Northfin food

[RD.]

300 ppm will not be the lowest, or the norm, found in the various main brands of fish food that contain ethoxyquin. I feel quite confident in stating that most will be under 150 ppm. So I guess only time will tell. If I come across any additional lab reports from other manufacturers I will post them here on MFK.

 

[dan518]

If northfin can flaunt the rules then surely other manufacturers could.

 

[RD.]

Sure, and they most likely are - but most are not making a food that consists mostly (85%) of a raw ingredient (Antarctic Krill Meal) that is preserved in ethoxyquin.

See how that works?

Same result if a company was using ethox treated fish meal, where the fish meal made up 85% of the formula. One would expect a very high reading of ethox in that product.


It's one thing to not put the ingredient on the label (by ignorance, or because no one else does), it's another to exceed the maximum quantity allowed, by more than double. The former removes a consumers option of making an informed choice, the latter potentially places the consumers pet in harms way.

 

[RD.]

One thing that I wanted to quickly correct .......

Products such as Naturox sound and look good on paper, but typically foods that use these type of products have a shelf life of 12 months. Ethox treated food is typically stamped safe for 2 years from production.

Check your fish food, then check a quality dog food, the answer of who uses ethoxyquin is right there on the BB date.

While it is true that natural tocopherols do not have the same type of preservative punch as substances such as ethoxyquin, another reason why many dog foods have a shorter shelf life is due to their high lipid content. It may very well prove to be that a 2 year shelf life in fish food treated with products such as Naturox is still possible. So checking the BB date, even in a fish food that is primarily preserved via natural tocopherols, may not be as simplistic as I made it sound. Oops, my bad.

 

[jaws7777]

I honestly believe you do and that's why it's funny to me. Lots of people give you grief for trying to help with fish nutrition, call it bran favoritism or dismissing your claim for one illogical reason or another. Now that you've back pedaled on a food you generally praised for ostensible reasons and you get similar grief. People are hard to please. I can't help but act a bit facetious.

+1 smh

 

[Woefulrelic]

One thing that I wanted to quickly correct .......




While it is true that natural tocopherols do not have the same type of preservative punch as substances such as ethoxyquin, another reason why many dog foods have a shorter shelf life is due to their high lipid content. It may very well prove to be that a 2 year shelf life in fish food treated with products such as Naturox is still possible. So checking the BB date, even in a fish food that is primarily preserved via natural tocopherols, may not be as simplistic as I made it sound. Oops, my bad.

Such a thing would heavily impact international marketability I'm guessing? I assume most don't use them for a reason.

 

[jaws7777]

I think the point is being missed. The fact that they made claims about their ingredients but clearly arent adhering to these claims.

Something similar happened a while back....well not really similar at all but there was an ingredient change in one formula of an nls product...nothing misleading but that change sent everyone up in a panic lol (me included) some of us emiled them and were promptly responed to with a very reasonable explanation. I doubt we'll get such am explanation in this case though

 

[magnificent]

I don’t know of any fish food company on record made such bold claims on their website and communication with consumers, other than Northfin.
If some one wonder why Northfin is being singled out for the lab. test? These statements below should summed up and tell you why.
Northfin is not an innocent victim. If there is any victim, I would say kmuda of oscarfish forum is the real victim, he is the only one that provide a public service of educating consumers about fish food, expecting the company to answers in good faith, but the information given turn out to be false.

I don’t feel the company should get a free past for false advertising. Some might not care, but for me, being truthful should be our moral compass in today’s alternative facts society.

http://www.oscarfish.com/4-star-foods/2 … lysis.html
"I have been able to recieve an "Ethoyxquin Free" statement from Northfin, to include absence of Ethoxyquin in pre-manufacture meals.

This is an old thread posted 1 year 9 months ago by (Nostradamus) aquanero.
http://www.oscarfish.com/forum/fish...rted-pellets-flavors-and-brands.html?start=30
“maybe they figured a good marketing strategy was to jump on the anti ethoxyquin band wagon and use it to their advantage, ethoxyquin is used to preserve fish meal, so while North Fin doesn't add it to their food how do you know it's not in the fish meal they buy? They say they don't add any preservatives but it doesn't say anywhere on their site their suppliers don't use it. Read between the lines, I'll bet if you sent the food to an independent lab they would find it in there. It is used by fish meal manufactures if they use fish meal in their food then where did it go? Don't believe everything you read use some logical deductive reasoning, marketing is a great tool, education is a greater defense”.

