What Food?

[marymrumfelt]

Well said! I don't see who could argue with this statement. We feed Blue Buffalo here, Sandstorm loves it (he would eat anything anyways), and we love it- a really good quality dog food, and the fish in it smells like fish!!!!

Just a heads up, that's not the fish in the food that smells like that. They spray a chemical, made in a lab that smells/taste like fish, over the food. I used to think the same thing... I'm like wow this is fresh fish! Thennnn I found out it's a chemical.

 

[danisgoat]

Just a heads up, that's not the fish in the food that smells like that. They spray a chemical, made in a lab that smells/taste like fish, over the food. I used to think the same thing... I'm like wow this is fresh fish! Thennnn I found out it's a chemical.

What chemical is that? What is your source for this information?

 

[KarenCurtis]

Just a heads up, that's not the fish in the food that smells like that. They spray a chemical, made in a lab that smells/taste like fish, over the food. I used to think the same thing... I'm like wow this is fresh fish! Thennnn I found out it's a chemical.

You need to back this up with reliable facts; what chemical is used, what is the process, who is using it and what lab uses it (their adress, contact, etc.)
Thanks,
Karen

 

[marymrumfelt]

What chemical is that? What is your source for this information?

It's the whole "natural flavors." The problem is this information is proprietary, we all now pet food companies aren't obligated to list all their ingredients, so no one really knows what chemicals are or aren't in for that fact.

These links say it best and yes it's wikipedia but I'll include the FDA site they directly copied from.:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_digest
http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/ucm047113.htm (last paragraph under ingredients)

And a little look at one of the chemicals you might be dealing with:
http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/law-firm-investigating-animal-feed-flavoring-plant.html

I really don't want to start a debate over this and honestly there's not much to debate because no one, except for the manufactures, know what exactly the ingredients are for "natural flavors." I know that any broth I pour over my dogs food wouldn't stay good for months without some kind of preservative which therefor makes it unnatural to me.

I think people should have a full understanding of how their animal food is made and what it's made of and that's why I said this information... not to start a fight or a kibble conspiracy. Bottom line, no one knows what natural flavors means exactly and I chose to stay away from them. You should go with your instinct and if you're not bothered by them, your life will be a hell of a lot easier b/c they're in everything! LOL

 

[marymrumfelt]

You need to back this up with reliable facts; what chemical is used, what is the process, who is using it and what lab uses it (their adress, contact, etc.)
Thanks,
Karen

Your guess is as good as mine! Thank the good ole FDA for allowing companies to withhold this information. The problem with any kibble is you have no idea what is truly in it and that's totally legal. There are brands out there without natural flavorings in them, though or at least try to go with one that specifies what animal the flavoring comes from. Not everybody has a problem with preservatives, but it's certainly a chemical and not naturally occurring.

Also, this is a great site and mostly sites AAFCO definitions. http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients

 

[danisgoat]

I really don't want to start a debate over this and honestly there's not much to debate because no one, except for the manufactures, know what exactly the ingredients are for "natural flavors."

Honestly, you can't bring something like that up, and not have questions about it. So, you may not want to "debate" but backing up your statements with the source of your information is a good way to state your facts. You can't make a generalized statement and not expect to have some discussion about it.

I still didn't see on the FDA website what you were talking about. The last paragraph under ingredients was about ethoxyquin. I also didn't see natural flavors on the ingredient list for Blue Buffalo. I did read on the FDA website, "All ingredients are required to be listed in order of predominance by weight." To me that means they list all ingredients. I can't find where they say that they don't have to list all ingredients.

I am confused.

 

[marymrumfelt]

Honestly, you can't bring something like that up, and not have questions about it. So, you may not want to "debate" but backing up your statements with the source of your information is a good way to state your facts. You can't make a generalized statement and not expect to have some discussion about it.

I still didn't see on the FDA website what you were talking about. The last paragraph under ingredients was about ethoxyquin. I also didn't see natural flavors on the ingredient list for Blue Buffalo. I did read on the FDA website, "All ingredients are required to be listed in order of predominance by weight." To me that means they list all ingredients. I can't find where they say that they don't have to list all ingredients.

