OUTRAGEOUS AND INCOMPETENT CRITERIA USED BY RATERS AND ADVISORS

Self-appointed pet food advisors, reviewers, raters, and rankers should be relied upon no more than the validity of the criteria they use in evaluating foods.

Unfortunately, none of the numerous websites use the proper criteria. Instead they evaluate foods based upon myths regarding sequence of ingredients, analyses, recalls, source of ingredients, unverified manufacturer claims, and purported toxicity.

Some of the assessments and criteria do not demonstrate even basic scientific or nutritional understanding nor the necessary expertise in commercial ingredients, processing technology, or toxicology.

Language and grammar in quotes are actual from the advisor and rater sites. Apologies for the difficulty with reading through errors; we have not used (sic) much and have just left wording alone. All the assertions, which are used by the raters to rank pet foods, are, to one degree or another, false and misleading in terms of what the ingredients actually are, their merits, and their potential toxicity at the actual levels used in foods. (Their off-the-wall charges of toxicity are nothing short of libelous.) In no instance do the raters and advisors provide credible proof for their assertions.

To gain a clearer understanding of any ingredient being praised or demonized, do an Internet search: HEALTH BENEFITS OF ____________ (name of ingredient). Therein you will find both the pros and cons. But remember, there are cons to everything. If you want to feed something, anything at all, compromises must be made.

The nonsensical, incompetent, and absurd criteria used by rankers and advisors (our comments in red):

• Alanine—"causes cancer in lab mice" (Alanine is an amino acid produced in the bodies of all mammals. If it caused cancer, all mammals would have cancer.)
• Alfalfa—"indicates poor animal feed quality" (Modest amounts are nutritionally beneficial.)
• Allergies—"caused by poor quality diets with grains and preservatives" (The real culprit, which all raters and advisors ignore, is singular feeding of any "complete" food.)
• Allergies—"caused by the high volume of fibrous material" (Fiber is not the cause of allergy.)
• Analyses—"set levels of certain nutrients are critical" (This assumes a pet is being fed just one food meal after meal, which they should not be. It also assumes somebody somewhere knows precisely what nutrients at what levels an individual pet needs. But there is no such person to be found anywhere on planet earth holding such omniscience.)
• Animal fat— "non-descriptive, 4-D, chemically preserved, indigestible, carcinogenic" (Animal fat is an essential nutrient for pets.)
• Animal fat—"should be the primary ingredient because that is carnivore nature" (Prey in the wild is lean, not fat.)
• Animal fat—"bad if not fish oil" (No carnivore in the wild eats only fish oil.)
• Animal fat—"natural preservatives mislead since it is already cheap, rancid, diseased" (Absurd.)
• Animal fat—"non-descriptive, 4-D, rancid, vitamin E and C preservatives mislead" (Totally untrue.)
• Arginine—"added instead of meat, alkaline amino acid added to excrete urea" (False. Arginine is an essential amino that can bolster nutrition.)
• Ascorbic acid, Vitamin C —"harsh on stomach, food preservative" (True only if given in massive amounts, which does not occur in pet foods.)
• Asparagus—"gimmicky" (This is a smear term to imply that such an ingredient is used only for label dressing to increase sales. That may be true for some manufacturers, but can only be determined by questioning them directly. On the other hand, no reviewer knows the level being used in proprietary formulations. They also ignore the potential nutraceutical effects at low levels.)
• Avocados—"toxic" (Avocado in moderation is beneficial, not toxic.)
• Bacillus subtilis—"gimmicky probiotic, not enough, destroyed by heat processing." (This smear indicates no understanding of basic processing technology. Competent manufacturers enrobe probiotics on products after heat processing is completed.)
• Bacon—"gimmicky, pork's not great for pets" (Pork, in variety, is a beneficial meat for pets.)
• Baked—"better than extruded" (Extrusion is high temperature short time [HTST] processing and as such is the most efficient at preserving nutrients, sterilizing, and making ingredients digestible. Baking is not better.)
