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A Comparison of Key Essential Nutrients in Commercial Plant-Based Pet Foods Sold in Canada to American and European Canine and Feline Dietary Recommendations

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Plant-based pet foods appear to be growing in popularity, but it is unclear how suitable these products are for dogs and cats, considering both species naturally consume diets rich in, or exclusively comprised of, animal tissues. Laboratory analyses of essential nutrients were perfor...

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Autores principales: Dodd, Sarah A. S., Shoveller, Anna K., Fascetti, Andrea J., Yu, Zengshou Z., Ma, David W. L., Verbrugghe, Adronie
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8388700/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34438805
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11082348
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author Dodd, Sarah A. S.
Shoveller, Anna K.
Fascetti, Andrea J.
Yu, Zengshou Z.
Ma, David W. L.
Verbrugghe, Adronie
author_facet Dodd, Sarah A. S.
Shoveller, Anna K.
Fascetti, Andrea J.
Yu, Zengshou Z.
Ma, David W. L.
Verbrugghe, Adronie
author_sort Dodd, Sarah A. S.
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Plant-based pet foods appear to be growing in popularity, but it is unclear how suitable these products are for dogs and cats, considering both species naturally consume diets rich in, or exclusively comprised of, animal tissues. Laboratory analyses of essential nutrients were performed on 26 plant-based diets available in Ontario, Canada in 2018, including 18 canine products (13 products labelled for adult maintenance, four for all life stages, one for puppy growth), 5 feline products (two for adult maintenance and three for all life stages), and 3 products labelled for both dogs and cats (one for adult maintenance and two for all life stages). The nutrient measurements were compared to industry standard nutrient profiles. Four products met the recommendations of the Association of American Feed Control Officials and one product the nutrient recommendations of the European Pet Food Industry Federation for adult dogs. No diets met recommended nutrient content for adult cats or growing puppies or kittens. Nutrients most commonly found to be insufficient were: sulfur amino acids, taurine, arachidonic acid, EPA and DHA, calcium phosphorus and vitamin D. These nutrients are all typically found in animal tissues, though non-animal sources are available, and require careful formulation or supplementation in products made without animal-derived ingredients. Compliance with Canadian labelling regulation and guidelines was poor. These problems do not appear to be exclusive to plant-based foods and have been demonstrated previously in commercially available animal-based products as well. This study demonstrates areas where manufacturers of plant-based pet foods must improve formulation and/or manufacturing practices to produce products appropriate for feeding cats and dogs. ABSTRACT: Plant-based foods intended for feeding dogs and cats are available in Canada, though few studies have examined the suitability of plant-based foods for dogs and cats. All commercial plant-based extruded and wet pet food products available in Ontario, Canada, in 2018 (n = 26) were acquired and analysed for energy, crude protein, crude fat, crude fibre, ash, amino acids, fatty acids, minerals and vitamins A, B(12), D(2) and D(3). Results were compared with recommendations of the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) and the European Pet Food Industry Federation (FEDIAF). Thirteen products were labelled for adult canine maintenance, four for canine all life stages, one for puppy growth, two for adult feline maintenance, three for feline all life stages, one for adult maintenance of dogs and cats and two for all life stages of dogs and cats. Four products met AAFCO and one product met FEDIAF nutrient recommendations for canine maintenance. No diets met AAFCO or FEDIAF recommendations for feline maintenance or growth for either species. Nutrients most commonly found insufficient were: sulfur amino acids, taurine, arachidonic acid, EPA and DHA, calcium phosphorus and vitamin D. There were no nutrients unable to be provided from non-animal sources. Compliance with labelling guidelines was also poor, similar to other findings with commercial animal-based pet products. The results from this study indicate areas where producers of plant-based pet foods must improve to meet the industry recommended nutrient profiles and labelling requirements.
