I was reading a pet magazine and saw the ad from Alpo promoting their new book and campaign "Real Dogs Eat Meat." When you call up Alpo's Website it has Dog Food: Premium Purina Alpo Brand Dog Food and you can click around on the products but the funny thing is they have removed the ingredients! I don't know of any reputable dog or cat food company that has removed the ingredient list of their food from their websites. Is this because they are promoting Real Dogs Eat Meat but their food is corn based? Is it because they believe consumers only look at pictures and say well that looks like a great food so why know what's in it?
Here is one of their foods – Alpo Prime Cuts Savory Beef Flavor Dry Dog Food
Ingredients – Ground Yellow Corn, Beef And Bone Meal, Soybean Meal, Beef Tallow Preserved With Bha, Animal Digest, Salt, Choline Chloride, Zinc Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Ferrous Sulfate, Added Color (Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2), Manganese Sulfate, Niacin, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Carbonate, Brewers Dried Yeast, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Pantothenate, Natural Flavor, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Calcium Iodate, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source Of Vitamin K Activity), Folic Acid, Biotin, Sodium Selenite.
The name sounds good doesn't it? As you can see this follows the "Real Dogs Eat Meat Campaign." Yep, first ingredient is corn which is a known allergen. Then we have Beef and Bone Meal which is hard to digest and a dry rendered product from (beef) tissues, including bone, exclusive of blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents. This is an inexpensive, low quality ingredient used to boost the protein percentage. Soybeal meal is another allergen and another low quality protein filler used to boost the protein content and then we have some beef tallow preserved with BHA which is also a carcinogen, a cancer causing agent. Beef tallow is also used to make low quality dog and cat food more palatable. Beef tallow is very low in linoleic acid and much cheaper for the pet food industry to use than a good quality vegetable oil or nutritionally rich chicken fat. Then we have Animal Digest. The FDA has tested Animal digest and has said it is likely to contain the lethal drug pentobarbital and thus likely to contain a euthanized animal. It also contains menadione sodium bisulfite complex – this is another ingredient on the questionable list. Menadione Sodium Bisulfate is a synthetic version of Vitamin K. This ingredient is added to pet foods and treats as an inexpensive source of Vitamin K. This ingredient can be highly toxic in high doses. Hazard information regarding menadione lists "carcinogenic effects" and states "the substance is toxic to kidneys, lungs, liver, mucous membranes. Repeated or prolonged exposure to the substance can produce target organs damage." Oh and added colors are always a bonus! So, your dog won't eat the food if it's in it's natural colored state so you add dyes to make it more pleasing to them and the consumer. Who doesn't like a rainbow of colors in their pet food bowl?
This ad campaign is so sad and once again – Buyer Beware – pretty pictures and great wording don't make a food good. Turn your cans and bags over and look at the ingredients and in this case question – Where's the meat Alpo?
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