• Barley grass—"gimmicky additive, not enough used" (Highly beneficial even in low amounts. Reviewers do not know how much is used by reading labels.)
• Barley malt flour—"waste product of brewing industry, sweetened, filler, no nutrients" (Malt is sprouted barley. Sprouts are the most nutritious form of grains.)
• Barley—"better than other grains" (Each grain has its own merits if fed in variety. No one grain is better than all others.)
• Barley—"impossible for pets to digest" (Untrue, unless it is fed raw. No pet food contains raw barley.)
• Basil—"gimmicky" (This and other herbs have many benefits.)
• Beans—"non-descriptive, added for cheap protein/fiber/ filler" (Beans have a variety of benefits if cooked properly and fed in variety.)
• Beef & bone meal—"difficult to digest, calcium not assimilated, 4-D cheap protein" (Demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of what the ingredient is.)
• Beef by-products—"any internal part of the cow but not meat, 4-D, rancid" (Carnivores will often eat the non-meat, more nutritious part of prey first. Although not all beef by-products are 4-D, carnivores in the wild eat primarily 4-D prey. A quality source does not sell rancid by-products.)
• Beef glucosamine—"gimmicky, no benefit, plus it's full of water weight" (Glucosamine is not full of water. It is a biomolecule with many benefits.)
• Beef tallow—"mixed tocopherol preservative misleads and means poor quality" (Mixed tocopherols are a high quality antioxidant that preserves food and exerts health benefits.)
• Beef tallow—"old restaurant grease, indigestible, diarrhea, causes aging, carcinogen" (Fat, such as tallow, is an essential nutrient. No reputable pet food manufacturer uses old restaurant grease.)
• Beef tallow—"produces allergies" (Protein, not fat, causes allergies.)
• Beef—"contains water in the muscles, adds weight, less protein nutrition!" (Meats on labels, as opposed to meat meals, indicate fresh or frozen raw meat. Yes, it contains more water, but that is removed during drying. This criticism also ignores the fact that raw fresh meats in the formula have been processed half as much as meals. Less processing equals more nutrition, not less. Moreover, it is possible to make foods with fresh meats containing 60% protein, which is hardly "less protein nutrition.")
• Beet pulp (sugar removed)—"fiber/filler, still sugar for rush/addiction, hyperactivity" (Provides important prebiotic digestive fiber and does not cause a rush or addiction. It is not a filler.)
• Beet pulp—"sugar-filled fiber/filler, addicting, hyperactivity, diabetes, feeds arthritis" (See above. It does not feed arthritis.)
• Beet Pulp—"toxic" (Untrue as used in pet foods.)
• Beets—"implies whole beet, more nutritious, sugar, weight gain, diabetes, hyperactivity" (Beets are not the same as sugar beets, nor do either of them, as used in pet foods, cause such problems.)
• Best Foods—"have ten or more quality ingredients prior to the fat source." (Without knowing actual formulations, which are private, this rule of thumb is baseless. This criterion is based on the false popular conception that fats cause disease and obesity.)
• Bifidobacterium longum—"gimmicky, not enough to help, destroyed" (Miniscule amounts of this probiotic are all that is necessary to exert health benefits. Enrobed on the product post-processing, it is not destroyed.)
• Bifidobacterium pseudolongum—"gimmicky, destroyed" (False. See above.)
• Bifidobacterium thermophilum—"gimmicky, destroyed" (False. See above.)
• Blueberries—"gimmicky, not enough used for benefit to eyes" (False. Blueberries are used for their many phytonutrient and antioxidant effects, not just for the eyes. Small amounts can exert beneficial effects.)
• Bone—"non-digestible way to obtain calcium can lead to digestive system upset, 4D origins" (How could something be more wrong that this, considering what carnivores eat in the wild? Bone is actually the best source of calcium. Most bone comes from human grade carcasses.)
• Brewer's rice—"waste, cheap, non-nutritive filler, harsh on intestines, causes diabetes" (Totally false and unfounded.)
• Brewer's dried yeast—"waste product, toxic to the liver causes allergies and arthritis" (Yeast has much nutritional and probiotic value and does not cause the maladies listed.)
