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Minha questão:
Hello,
I have a question about the composition of your diet SPECIFIC. I read in several places that your antioxidant / additives / preservatives are carcinogenic, which made me worried. Secondly, I wonder why the composition, particularly the ingredients of the diet on your site are so different than what is written on the petfood bag. I'm from Portugal and I buy the dog food in veterinary clinics, and I'm currently using the Weight Reduction range, for dogs. In conclusion, I would like to see videos of the factory that produces your dogfood - SPECIFIC.
Grateful for your attention,
Regina Vieira
Resposta obtida:
Dear Mrs Regina Vieira.
I appreciate that you take the time to ask us directly about your concerns, instead of just adapting what is said and discussed in different “responsible free” fora. The well-being of our pets is naturally a very big concern of pet owners, and it should be. That is also why we make big efforts to make the best and safest food for cats and dogs all over the world, and we try to communicate our messages as precisely and clearly as we can.
You have two questions. One about antioxidants and one about the indications of the diet composition.
- The SPECIFIC diet range is well known and appreciated for containing high levels of essential fatty acids (the omega-3 from fish oil and omega-6 from borage oil). As you probably know fat will oxidise and become rancid because of the oxygen in the air. In order to preserve the good taste and effect of these healthy fatty acids (and thus prolong the time for use) we have to add some antioxidants. Natural antioxidants (like vitamin E) are not in themselves good enough to achieve sufficient protection of the fatty acids, so the best result for animals and owners is to use the antioxidants we use.
I am well aware that such antioxidants are sometimes discussed with regards to e.g. cancer, but the types of antioxidants and the amounts we use are of course fully approved by the EU authorities for pet foods.
( A study in mice once showed that they could get a type of cancer in the fore-stomach if the get very very high doses of certain antioxidants, but dogs, cats and humans do not have a fore-stomach, and giving dogs a dose 20 times higher than the approved for 6 months has shown to be safe.)
What we do when making the SPECIFIC diets is to use as fresh fish and plant oils as possible, add Vitamin E as natural antioxidant, use “freshness package” with nitrogen to minimize the oxygen in the bags, and further more offer a safe and close plastic bucket to store the food in after opening.
All this is to keep the food fresh, tasty, nutritious and efficient.
- I unfortunately don’t have a video of our production factories. Our wet diets are produced in Denmark and our dry foods in Sweden from primarily local European raw materials (except e.g. rice).
- Regarding the difference in the composition you find on our website and on the bag, I must ask you to give me some more details on what information you find different. I will be happy to answer your questions as good as I can.
Kind regards
Peter Palshof
DVM, Technical Product Manager, SPECIFIC.
