Palatants are poison. THey make kibble tasty but are not healthy. Palatants are vegetable or meat based proteins and could very well meet claims of being grain-free, non-GMO, natural, organic, low-fat, low-sugar etc, but doesn't mean they are healthy. Palatants used in dog food include pyrophosates, sodium tripolyphosphate and natural flavors.
These vegetable palatants typically are added to the food in powder form and come from a variety of sources including corn, soy, potato and specialty grains. Unfortunately, unless they are organic these palatant sources will be sprayed on glyphosate before processing. Additionally these grain-based sources are also high in carbohydrates that your dog does not need in order to be in optimal health. Meat derived protein palatants come from different parts of the animal and typically comes from skin and muscle tissue or viscera, which is a meat by-product that comes from internal organs or the main cavity of the slaughtered animal (AFB International). Meat derived palatants are better for health compared to their vegetable derived counterparts, but no matter what, palatants are poison.
According to this recent study in the National Library of Medicine, "since dry pet foods (also known as kibbles), while being the most popular, are the least palatable, palatants as a flavor enhancer are generally added to dry pet foods to increase their acceptability to pets." Because kibble is so far from what dogs are naturally designed to eat, chemicals need to be added to the food to get them to eat it. Examples of these chemicals include putrescine and cadaverine, which are colorless and "produced naturally by the breakdown of proteins" and are "responsible for the revolting smell of rotting flesh."
Further, this 2021 study sates"adding certain chemical compounds to pet foods to enhance flavor characteristics is one way of increasing palatability. Since some chemical compounds can also work as masking agents, they can be added with an intention to overcome or mass off-flavors or odors." I don't know about you, but I certainly would not want to eat anything or have my dog eat anything that had an "off-flavor" or "odor" disguised by toxic chemicals.
Kibble tastes delicious the same way McDonald's tastes delicious. This is because the pet food industry and the fast food industry spend tons of time and money to research and make these palatants to help sell products. They are highly addictive as well. Think of it like this: when you walk into a McDonald's or a Dunkin' Donuts or any fast food franchise, they all smell the exact same way. You are smelling those palatants, which are designed to hijack our senses, make us want to buy and eat their products. Kibble smells the same way to dogs. According to Darren Logan, the head of research at the Waltham Petcare Science Institute, owned by the main evil powerhouse of the pet world, Mars Inc., states "Big [pet food] companies have huge departments that make palatants...Just like we make them for humans, we make them for pets as well."
Kibble has been designed the same exact way. Palatants are poison.
Dogs are animals. They have natural instincts created by nature to keep them alive. If kibble was so nutritious, palatants would not be needed to make it appealing. Kibble companies are literally adding chemicals to food that is already not optimally nutritious to get your dog to eat it, which honestly defies what nature intended.
Additionally, In order to meet nutritional requirements, kibble manufacturers blend animal fats, meals and by-products with grains, and vitamin and minerals, which is cheap. Dogs are not grain eaters by choice, so kibble companies added these palatants to entice dogs to consume it.
Studies have demonstrated that dogs can't sense nutrition. Just like humans, they will continue to eat foods that are appealing to them based on their senses, regardless of the nutritional value. So you cannot trust your dog to let you know how nutritious a food is based on how they eat it (Fetching Foods).
The pet food industry is not regulated the same way human food is. The reality is there aren't a whole lot of studies out there that document the safety of palatants, but I believe that anything highly processed like palatants used in kibble and kibble itself may seem tasty, but is 1000000% not healthy and will not help your dog thrive.
95% of the brands you see on the shelves are owned by 6 companies only and make up the Big Pet Food Industry:
1. Mars Petcare, part of the Mars Candy company, leads the way. Mars owns 41 brands which include: Evo, Cesar, Eukanuba, IAMS, Nutro, Pedigree and Royal Canin. They recently bought out Orijen and Acana. Mars also owns the largest chain of veterinary clinics and hospitals.
2. Nestlé Purina is a close second. They own 30 brands which include: Merrick, Alpo, Beneful, Beyond, Castor & Pollux, Chef Michael’s (who is a fictional person), Fancy Feast, Friskies, Purina and Zukes.
3. J.M Smuckers, the jam company, is relatively new to pet food having recently acquired several companies. They own 14 brands which include: 9 Lives, Gravy Train, Kibble ‘n Bits, Meow Mix, Milk-Bone, Milo’s Kitchen, and Rachael Ray Nutrish. They sold off Natural Balance in 2020 to a capital management company.
4. Hill’s Science Diet is owned by Colgate-Palmolive. They have four brands: Science Diet, Prescription Diet, Ideal Balance, and Healthy Advantage.
5. Diamond Pet Foods is high on the list because they are a co-packer and manufacture food for a wide variety of other companies. Brands owned by Diamond include Diamond Naturals, Nutra-Gold, and Taste of the Wild.
6. Blue Buffalo is owned by General Mills. There are many different formulas and specialty diets that all fall under the Blue Buffalo umbrella.
(Read More Here)
These companies openly admit that they are engineering kibble to make it irresistibly delicious, to sell products and profit. In no way do these companies care about you or the health of your pet. The veterinary industry is a multi-billion dollar business that is simply in the business of keeping our animals alive, not curing them, keeping them health or helping them to thrive.
Conversely, some companies will claim that these palatants are actually healthy and "can provide additional health benefits to cats and dogs" (Source: AFB International). This could be true, if the ingredients used are actually clean.
I think it is more likely that most palatants are highly processed, artificial ingredients used to make kibble taste good AND keep the cost of their products as low as possible to make as much profit as possible. I also believe that kibble ingredients, palatants and all, combined with kibble manufacturing methods heavily contribute to the growing obesity and health epidemic facing our dogs today.
It is no coincidence that chronic disease and sickness is increasing in our pets. Diabetes, obesity, autoimmune diseases are all widely accepted as common issues, which in reality they are not. Since dogs have evolved from wolves about 14,000 years ago and have been since domesticated, their digestive system remains the same. They survived by eating prey, fresh fruit and vegetables. And they thrive by doing the same now. There is absolutely a correlation between what we feed our pets, their lifespan and health-span.
Do not let big corporations do the cooking for your dog. Learn more about what to feed your dog by clicking here. Learn more about the disease epidemic that faces our dogs by clicking here.
Donate to Bobzilla.org
$5.00
The veterinary business is business which is not in the business of curing your animal, but Bobzilla's business is. Bobzilla is committed to one hundred percent transparency in all of its scientific research into animal wellness and prevention of disease and one… read more