• Brewer's yeast extract—"left over from brewery process, toxic to the liver" (No pet has ever suffered from liver disease from this ingredient.)
• Broccoli—"leads to gas, very gimmicky" (Broccoli has many health benefits, and health is not a gimmick.)
• Brown rice flour—"not whole ground, cheap filler" (Brown means it is whole. It is not used as a filler.)
• Brown rice—"cheap filler, does not have to be whole ground" (Brown rice means it consists of all the rice minus hull. It is not cheap nor is it used as a filler.)
• Buttermilk—"gimmick" (Buttermilk is highly nutritious.)
• By-products and meals—"contain diseased internal organs/4D, tumors, infected tissues" (Meat by-products are nutritionally superior to muscle meats. By definition, by-products are from the same animals as used for human food production.)
• By-products—"are fillers and make the food cheap with very little nutritional value." ("By-products" is a made up term describing things some people may not want to eat. It has nothing to do with nutritional value. In fact, most meat by-products are superior nutritionally to trimmed and sterile "human grade" muscle meat.)
• By-Products—"toxic" (Completely without basis.)
• Calcium propionate—"carcinogenic, antifungal" (What is carcinogenic are the mycotoxins produced by molds if they are not retarded by calcium propionate.)
• Calories—"one needs to place close attention to calorie content" (Other than in starvation, calories have little to do with nutritional and health value.)
• Canned Foods—"has more protein, less carbohydrates, and more natural fats" (Canned foods can have nothing more than dry foods. But dry foods can have more than canned because dry foods can contain unprocessed ingredients whereas canned foods must be entirely cooked.)
• Canned Foods—"use copious amounts of ground corn for protein" (Corn is primarily a carbohydrate, not protein source.)
• Carnitine—"builds muscle, B-vitamin factor, not needed unless poor protein" (Carnitine is an amino acid derivative that functions in lipid metabolism. It is not a vitamin nor does it build muscle. Even with adequate protein additional carnitine may provide health benefits.)
• Carrot powder—"cheap source of carrot fiber" (Carrot dried into a powder is more expensive than fresh carrots. It is used for the many nutrients it contains, not as a fiber.)
• Carrots dried—" indicates pet food quality not human quality" (Untrue, see above.)
• Casein—"indicates cheap food, used to compensate for heavy grain use" (Casein is an expensive ingredient and its use has nothing to do with grain.)
• Cats—"must have two meals of wet food, absolutely no dried" (There is no proof that cats need to be fed this way. Moreover, dry food can be made wet by merely adding water.)
• Cayenne powder—"can burn stomach" (Used in excess, anything can be harmful, even oxygen and water. Cayenne has many health benefits.)
• Celery—"gimmick" (Celery has nutritional value.)
• Cellulose—"is either cardboard or dried wood" (Cellulose as used in foods is neither of these materials.)
• Cheap ingredients—"are just fillers" (The cost of ingredients is not always proportional to nutritional value. No pet food company uses fillers.)
• Cheese powder—"gimmicky" (Cheese has many beneficial nutritional and dental effects.)
• Chicken breast—"highest quality meat" (Actually, everything in a chicken other than the white meat is of higher nutritional value.)
• Chicken (natural source of glucosamine)—"gimmicky, not enough" (Glucosamine is a beneficial nutrient and effective at low dose.)
• Chicken by products (organs only)—"poor quality diet, rancid, diseased, tumors, etc." (Organs are the most nutrient dense part of chickens. Organs are derived from human-grade chicken processing.)
• Chicken by-product meal—"carcasses, internal organs, beaks, feet, concentrated" (This is exactly what carnivores thrive on in the wild.)
• Chicken by-product—"ground up carcasses, diseased internal organs, beaks and feet" (See above.)
• Chicken cartilage (natural source of glucosamine)—"gimmicky, not enough" (Glucosamine is a beneficial nutrient and effective at low dose.)
