I wanted to add that in conjunction with the kibble grading thread I am now using this page:
http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/how-to-understand-pet-food-label-ingredients-%E2%80%93-the-basics.html...to further help me grade the kibble. It has additional details about the protein source and goes into how to even determine what vitamins/minerals are better (chelated & proteinated) and other very helpful info in the various articles (such as this):
Now, let’s say you call the ABC pet food company and ask the question “Is your Premium dog food and Premium cat food made using human grade ingredients?” It could be that you get the response yes, we use human grade ingredients – when actually only a couple of ingredients are human grade. Here’s the trick to asking…ask them if they are APHIS European certified.
Pet food manufacturers that are APHIS European certified assures you that ALL ingredients in their pet food are human grade. APHIS – Animal Plant Health Inspection Services – is a division of the USDA. APHIS European certification provides this pet food manufacturer with the opportunity to ship their foods/treats to Europe. When importing pet foods from the US, European countries demand that all ingredients are human grade and thus require this certification. Most pet food manufacturers that have APHIS European certification do not ship their products to Europe – they simply use this as a means to assure their customers to the higher quality of their ingredients.
Again, you WON’T see this listed on the label – it’s not allowed. You must call the manufacturer and ask.
There was also an article there (
http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/risk-ingredients-not-listed-on-pet-food-labels.html) that listed the most popular manufacturers and whether or not they use ethoxyquin in their products. So while they may have a high kibble rating I wouldn't choose them because of the ethoxyquin.
Sheesh! Who would have thought there was this much to picking a dog food! I feel mildly overwhelmed by the process!
I'm just amazed at how much is really out there and how substandard some kibble is allowed to be. Never in a million years did I think it was possible for ingredients in pet food to include some of what is permissible. Without your thread I would have never began researching it and would have blindly accepted the food was comparable to human consumption!
