Fish meal and Ethoxyquin

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/01/03/fish-as-a-protein-source.aspx

It's Really Hard to Avoid Ethoxyquin in Formulas with Fish Meal

Unfortunately, ethoxyquin is still being used in many pet foods currently available on the market. It is used to preserve the fat in almost all fish meals – fat that is made from waste products.

Always remember that if the label doesn't list exact ingredients, including the exact meat source, you have absolutely no idea what's in that food. And because ethoxyquin is added before the raw ingredients are shipped to the pet food manufacturers, it doesn't get listed or disclosed on the product label.

The pet food company you purchase your cat's or dog's food from may not be adding ethoxyquin, but that doesn't mean it isn't in the fish meal in that food.

Don't make the mistake of assuming if the fish meal product label doesn't list ethoxyquin, it's not in there. Unless the label specifically states the formula is ethoxyquin-free, or you call the manufacturer's 1-800 number and are told it's not in the raw materials they purchase nor added during their own manufacturing process, you should assume the formula contains ethoxyquin.

Fish meal also happens to be one of the main pet food ingredients also contaminated with mycotoxins.

Other Health Concerns from Feeding Fish

As many of you know, I talk a lot here about the need to rotate proteins in your pet's diet. That's because any food that is over-consumed can create an allergy over time.

And fish, as it turns out, is one of the most highly allergenic foods for felines. Allergies cause systemic inflammation. Cats that eat allergenic foods over and over can end up with lung inflammation that can also lead to asthma. And of course asthma is one of the more commonly diagnosed inflammatory conditions in cats.

There also appears to be a link between mercury and asthma, and ethoxyquin and asthma, so it's easy to start to see the bigger picture with regard to diet-related inflammatory conditions.

Fish fed in high amounts can also lead to thiamine deficiency, which can cause loss of appetite, seizures, and even death.

Long-term ingestion of fish in cat food can also deplete vitamin E resources. Vitamin E deficiency can also cause a really painful condition called steatitis, which is yellow fat disease. If left untreated, steatitis can also be life-threatening.

Seafood is a very rich source of iodine, but cats aren't designed to process a lot of iodine. Many animal nutritionists, including me, believe there's a link between cats consuming too many iodine-rich foods and hyperthyroidism. 

There's also been a link established between pop-top cans or canned cat food and hyperthyroidism.

Pet food companies are now introducing 'low-iodine' formulas for hyperthyroid cats. How about we just avoid feeding cats fish-based food instead? Avoiding foods high in iodine seems like a good way to prevent hyperthyroidism in kitties.

Last but not least, the magnesium content in fish has been linked to urinary tract diseases in cats. A diet overloaded with the mineral magnesium can predispose your kitty to magnesium ammonium phosphate crystals, also known as MAP crystals or struvite crystals. Crystals are a big problem for many, many cats.

Unmodified fish meal can spontaneously combust from heat generated by oxidation of the polyunsaturated fatty acids in the meal. In the past, factory shipshave sunk because of such fires. That danger has been eliminated by adding antioxidants to the meal.^[1]

As of 2001, ethoxyquin was the most commonly used antioxidant, usually in the range 200–1000 mg/kg.^[2] one of the antioxidants that has been used. There has been some speculation that ethoxyquin in pet foods might be responsible for multiple health problems. To date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has only found a verifiable connection between ethoxyquin and buildup of protoporphyrin IX in the liver, as well as elevations in liver-related enzymes in some animals, but with no known health consequences from these effects. In 1997, the Center for Veterinary Medicine asked pet food manufacturers to voluntarily limit ethoxyquin levels to 75 ppm until further evidence is reported. However, most pet foods that contain ethoxyquin have never exceeded this amount. Ethoxyquin has been shown to be slightly toxic to fish.

Ethoxyquin is not permitted for use in Australian foods, nor is it approved for use within in the European Union, though it is an accepted additive in the U.S. Besides the USA, it is also widely used in other third-world countries.^{[citation needed]}

Though it has been approved for use in foods in the US, and as a spray insecticide for fruits, ethoxyquin has surprisingly not been thoroughly tested for its carcinogenic potential. Ethoxyquin has long been suggested to be a possible carcinogen, and a very closely related chemical, 1,2-dihydro-2,2,4-trimethylquinoline, has been shown to have carcinogenic activity in rats, and a potential for carcinogenic effect to fishmeal prior to storage or transportation.