I'm wondering if anyone else has read what's in their dog food and has gone ugh!
I feed a really top notch food that's meant to be really healthy - yet even that has 5% Ash in it.
What is Ash and why is it in seemingly in every prepared dog food? Is it just something to bulk it out - surely it can't be healthy eating ashes?
Will Holmes, Weybridge
It is a legal requirement that the amount of ash is listed although I don’t see the point myself.
John Burns BVMS MRCVS, Burns Pet Nutrition
(Emmabeth, Dog Geek, I own a Deerhound, two lurchers and a terrier x)
ReplyDeleteAsh is the inorganic matter left after a sample of the food is heated to a very high temperature and this process is used to determine the mineral content of the food.
There isnt any actual ash added to food.
You will be relieved to hear that ash is not added to pet foods. It is a way of describing the mineral content of pet food. The ash you see listed is part of the guaranteed nutrient analysis: legally the pack must state how much of the food is protein, fat, fibre, water and ash.
ReplyDeleteAsh is measured by heating the pet food to temperatures of around 550 °C, and burning off all the organic components to leave just the inorganic residue. If the mineral content of pet food sounds high, it is important to remember that our domestic carnivores were designed to eat carcasses that are full of bones containing minerals, and a well-designed pet food will reflect this in its composition
These minerals will be chiefly potassium and phosphorus with smaller amounts of calcium, iron, magnesium, sodium and zinc, and trace amounts of many others
this was in one of my new scientist mags a few years ago