Ethoxyquin.

Truthfully, I cannot pronouce this word unless I am looking directly at it and read it very slowly.

What is ethoxyquin?

It is a preservative used by commercially prepared dog foods. In an internet search, I found it to be a major ingredient in five major brands of pet foods. Even some of these brands purported to be ‘natural’ and ‘premium’ contain ethoxyquin.

Ethoxyquin is a fat preservative and one of the most controversial of all the preservatives used in pet foods. In 1997, the Food and Drug Administration of the United States (FDA) requested that pet food companies voluntarily lower the amount of ethoxyquin used in pet foods.

Technically speaking, ethoxyquin is a carcinogen, and it is also marketed as a pesticide. Even if the ingredient listing does not include the word ethoxyquin, it could still be present, due to loopholes in ingredient listing practices and the fact that it could already have been present in the ingredients prior to the preparation of the kibble or canned food, so the manufacturer technically didn’t add the chemical to the product.

Originally approved by the FDA as a grain preservative for animal feed for livestock being raised for food, it would have been used in an animal’s life for no longer then two years. The effects over the lifetime of a pet fed with a food containing ethoxyquin were not evaluated.

Complications in pets exposed to ethoxyquin may include kidney carcinogenesis; possibility of raised incidence of stomach tumors, raised risk of bladder carcinogenesis; and increased risk of colon tumors. The Department of Agriculture lists ethoxyquin as a pesticide.

Iams’ website dedicates a page to the safety of ethoxyquin, click here to visit. Hmmmm…..

Other preservatives to be aware of are BHA and BHT. Both are antioxidents that prevent oxygen from oxidizing fats and oils, preventing spoilage. BHA has been linked to squamous-cell carcinomas in stomachs of rats and hamsters. BHT is thought to cause urinary bladder carcinogenesis and it is being investigated as a catalyst for thyroid carcinogenesis.

Imagine you feed your dog a food with these ingredients according to the label instructions over the course of his lifetime. A 20 pound dog would eat about 12 pounds of carcinogenic preservatives in a year’s time.

Pet foods that are marketed as ‘all natural’ use natural stabilizers and preservatives, resulting in a shorter shelf life and a ‘use by’ date printed on the packaging. This seems to make sense!

Simply put, if a human food can expire, we eat it by the expiration date to maintain our health. If a human food lacks an expiration date, that food is pretty suspect as far as its health factor!

Expiration dates are not as profitable for the pet food industry, so preservatives that allow pet food to sit on shelves for years without turning rancid are a solution for the manufacturers to ensure the profitability of their product.

With major chains like Petco now carrying product lines like Halo for Pets (see Holistic Pet Care goes Mainstream with Ellen), it is becoming increasingly affordable and convenient to feed your pet products that are all natural with expiration dates and human grade ingredients.

Get the 411 on the preservatives in your pet’s food before you end up dialing 911. Avoiding carcinogens in pet food is something we as pet owners can, and should, all get behind!

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