Investigation into the animal species contents of popular wet pet foods

Abstract

BackgroundThe use of the generic term “meat and animal derivatives” in declared ingredient lists of pet foods in the European Union is virtually universal. In the wake of the 2013 “horse meat scandal” in the human food chain, we examined the presence and authenticity of animal sources (cow, chicken, pig and horse) of proteins in a range of popular wet pet foods in the United Kingdom.FindingsSeventeen leading dog and cat foods were sampled for the relative presence of DNA from each of the four animal species by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. No horse DNA was detected. However, there was detection at substantial levels of unspecified animal species in most products tested. In 14 out of 17 samples, bovine, porcine and chicken DNA were found in various proportions and combinations but were not explicitly identified on the product labels. Of the 7 products with prominent headline descriptions containing the term “with beef”, only 2 were found to contain more bovine DNA (>50%) than pig and chicken DNA combined.ConclusionsThere is a need for the pet food industry to show greater transparency to customers in the disclosure of the types of animal proteins (animal species and tissue types) in their products. Full disclosure of animal contents will (a) allow more informed choices to be made on purchases which are particularly important for pets with food allergies, (b) reduce the risk of product misinterpretation by shoppers, and (c) avoid potential religious concerns.

Determination of mammalian deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in commercial vegetarian and vegan diets for dogs and cats

“…This may also be due to the absence of mammalian DNA or to DNA degradation secondary to the canning process. Other studies have reported detection of mammalian DNA in canned canine and feline diets using methods such as reverse transcription PCR (Pegels et al., ; Maine et al., ; Okuma and Hellberg, ) or PCR‐restriction fragment length polymorphism (Hsieh et al., ). Therefore, utilization of other detection methods may have yielded different results.…”

“…Previous studies have demonstrated the presence of undeclared ingredients in foods, supplements and treats for pets by detection of microscopic bone fragments, protein by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), reverse transcription PCR, multiplex PCR and PCR‐restriction fragment length polymorphism (Dalmasso et al., ; Myers et al., ; Wang et al., ; Raditic et al., ; Ricci et al., ; Parr and Remillard, ; Pegels et al., ; Hsieh et al., ; Maine et al., ; Okuma and Hellberg, ). While only the results of samples collected at one time point have been reported, these findings have prompted questions regarding quality control in diet formulation and manufacturing.…”

Effect of an extruded animal protein‐free diet on fecal microbiota of dogs with food‐responsive enteropathy

“…Therefore, it is not easy to identify all of the protein sources with which the dog has come into contact 4, 7. Moreover, some commercial petfood diets, even those specified for an elimination dietary trial, contain animal proteins other than those declared in the ingredient list 8, 9. Vegetable proteins can be found in traces in pet food, but are less likely to cause allergic reactions 7.…”

Clinical efficacy of nutraceutical diet for cats with clinical signs of cutaneus adverse food reaction (CAFR)

“…(Milch et al 1957) and can remain fixed for extended periods in treated animals even respecting withdrawal times (Odore et al 2015). Moreover, pet food production relies on meal (mainly poultry) by-products (Maine et al 2015) in which an important percentage of bone meal (20-30%) is present. This mix very often drags behind oxytetracycline residues that are present in commercially available diets (canned, semi-moist and dry) and can accumulate within the pet's body.…”