Fava bean, which is available in high- and low-tannin varieties, is not an approved pet food ingredient and was not included in the “assumed to be safe” category based on its ability to cause favism and hemolytic anemia in susceptible humans. The effects of 7-day feeding of test canine diets containing moderate protein (~27%) were compared with two control commercial diets with normal (NP, grain-containing, ~25% protein) or high protein (HP, grain-free, ~41% protein). Fava bean diets were formulated either with or without Candida utilis fermentation processing to reduce antinutritional factors. Glucose tolerance, body weight, cardiovascular function, and blood parameters were investigated in beagles fed the NP or HP diets or a randomized, crossover, 2 × 2 Latin square design of the fava bean diets: unfermented high-tannin (UF-HT), fermented high-tannin (FM-HT), unfermented low-tannin (UF-LT), and fermented low-tannin (FM-LT). After 7 days, HP decreased red blood cells (RBC) (P < 0.05) compared with NP, while FM increased RBC compared with UF. HP increased blood bicarbonate, calcium, phosphorus, urea, cholesterol, and albumin:globulin ratio while decreasing bilirubin, liver enzymes, and total protein. Sodium:potassium ratio was increased in UF-HT, decreased in FM-HT, and intermediate in LT regardless of fermentation. Blood phosphorus was increased in HT. Blood amylase was increased in FM-HT and decreased in FM-LT, being intermediate in UF regardless of fava bean variety. Blood direct bilirubin was decreased in HT regardless of fermentation. Of note, left ventricular end-systolic volume and cardiac output were increased in NP compared with HP-fed dogs, but were normal and had no significant differences among the fava bean diets. As expected, plasma taurine, cystine, and cysteine levels were increased in HP- compared with NP-fed dogs. Plasma cysteine levels were increased in HT- compared with LT-fed dogs and in FM- compared with UF-fed dogs. Taken together, these results show that fava bean appears to be safe as a dog food ingredient at least in the short term, and its nutritional value appears improved by fermentation. Moreover, blood chemistry parameters and cardiovascular function were impacted by protein content which merits further investigation with longer term feeding trials.

Grain-based carbohydrate sources such as rice comprise 30–50% of commercial pet foods. Some pet foods however have removed the use of grains and have instead incorporated pulses, such as peas and lentils, resulting in grain-free diets. The hypothesis was dog diets with higher levels of dietary fiber will produce a low glycemic response due to decreased rates of digestion and lowered bioavailability of all macronutrients and increased fecal bile salt excretion. This in turn was hypothesized to produce lower plasma concentrations of cysteine, methionine and taurine after 7 days of feeding each test diet in dogs. Six diets were formulated at an inclusion level of 20% available carbohydrate, using white rice flour (grain) or whole pulse flours from smooth pea, fava bean, red lentil or 2 different wrinkled pea varieties (CDC 4,140–4 or Amigold) and fed to beagles in a randomized, cross-over, blinded design. After 7 days feeding each diet, fasting blood glucose was the lowest in the lentil (3.5 ± 0.1 mmol/L) and wrinkled pea (4,140–4; 3.6 ± 0.1 mmol/L) diet periods, while peak glucose levels was lowest after feeding the lentil diet (4.4 ± 0.1 mmol/L) compared to the rice diet. Total tract apparent digestibility of all macronutrients as well as taurine differed among diets yet plasma taurine was not outside normal range. Decreased macronutrient and amino acid digestibility was associated with increasing amylose and dietary fiber content but the specific causative agent could not be determined from this study. Surprisingly, digestibility decreases were not due to increased bile salt loss in the feces since increasing dietary fiber content led to decreased fecal bile salt levels. In conclusion, although pulse-based canine diets have beneficial low glycemic properties, after only 7 days, these pulse-based diets decrease macronutrient and amino acid digestibility. This is likely related at least in part to the lower animal protein content, but on a long-term basis could put domestic dogs at risk for low taurine and dilated cardiomyopathy.

