an Ingredient List
Did you know that cassava root, yucca and tapioca are all, in fact, the same plant? Tapioca is the extracted starch from the cassava root, which is the blanched part of the yucca (manioc) plant. Cassava root flour will have higher fiber and micronutrient content than Tapioca because, by definition, it is supposed to be the whole root. The dark side of the story is that pet food labels can list cassava or manioc root in the ingredient list as a synonym to tapioca. What’s wrong with this? Well, tapioca has a glycemic index higher than corn, white rice, cooked potato, white bread, and even Coca-Cola! The glycemic index signifies how much the food will increase blood sugar once it is digested. Another example of an ingredient with a better reputation than others in the same family, is yams. Yam is a fancy exotic term that is sometimes used as a synonym to a potato and sweet potato. The reality is that real yams are very hard to find and are 100% imported from Central America, Africa, or Asia. But all those terms are interchangeable – just like manioc – and are simply starch heavy binders/fillers, and should be use in very small amounts low in the ingredient list.
Similar to using the term manioc instead of tapioca (because of tapioca’s bad reputation), the use of synonyms with a better reputation can also apply at the transformation of the ingredient. For example, meat meal is now often listed as “dehydrated meat”, because the term “dehydrated” builds a better image in customers’ mind than flour. But, when you see dehydrated chicken meat listed on a pet food label, it is chicken meat flour. You might wonder what’s wrong with that? It’s the fact that the meat was likely cooked two or three times already at very high temperatures. This increases the risk of amino acid denaturation resulting in less nutrients. The word “dehydrated” is used in marketing because it makes it looks like higher quality meat is used, however, by definition it is simply something with water removed at any temperature. Customers might believe that by buying a food that uses dehydrated chicken meat they are getting a higher quality food than the competitor listing it under chicken meat flour – but both are probably using the exact same ingredient, which is repeatedly cooked chicken by-product.
Fractioning of Ingredients
Leveraging ingredient synonyms opens the door for fractioning of ingredients through the different names as they could list each name separately (yucca, tapioca, cassava starch, cassava root, yucca root), which in turn would ensure they all appear lower in the ingredient list. When put together, those ingredients probably make up a much higher proportion of the recipe.
A very common example of fractioning to look out for is salt! Here are all the possible forms of salt: sodium chloride, choline chloride, sodium carbonate, sodium borate, sodium sulfate, borax, baking soda, brine, sea salt, sodium propionate, and the list goes on. Although salt in very small amounts is beneficial and essential, too much salt can cause cardiovascular and renal issues and is very well documented in many species. The only reason to use more salt than needed in pet food is to increase the palatability of the food.
On grain-free kibble bags it is very common to see peas, chickpeas and lentils fractioned in different names to make it appear lower in the ingredient list: pea protein, pea flour, whole peas, pea fiber, etc. Although peas are a high protein vegetable, we still want the majority of the protein to come from meat. An example of an ingredient listing that would make me believe that there are more peas in the recipe than the brand wants it to be perceived would be presented as; chicken meat, pea protein, chicken flour, pea flour, whole peas. The fractioning of the pea ingredients allows it to appear lower in the ingredient list, but when put together, there is likely more peas than chicken in this recipe. A higher proportion of plant protein means less essential amino acids and more pressure on the kidneys to get rid of all of that unnecessary plant protein.
Ingredient Listings to Watch For In Raw Food
We rarely see ingredient fractioning in raw pet food, mainly because most raw pet food brands were founded with the goal of bettering the pet food industry and seeking to offer more transparency to the customer. However, that does not mean there is nothing to watch out for! For example, winter squash, summer squash and squash seeds are all squash. Listing them separately allows the squash to appear lower down the ingredient list. On its own, squash isn’t a bad ingredient – but it is a vegetable with a high glycemic index, that shouldn’t be the main ingredient of a diet. By fractioning this ingredient, it makes me believe that the real amount of squash is so high that its position wouldn’t look good in the ingredient list.
