I'm new to this forum, and just learning more about quality foods for dogs. I switched my mixed terrier, Shadow, to Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul Senior. I then happened onto information indicating that as of Aug 2006, CSFTDLS used a fish meal which came from the vendor with ethoxyquin in it. Because it was not added by Diamond, the manufacturer, ethoxyquin does not have to go on the ingredient list. dogfoodanalysis.com publicized this fact, and Diamond agreed to get a guarantee from the fish meal vendor that ethoxyquin would no longer be used. They did, and posted a notice to that effect on their web site. Two months later, they did a major web site upgrade, and the guarantee disappeared at that time. Being concerned about this, I contacted their manager of quality control and feel that I got a bit of a runaround on the matter. I'm reproducing the exchange here, and would be interested in others' opinions.
I've moved Shadow to Canidae Platinum for now, just to be safe.
BTW, for those who may not know, APHIS is a branch of the USDA. And APHIS certification for export to Europe means that the manufacturing plant is inspected, as well as each batch of food, to certify that it meats EU guidelines for pet food, which are *much* stricter than US guidelines. e.g. all ingredients *must* be human grade quality and the food my contain *no* ethoxyquin. Although not well publicized, Canidae *does* have APHIS certification for EU export.
I have not yet received a reply to my last email.
Anyway, here is the email exchange so far:
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It is unclear to me whether CSFTDLS might currently contain ethoxyquin.
According to this page:
Dog Food Reviews - Chicken Soup For The Dog Lover's Soul - Powered by ReviewPost
the supplier of the ocean fish meal was using ethoxyquin as a preservative through Aug 17, 2006. However, the below linked page, from only two months later states:
"""
We also note that previous statements about the use of ethoxyquin-free
ingredients have been removed from the manufacturer website (ethoxyquin
is a chemical preservative commonly added to fish ingredients, and that
is banned from use in human foods because it is believed to be
carcinogenic). We would encourage anyone considering buying products
from this manufacturer to check on the current status of their
ingredients.
"""
Dog Food Reviews - Chicken Soup For The Dog Lover's Soul (Light) - Powered by ReviewPost
As a pet owner who very recently lost a much loved dog to cancer, I am
most concerned about this issue.
Also, is the CSFTDLS facility APHIS certified for export to Europe? If not, what certifications do they have? i.e. how can I be certain the melamine or
some other toxic substance is not accidentally going to be included,
someday, in one or more batches of your products? The canned varieties
for puppies and kittens were, in fact, involved in this year's recall.
Whereas APHIS EU certified manufacturers, e.g. Natura and Trilogy, had no products involved I actually prefer Chicken Soup to most any other
food, and would be willing to pay more for some official third party assurance of quality.
-Steve Bergman
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Steve,
You have my sympathy on the lost of your dog. I understand how hard that
can be.
The cooking process at our facilities is at or above 240 degrees. If
there were any ethoyxquin in the ingredients it would be eliminated due
to its lack of heat stability. Diamond does not preserve any of its
products with ethoxyquin, only with mixed tocopherols.
We have one plant that ships product to the EU and it is APHIS
certified.
There were some canned products recalled because we were advised by the
USDA that the ingredients used in the food may have been contaminated
with melamine at the suppliers. We did not have any melamine related
illnesses reported from these products. The two ingredients that caused
most of the recent recalls (rice protein concentrate and wheat gluten)
are not used in our products. Most of our ingredients originate in the
US. We are very careful with the ingredients that are from outside
sources.
Diamond's facilities are regularly audited for food safety and
sanitation by an independent agency (Silliker Labs, Chicago, IL).
I hope this relieves some of your concerns.
Sincerely,
Cordell Schroeder
Quality Control Manager
Diamond Pet Foods
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Thank you for the reply. Is that Fahrenheit or Celsius?
-Steve Bergman
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Sorry, that would be Fahrenheit.
Cordell
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That's not very hot. Ethoxyquin retains 40% of its activity after 2 hours at 150C (302F):
SpringerLink - Journal Article
And BHT retains 70%-75% of its activity after the same time at 175C (347F).
So what synthetic preservatives your suppliers put into the raw materials is actually quite relevant, even after cooking.
My understanding was that in Aug 2006, Diamond made an agreement with the fish meal supplier that synthetic preservatives would no longer be used by them in CSFTPLS destined product. Is that agreement still in effect? And does that also apply to your other vendors?
I *really* like your ingredients list. Better than I do any of the competing products. Even the expensive ones. (I'm using the Senior formulation.) And so does Shadow. The one thing that still worries me is anything that might not make it onto the label, or get accidentally introduced. e.g. if I understand correctly, the protein concentrate in the recalled canned puppy and kitten formulas was not *really* supposed to be there. But it was. And it only takes one slip up over the years to irreversibly damage the health of a beloved pet. This is why APHIS EU certification is so attractive to me. A third party, official assurance of superior QA. If CSFTDLS, or an upscale version of it, had such a certification in the US, I can already imagine all the posts in the internet dog nutrition discussion forums recommending it over other brands for that reason. Actually, I don't have to imagine it; Natura's products already enjoy that marketing advantage.
I understand that Diamond is a big company and that you are just one person and that I am just one customer's voice. But if there are appropriate places to register my vote could you please pass this request on?
Sincerely,
Steve
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Chicken Soup: Ethoxyquin runaround? 
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