We have shown that feeding dogs fava bean (FB)-based diets for 7 days is safe and FB flour fermentation with Candida utilis has the potential to decrease FB anti-nutritional factors. In the present study, the effects of 28-day feeding of 4 different FB-based test dog foods containing moderate protein (~27% dry matter (DM)) were compared with two commercial diets with normal protein (NP, grain-containing, ~31% DM protein) or high protein (HP, grain-free, ~41% DM protein). Health parameters were investigated in beagles fed the NP or HP diets or using a randomized, crossover, 2 × 2 Latin square design of the FB diets: unfermented high-tannin (UF-HT), fermented high-tannin (FM-HT), unfermented low-tannin (UF-LT), and fermented low-tannin (FM-LT). The results showed that fermentation increased glucose tolerance, increased red blood cell numbers and increased systolic blood pressure, but decreased flow-mediated vasodilation. Taken together, the overall effect of fermentation appears to be beneficial and improved FB nutritional value. Most interesting, even though the HP diet was grain-free, the diet did contain added taurine, and no adverse effects on cardiac function were observed, while glucose tolerance was impaired compared to NP-fed dogs. In summary, this study did not find evidence of adverse cardiac effects of pulses in ‘grain-free’ diets, at least not in the relatively resistant beagle breed over a 28-day period. More importantly, fermentation with C. utilis shows promise to enhance health benefits of pulses such as FB in dog food.

Summary The weight lost during curing by Cryovac‐packaged 7 lb. loaves of Cheddar cheese was found to be very much less than that by similar cheese when waxed. No evidence of rind formation or rind flavour was found after curing for up to six months. Some cheese in all trials developed mould growth within four weeks of packaging. However, much of this moulding was only very slight, and cheese free from mould after this time usually remained so for the remaining twelve to twenty weeks of curing. An environment very conducive to mould growth did not influence the occurrence of moulding in packaged cheese initially free from it. Packaged cheese proved resistant to infestation by cheese mites for four months under conditions which caused waxed cheese to become seriously infested in three months. No difference was found between the rate and type of flavour development of packaged cheese and that of similar waxed cheese but packaged cheese tended to have the slightly weaker body after curing. No detrimental effects resulted from a complete lack of turning five lb., seven lb. and ten lb. loaves of packaged Cheddar cheese for several months except for a slight spreading of the largest‐size cheese. A necessity to safeguard packaged cheese against contact with sharp objects was revealed. When packaged cheese was held for short periods at high temperatures some free fat appeared underneath the packaging film. A subsequent return to cold room temperatures caused the cheese to recover its appearance well, but when the package was opened the surface of the cheese was found to be greasy. The distension of some Cryovac packages of Cheddar cheese by an excessive rate of gas production was observed. The manufacture of cheese by methods designed to restrict the rate of evolution of gas by the maturing cheese to a level at which it can diffuse through the packaging film, is considered necessary.

This study was conducted to compare the digestibility of pulse-based diets to grain-based diets based on varying levels of amylose and study how changes in digestibility impacts glycemic response in dogs. To establish glycemic response, six diets were formulated at an inclusion level of 20% available starch with varying amylose content. A grain-based diet was formulated using rice, while pulse-based diets consisted of smooth pea, wrinkled pea (4140–4 and Amigold varieties), faba bean, or lentil. Beagles (n = 8, 4 females, 4 males) were fed the 6 different test diets for 7 days in a randomized, cross-over, blinded design. At the end of each feeding period, fecal samples were collected and beagles were fasted overnight and subjected to a glycemic test (1g/kg of diet or glucose fed). Data collected were statistically analyzed using SigmaPlot 12.0 and significance was declared at P ≤ 0.05. Amylose levels of diets varied from 4.64% to 14.82% on a dry basis. The rice-based diet had the lowest amylose content, while the wrinkled pea (Amigold variety) diet had the highest amylose content. Following the collection of glycemic response and fecal data, repeated-measures, 1-way ANOVA’s were conducted. There were significant differences observed between diets based on peak glucose levels (mmol/L, P = 0.01). The rice diet had the highest peak in glucose, while the lentil-based diet had the lowest glucose peak. Significant differences were also seen between diets based on their digestibility (P < 0.001). Rice, lentil, faba bean and smooth pea-based diets had the highest levels of digestibility, while wrinkled pea varieties had decreased digestibility. Furthermore, varying amylose found in diets can be viewed as an impacting factor on glycemic response and digestibility. Incorporating pulses with higher amounts of amylose could be utilized in dog diets to promote a low glycemic response through decreased rates of digestibility.