Ingredient Listings for Different Guidelines
Another thing to consider is the nutrient requirements versus which nutrient guidelines are followed. AAFCO, FEDIAF and NRC all share different requirements, based mostly on the digestibility factor used and, unfortunately for some, the pet food industry’s preferred ingredients for use. As an example, the salt requirement for AAFCO approval is twice the size of NRC for growing puppies. I have yet to find the scientific reason behind it, however the reality is that all AAFCO certified pet food for growing puppies, including raw brands, all have salt added. This is not the case for NRC formulated puppy food. I would be very careful with feeding a high salt diet to growing puppies long term because of the very well documented impact to cardiovascular and renal functions.
Vegetables or Fruits in Your Cat’s Diet?
Another interesting question, which can also apply to raw food is “why do so many cat foods include fruits and vegetables?” I don’t have an answer for this, as cats have no minimum requirement for carbs in their diet. Carbs are anti-nutritional to cats in many ways (see blog post Cat Raw Feeding 101 for more details). All raw cat foods including fruits and vegetables, should be supplemented with specific nutrients such as Taurine and Zinc. This is because high levels of carbohydrates and fiber block the absorption of these nutrients.
All Organs Are Not Created Equal
As for raw pet food, there are a few things I look for in an ingredient list, and obviously, that’s what you will find in Big Country Raw diets!
First, I look at the variety of organs and the species from which they originated. This is done to understand if the company tried to get nutrients from whole food instead of added supplements. For some nutrients like Vitamin E, Zinc, and Manganese, it is hard to rely strictly on whole foods (unless there is a high proportion of green beef tripe, mussels, or plant-based oil in the recipe). For most of the other micronutrients it is possible if the person creating the formulation knows which ingredients to use and why. For example, heart, spleen, and liver are incredible sources of B Vitamins and Iron. Secreting organs are also particularly high in Vitamin D and its metabolized form, 25(OH)-D-3, as well as some specific meat cuts: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3941824/. Wild carnivores are not deficient in Vitamin D because they get it from the meat and organs of their prey. Herbivores can synthesize it from the sun or get it in their food (farmed animals often get Vitamin D supplements).
On the other hand, poultry liver and gullets, even if moderately high in certain B Vitamins, are not a particularly good source compared to other animal liver or spleen. When I see on a label that the only organ used is poultry liver, I assume that there will be vitamins and minerals added, or supplements recommended. If not, I know the food will be deficient, unless there is a high amount of organ used. If I see a food with a decent amount of fat (over 8%), a large proportion of liver, other secreting organs, or some fish (sardines, salmon, mackerel, cod), I hope there is no extra Vitamin D or Iron added because of potential toxicity. For more details on how Big Country Raw chooses the ingredients used in food, don’t forget to read our blog: The Secrets Behind Big Country Raw’s Food Formulation – Coming Soon!
Glycemic Index Explained
We spoke about the glycemic index earlier; it is a very important aspect of the ingredient list, and now more than ever in raw diets. There is vast documentation on super foods for dogs: blueberries, spinach and broccoli being the top 3 of the super fruits and vegetables to feed. This is because of the low starch, low glycemic index, high fiber, high phytonutrients and antioxidants. Surprisingly, there are many brands who are still using high starch/glycemic fruits and vegetables. Starch can be interesting in very low-fat food (under 5% as fed), or in a very small amount as prebiotics. However, sugar/starch-rich fruits and vegetables (pumpkin, squash, carrots, beets, sweet potato, potato, yams) can create long term issues that we are supposed to move away from when feeding raw: diabetes, yeast infections, runny eyes, hyper and hypo glycemia, etc.
Fish Oil and Omega-3
Have you noticed that even with Big Country Raw’s complete and balanced recipes, we still recommend adding Fish Oil if no fish is included in the rotational diet? Why can’t we just add the oil to the food like everyone else does? It is now very well known how omega-3 fatty acids are very sensitive once in the form of oil – heat, contact with air, contact with other food, and long-term freezing can all damage the precious fatty acids, losing all of their amazing properties. Whole fish are a different story – the fatty acids are still in their natural form and well preserved within the fish meat itself. Raw food containing whole fish does not need fish oil added, but those who premix fish oil should still be supplementing with fresh oil or whole fish (sardines) at time of serving.
Are there any other ways to find out hidden ingredients or have a better idea of the proportions of ingredients in pet food if we can’t rely on the ingredient list?
Find the answer in: How to Read Pet Food Labels – Tips from your Agronomist – Part II: The Nutrient Panel