Are grain-free diets REALLY grain free?

[merriterrier]

Interesting. Thanks for the info.

At work I sell high end dog food and frequently assist clients in finding the right food for their pet. There appears to be a trend in high end kibble towards producing small, tested batches made from all "human quality", USA sourced ingredients. I wonder if any of those foods have been tested by a 3rd party...

[El_EmDubya]

Just an FYI, there is no correlation between price and value/quality.

Price is a way companies "communicate" value. It is one of the "4 Ps" that marketers use to maximize profit, market share, and gross sales. It is, therefore, really important to research any product, if you want to get the best value for your dollar.

LMW

[merriterrier]

Just an FYI, there is no correlation between price and value/quality.

Price is a way companies "communicate" value. It is one of the "4 Ps" that marketers use to maximize profit, market share, and gross sales. It is, therefore, really important to research any product, if you want to get the best value for your dollar.

LMW

I totally agree. I see some very pricey foods that seem very middle of the road to me. I think (many times) companies employ good design and marketing tactics and customers swoon.

[Misskiwi67]

Here is another study on contamination of OTC foods, the entire study can be read online:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 016.x/full

This study evaluated four over the counter venison dry dog foods available from one on-line retail vendor for potential contamination with common known food allergens: soy, poultry or beef. An amplified, double sandwich type enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test of soy, poultry and beef proteins were performed by an independent accredited food laboratory. The ELISA test for poultry protein was found to be unreliable when testing in dry dog foods because false negatives occurred. ELISA testing of control diets for both soy and beef proteins performed as expected and could be useful in antigen testing in dry dog foods. Three of the four over the counter (OTC) venison canine dry foods with no soy products named in the ingredient list were ELISA positive for soy; additionally one OTC diet tested positive for beef protein with no beef products listed as an ingredient list. One OTC venison diet was not found to be positive for soy, poultry or beef proteins. However, none of the four OTC venison diets could be considered suitable for a diagnostic elimination trial as they all contained common pet food proteins, some of which were readily identifiable on the label and some that were only detected by ELISA. Therefore, if the four OTC venison products selected in this study are representative of OTC products in general, then the use of OTC venison dry dog foods should not be used during elimination trials in suspected food allergy patients.