Copy and paste from nothfin website: http://www.canadian-aquatic-feed.com/?page_id=34

“ NorthFin Premium Fish Foods does not use any preservatives or harmful chemicals to preserve its product line”.

www.oscarfish.com/forum/fish-food-ingred...od.html?limitstart=0
" Northfin fish food are made in our facility and we do not have or use any preservatives. We do not use any oils or fats and would be no need to ad any. Also we find our formulas stable when kept properly. All our main ingredients are ordered fresh from Canadian factories, we do not buy or import any from offshore.”

The Bible remind us in Mark 4:22 "For everything hidden is meant to be revealed, and everything concealed is meant to be brought to light".

 

[Grinch]

300 ppm will not be the lowest, or the norm, found in the various main brands of fish food that contain ethoxyquin. I feel quite confident in stating that most will be under 150 ppm. So I guess only time will tell. If I come across any additional lab reports from other manufacturers I will post them here on MFK.

There have been a number of posts similar to this one, and a number of threads on MFK going about this issue. I get that people are upset with NF... we are too. For us, it's not so much that we mind the use of a preservative in our fish foods as it is that NF may be lying about it. I looked up the science behind ethoxyquin and it's use in fish. This is what I can share:

-150ppm is the limit for feeds used in animals for human consumption. Most preserved fish foods used in the hobby are not for fish intended for human consumption. Any talk of the FDA or USDA is immaterial since our fish will not be consumed by humans. It's the wild wild west... no regulations apply other than to keep it safe for humans to handle the food.

-Ethoxyquin preserves fat and keeps vitamins C and E intact. Citation: Nutrition and health of aquaculture fish By:Oliva-Teles, A (Oliva-Teles, A.) JOURNAL OF FISH DISEASES Volume: 35 Issue: 2 Pages: 83-108 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2761.2011.01333.x Published: FEB 2012

-Ethoxyquin has been shown to negatively impact one freshwater fish species (as far as I can tell). That study focused on an African cichlid that is often raised for human consumption, Tilapia. That study found that the immune system of the fish was affected, but that the effect of ethoxyquin (fed at 150ppm) was not strong enough to cause a significant difference in mortality or disease resistance. Note that many things that a fish experiences in a fish tank cause immunosuppression. For example, being kept in a fish tank, being kept in sub-optimal conditions, being kept with inappropriate companions, etc. The study lasted 30 days... there is no evidence, pro or con, what the effect of ethoxyquin ingestion would be past 30 days in a fish. Citation: The synthetic antioxidant, ethoxyquin, adversely affects immunity in tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) By:Yama****a, Y (Yama****a, Y.)[ 1 ] ; Katagiri, T (Katagiri, T.)[ 1 ] ; Pirarat, N (Pirarat, N.)[ 2 ] ; Futami, K (Futami, K.)[ 3 ] ; Endo, M (Endo, M.)[ 1 ] ; Maita, M (Maita, M.)[ 1 ] View ResearcherID and ORCID AQUACULTURE NUTRITION Volume: 15 Issue: 2 Pages: 144-151 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2095.2008.00577.x Published: APR 2009

- Ethoxyquin containing food might not be palatable to some species... and so fish meal containing it might not be the best food for that species. Most of our fish, but not all, will readily eat Northfin. Citation: Fishmeal quality and ethoxyquin effects on the weaning performance of ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta) larvae By:Bogevik, AS (Bogevik, A. S.)[ 1 ] ; Kousoulaki, K (Kousoulaki, K.)[ 1 ] ; Skiftesvik, AB (Skiftesvik, A. B.)[ 2 ] ; Opstad, I (Opstad, I.)[ 2 ] AQUACULTURE NUTRITION Volume: 22 Issue: 1 Pages: 46-50 DOI: 10.1111/anu.12225 Published: JAN 2016

-This is an active area of scientific inquiry... but one in which there is very little activity... does that make sense? LOL. There are lots of questions, but not a lot of money/interest to answer them. Such is the way of science.

 

[dogofwar]

This is all quite interesting...but to keep it a bit more relevant:

Let's assume that ethoxyquin has been in fish food in varying levels - intentionally or otherwise - for years.

Let's also assume that levels of it are much higher in foods other than Northfin and that those foods were considered "quality foods" and fed by many of the people here for many years...without incident.

Agree that making claims that foods are "preservative free" and then finding preservatives in them aren't good.

But there are probably 1,000 more significant factors that are more important to keeping fish happy and healthy than the level of ethoxyquin in their food.

Just a little perspective in all of the hyperventilation...

Matt