• Chicken deboned—"chicken meat is filled with water, less protein, misleading quality" (All meat has about 70% water. That does not reduce its quality. They are falsely implying that dried meat that has been subject to heat and oxidation is better than fresh meat.)
• Chicken flavors—"indicates artificial flavor, carcinogen" (Chicken flavor can come from real chicken and is not carcinogenic.)
• Chicken—"84% water in muscles, less protein nutrition" (False, see above. Moisture in meat is not about 70%.)
• Chicory extract—"gimmicky" (This is an excellent prebiotic that enhances probiotic effects.)
• China ingredients—"toxic" (Ingredients from any country could possibly be toxic.)
• Chondroitin sulfate—"gimmick" (Chondroitin has many health benefits.)
• Citric acid and rosemary—"Citric acid (Vitamin C) can be harsh on digestive tract" (These ingredients are used as powerful natural antioxidants to preserve nutritional value. They do not adversely affect the digestive tract.)
• Citrus pectin—"too acidic for pets" (This provides valuable fiber and the citrate it contains alkalinizes, not acidifies, metabolically.)
• Cooking—"does not alter digestibility" (Cooking can either improve or impede digestibility, depending upon the ingredient and the method.)
• Cooking—"slow steam cooking at low temperatures is best" (That depends upon what is being cooked. Usual pet food formulas are best processed with high temperature and short time (HTST) cooking to inactivate toxins and improve digestibility.)
• Corn bran—"a filler" (Bran is an excellent digestive fiber, not a filler.)
• Corn flour—"can create bowel distress, weight gain, source of protein, filler" (None of these claims are true.)
• Corn germ meal—"protein filler, whole corn is best" (This is not used as a protein or filler. Corn germ has benefits over whole corn, and whole corn has benefits of germ.)
• Corn gluten meal—"cheap waste product, incomplete protein" (It is not a waste product, but rather a good source of protein.)
• Corn gluten—"allergenic, sugar, sugar imbalance, poor protein, interferes digestion" (All is untrue other than allergies for the rare animals allergic to corn.)
• Corn grits—"filler" (Grits are not a filler.)
• Corn meal—"cheap filler, used as protein source" (It is neither a protein source nor a filler.)
• Corn starch—"terrible filler, causes several health issues including allergies" (It is not a filler, but rather a carbohydrate source. Proteins, not carbohydrates, are the usual allergy culprits.)
• Corn—"inexpensive feed-grade, moldy grain or fungus which has cause death" (Any moldy ingredient could cause death. No manufacturer could legally use moldy ingredients.)
• Corn—"toxic" (Corn is consumed by millions of people and animals without causing disease or death.)
• Corn, wheat and soy—"are an empty protein and cause kidney failure" (There is no such thing as an empty protein, nor do these ingredients cause kidney failure.)
• Cranberries—"gimmicky" (Cranberries have many health benefits.)
• Cranberries—"gimmicky, not enough can be used for therapeutic benefit" (Small amounts create benefits.)
• Dairy—"toxic" (A sensational claim inasmuch as millions of people and animals have consumed dairy for thousands of years.)
• Dicalcium phosphate—"can become toxic to body" (Calcium and phosphorus are essential nutrients, not toxins.)
• Digests—"toxic" (Digests make proteins highly digestible, not toxic.)
• DL-Methionine—"toxic" (Methionine is an essential amino acid, not a toxin.)
• Dry foods—"are kitty crack and dehydrate cats from the inside out" (Dry foods are not addictive, nor do they cause dehydration. All domestic cats have water available to drink and can even create their own moisture by metabolizing protein in dry food.)
• Dry foods—"are made from more plentiful waste ingredients and are higher profit" (The dryness of foods has nothing to do with the availability of ingredients and dry foods use the same ingredients as other forms of pet food. Profit is determined by the producer, not the ingredients.)
• Dry Foods—"don't combine, it is like giving kids a few cigarettes rather than a pack" (Absurd.)
• Dry Foods—"dreadful in any quantity to cats and dogs" (There is no proof for this outrageous claim.)