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spelling pubmed-83887002021-08-27 A Comparison of Key Essential Nutrients in Commercial Plant-Based Pet Foods Sold in Canada to American and European Canine and Feline Dietary Recommendations Dodd, Sarah A. S. Shoveller, Anna K. Fascetti, Andrea J. Yu, Zengshou Z. Ma, David W. L. Verbrugghe, Adronie Animals (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Plant-based pet foods appear to be growing in popularity, but it is unclear how suitable these products are for dogs and cats, considering both species naturally consume diets rich in, or exclusively comprised of, animal tissues. Laboratory analyses of essential nutrients were performed on 26 plant-based diets available in Ontario, Canada in 2018, including 18 canine products (13 products labelled for adult maintenance, four for all life stages, one for puppy growth), 5 feline products (two for adult maintenance and three for all life stages), and 3 products labelled for both dogs and cats (one for adult maintenance and two for all life stages). The nutrient measurements were compared to industry standard nutrient profiles. Four products met the recommendations of the Association of American Feed Control Officials and one product the nutrient recommendations of the European Pet Food Industry Federation for adult dogs. No diets met recommended nutrient content for adult cats or growing puppies or kittens. Nutrients most commonly found to be insufficient were: sulfur amino acids, taurine, arachidonic acid, EPA and DHA, calcium phosphorus and vitamin D. These nutrients are all typically found in animal tissues, though non-animal sources are available, and require careful formulation or supplementation in products made without animal-derived ingredients. Compliance with Canadian labelling regulation and guidelines was poor. These problems do not appear to be exclusive to plant-based foods and have been demonstrated previously in commercially available animal-based products as well. This study demonstrates areas where manufacturers of plant-based pet foods must improve formulation and/or manufacturing practices to produce products appropriate for feeding cats and dogs. ABSTRACT: Plant-based foods intended for feeding dogs and cats are available in Canada, though few studies have examined the suitability of plant-based foods for dogs and cats. All commercial plant-based extruded and wet pet food products available in Ontario, Canada, in 2018 (n = 26) were acquired and analysed for energy, crude protein, crude fat, crude fibre, ash, amino acids, fatty acids, minerals and vitamins A, B(12), D(2) and D(3). Results were compared with recommendations of the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) and the European Pet Food Industry Federation (FEDIAF). Thirteen products were labelled for adult canine maintenance, four for canine all life stages, one for puppy growth, two for adult feline maintenance, three for feline all life stages, one for adult maintenance of dogs and cats and two for all life stages of dogs and cats. Four products met AAFCO and one product met FEDIAF nutrient recommendations for canine maintenance. No diets met AAFCO or FEDIAF recommendations for feline maintenance or growth for either species. Nutrients most commonly found insufficient were: sulfur amino acids, taurine, arachidonic acid, EPA and DHA, calcium phosphorus and vitamin D. There were no nutrients unable to be provided from non-animal sources. Compliance with labelling guidelines was also poor, similar to other findings with commercial animal-based pet products. The results from this study indicate areas where producers of plant-based pet foods must improve to meet the industry recommended nutrient profiles and labelling requirements. MDPI 2021-08-09 /pmc/articles/PMC8388700/ /pubmed/34438805 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11082348 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Dodd, Sarah A. S.
Shoveller, Anna K.
Fascetti, Andrea J.
Yu, Zengshou Z.
Ma, David W. L.
Verbrugghe, Adronie
A Comparison of Key Essential Nutrients in Commercial Plant-Based Pet Foods Sold in Canada to American and European Canine and Feline Dietary Recommendations
title A Comparison of Key Essential Nutrients in Commercial Plant-Based Pet Foods Sold in Canada to American and European Canine and Feline Dietary Recommendations
title_full A Comparison of Key Essential Nutrients in Commercial Plant-Based Pet Foods Sold in Canada to American and European Canine and Feline Dietary Recommendations
title_fullStr A Comparison of Key Essential Nutrients in Commercial Plant-Based Pet Foods Sold in Canada to American and European Canine and Feline Dietary Recommendations
title_full_unstemmed A Comparison of Key Essential Nutrients in Commercial Plant-Based Pet Foods Sold in Canada to American and European Canine and Feline Dietary Recommendations
title_short A Comparison of Key Essential Nutrients in Commercial Plant-Based Pet Foods Sold in Canada to American and European Canine and Feline Dietary Recommendations
title_sort comparison of key essential nutrients in commercial plant-based pet foods sold in canada to american and european canine and feline dietary recommendations
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8388700/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34438805
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11082348
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