I am confused.

Actually, it wasn't under ingredients, it's under the first section "Product Name." The "digests" are what we're referring to as "natural flavoring." I'm guess digest wouldn't sound to good on a bag of food so that use broader term. Natural flavoring is made from "animal digest." You can't possibly think that's the actual meat as how on earth would meat, preserved enough to have such shelf life, still possess an odor like that?

The below article is from the FDA discussing how kibble gets that "fish" flavor or whatever they advertise.

"With respect to flavors, pet foods often contain "digests," which are materials treated with heat, enzymes and/or acids to form concentrated natural flavors. Only a small amount of a "chicken digest" is needed to produce a "Chicken Flavored Cat Food," even though no actual chicken is added to the food. Stocks or broths are also occasionally added. Whey is often used to add a milk flavor. Often labels will bear a claim of "no artificial flavors." Actually, artificial flavors are rarely used in pet foods. The major exception to that would be artificial smoke or bacon flavors, which are added to some treats."

I went to BB website and clicked on their fish/sweet potato food and looked at the ingredients and right away I saw "Natural Fish Flavoring." So you do know it's fish, but you can tell that from that food based on the fish smell anyway. But you have no idea what natural fish flavoring entails. Sure it could be boiled down fish broth... but what kind of chemicals are in to preserve that? Also makes me uncomfortable, not as much with fish, but they can use 4D animals to boil down and make such broth. I mean it would say fish broth if it was just boiled down fish... there's no such thing as a natural flavoring for petes sake! There's a lot of controversy out there over natural flavors so I'm surprised this is the first you've heard about it. When you eat a bbq chip for example, you're not really eating a potato that was smothered in bbq sauce prior to cooking, you're eating a potato that contains a bbq flavored drop of something that was made in a lab to give it that flavor.

 

[danisgoat]

Actually, it wasn't under ingredients, it's under the first section "Product Name." The "digests" are what we're referring to as "natural flavoring." I'm guess digest wouldn't sound to good on a bag of food so that use broader term. Natural flavoring is made from "animal digest." You can't possibly think that's the actual meat as how on earth would meat, preserved enough to have such shelf life, still possess an odor like that?

The below article is from the FDA discussing how kibble gets that "fish" flavor or whatever they advertise.

"With respect to flavors, pet foods often contain "digests," which are materials treated with heat, enzymes and/or acids to form concentrated natural flavors. Only a small amount of a "chicken digest" is needed to produce a "Chicken Flavored Cat Food," even though no actual chicken is added to the food. Stocks or broths are also occasionally added. Whey is often used to add a milk flavor. Often labels will bear a claim of "no artificial flavors." Actually, artificial flavors are rarely used in pet foods. The major exception to that would be artificial smoke or bacon flavors, which are added to some treats."

I went to BB website and clicked on their fish/sweet potato food and looked at the ingredients and right away I saw "Natural Fish Flavoring." So you do know it's fish, but you can tell that from that food based on the fish smell anyway. But you have no idea what natural fish flavoring entails. Sure it could be boiled down fish broth... but what kind of chemicals are in to preserve that? Also makes me uncomfortable, not as much with fish, but they can use 4D animals to boil down and make such broth.

Thanks for the information and details.

This makes much more sense then just some "chemical spray."

 

[marymrumfelt]

I can't find where they say that they don't have to list all ingredients.
.

When they say it's propriety, that means it's something they own/copyright, their secret, and they don't divulge it. Kind of how KFC can't tell their secret ingredient. People could start possibly copying the ingredients in BB "flavoring" b/c as previous poster said it has a fishy smell and it attracts dogs. So in some ways it's to protect them, but I personally don't like leaving the trust up to them that they're using quality products. You make your own decision up if you trust them.

 

[marymrumfelt]

Thanks for the information and details.

This makes much more sense then just some "chemical spray."

Sorry. I'm glad I was able to get it across more clear. I was in between captioning and had to type just here and there.