What’s in a can
Whether used as a topper to a balanced diet or fed as a complete meal on it’s own, canned food is a regular part of many pet’s daily diets. Canned food, much like kibble, can vary drastically in quality. As with any “feed grade” pet food on the market, a myraid of low quality by-product ingredients are permitted to be used on pet food. Our strict quality buying standards exclude the use of by-products, corn, wheat, or soy in any of the foods we carry. That unfortunately cannot be said for every pet store out there. Knowing what to look for and where to find it can be crucial in selecting a quality pet food and canned food is no different.
So what is in it?
The key components to any Canned Food Diet is as follows:
Meat: Varying quality of meats, this can include whole to by-product foods and everything in between
Binders: these can include a myriad of sources but serve to bind the food together
Moisture moisture moisture: with the items being less processed than kibble, the natural moisture is still present in all the ingredients. Typically additional water is added as well to account for any lost in processing. This greatly benefits our cats and dogs who do not have an innate instinct to drink water. Often only relying on the water bowl as a last resort. Most brands will include additional items that are not the nutritional basis of recipes
Most brands will include additional items that are not the nutritional basis of recipes:
Organs: Nutrient rich and delicious. While not always included, some higher quality foods include these as opposed to a huge vitamin pack
Vitamin Packs: These can be of varying qualities, but must be included due to the nutritional loss associated with processing
Fruits & Veggies: These are entirely unneccessary from a nutritional standpoint, but help to liven up a can and make it look more palatable to us
Processing
Most canned food go through similar processing. The ingredients are mixed together, portioned into cans raw, and cooked within the cans to sterilize the food and the can itself. This is not wildly different to how human canned food is made. This amount of processing pales in comparison to the amount that goes into kibble, but is processing nontheless.
Ingredients
As mentioned above, most pet foods are “feed grade” allowing for the inclusion of ingredients that are unfit for human consumption. While this does apply to almost all brands of food, this doesn’t mean that brands do not hold themselves to a higher standard, they just aren’t required to. Many countries of production have different quality standards for their pet foods. Canada and New Zealand have some of the highest quality standards in the industry, being next to “food grade” or intended for human consumption. Many of the food quality standards outlined in our What to look for in pet food apply here as well. American pet food standards are fairly low, allowing a myriad of low quality by-product ingredients into our pet foods. Typical canned ingredients in our store should look more or less as below.
Typically a whole meat or water sufficient for processing will be the first ingredient. This can be followed by fruit and veggie based fillers, flavorings, nutrient rich organs, other meat items, binders, and lastly the vitamin and mineral pack.
Binders
Binders are a hotly debated topic in the pet world these days. Many studies suggesting commonly used binders may lead to health issues. Binders, whatever the source, are required for many canned foods to give them the variety of textures our pets are oh so picky about. While the verdict is still out, there are many foods on the shelves that don’t include these.
Firstly, brands like Firstmate, Kasiks, and Ziwipeak avoid derived binders by using food based binders such as pea starch or chickpeas. These are food based binders that don’t need a lot of research to understand. Now the most common binders in foods we carry are some variety of gum ( guar gum, xantam gum, locust bean gum, tapioca, agar-agar, etc). Many of these can be found in human foods and are considered safe. The question is whether it is necessary for our pets when simpler products exist.
Now to the product of concern, carrageenan. Carrageenan is a naturally derived binder also commonly found in human food. It is derived from kelp and can be listed in a variety of ways (Algas, algue rouge marine, chondrus crispus, chondrus extract, euchema species, irish moss algae, red marine algae). Carrageenan has been tested time and time again in regards to human safety. At the most benign, studies most commonly associate it with gastric inflammation. While more concerning studies attribute it as a potential carcinogen. With these concerns in mind, the cans you will find on our shelf are devoid of this particular binder.
As we often discuss, there is no perfect pet food. We must always feed the pet in front of us. Our hope is to provide you with all the information you may need to make a more educated assessment of your pets needs. As always, we are happy to help with any questions you may have.