• Dry Foods—"get rid of it all because it is harmful and addictive to cats" (Dry foods are not addictive, and they are only harmful if fed exclusively, as is true with any food.)
• Dry Foods—"give it all away to cat rescue groups" (So it is okay to "poison" rescue animals?)
• Dry Foods—"should not be the main source of protein" (No one food should be the main source of protein. Rotation and variety are key to health.)
• Duck—"high in water and low in nutrition" (Because a meat is from water fowl does not mean it has more water! Duck has the same moisture as most other meats and is as nutritious as well.)
• Egg dried—"indicates poor animal feed quality, waste product" (Dried egg has essentially the same nutrition as fresh egg. It is not waste, it is egg, one of the most complete proteins there is.)
• Egg pieces—"indicates poor animal feed quality" (Pieces of egg are not of less quality than the egg they are derived from.)
• Egg product—"cheap source of protein, waste product of egg industry" (Untrue. They provide no proof for the assertion.)
• Egg Product—"toxic" (Egg product consists of highly nutritious whole eggs. If properly processed and stabilized, it is not toxic.)
• Endorsement by a major breed group or nutritionist—"means the food is better" (Dog breeders are not nutritional experts. Unless a nutritionist understands the fallacy of complete processed pet foods, they are not expert either.)
• Enterococcus faecium—"gimmicky, not enough, destroyed in heat of process" (Exerts important probiotic effects in miniscule amounts. It is enrobed on dry foods after heat processing.)
• Extruded meat—"in dry kibble is less digestible than cooked meat" (Meat in dry kibble is cooked.)
• Fat—"causes bloat" (Fat has nothing to do with bloat. If it did, then all humans and animals would get bloat since they all consume fat.)
• Feed grade ingredients—"are old and moldy" (It is illegal to sell or use outdated moldy ingredients.)
• Feeding trials—"allow in vivo product evaluation and are preferred over formulations" (Neither accomplish the intended goal of proving a food is "complete," perfect, and therefore should be fed at every meal.)
• Feeding Trials—"feed only AAFCO caged animal tested feeding trial foods" (This does not accomplish the intended goal of proving a food is "complete," perfect, and therefore should be fed at every meal.)
• Fiber/cellulose—"diarrhea, harsh on bowels, recycled cardboard, peanut hulls" (Fiber is essential in the diet. It is not derived from cardboard.)
• Fibers—"toxic" (False. See above.)
• Fish meal—"non-descriptive means cheap, rancid, poor quality, may not be fish" (It is illegal to sell or use such an ingredient.)
• Fish meal—"non-descriptive protein, rancid, oil pressed out, poor quality" (Fish is the description and it cannot legally be sold or used rancid. The oil is not pressed out and it can have even more nutritional value than just fish meat.)
• Fish—"non-descriptive, rancid and of poor quality, high levels of mercury" (False. See above. The level of mercury depends upon the species and locale of the fish.)
• Fish/salmon—"toxic" (False. See above.)
• Fish oil— "consist of oxidized fat or fatty acid throw away catches" (It is not legal to sell or use oxidized fat. There is no such thing as fatty acid throw away catches.)
• Flax seed—"is not “whole” ground, just flour that might be lacking in fatty acids" (Flax seed, by definition is whole.)
• Flax seed—"lacking in fatty acids" (Flax seed is one of the richest sources of omega-3 fatty acids on earth)
• Folic acid pyridoxine hydrochloride—"cheap source of folic acid" (Pyridoxine is vitamin B6, not a cheap source of folic acid.)
• Fresh Meats—"inferior to meat meals" (Any processed meat has nutrients diminished and is therefore not superior to fresh meat.)
• Fructooligosaccharides—"mostly used as gimmick" (These are prebiotics and when used at low levels enhance the effects of probiotics.)
• Garlic—"cumulatively toxic" (Garlic does not accumulate in the body and provides beneficial nutrients.)
• Garlic—"toxic and gimmicky" (See above.)
• Gelatin—"filler" (It is not used as a filler, but as a protein and amino acid source particularly beneficial to skin and the joints.)
• Generically Named Sources—"poor quality or toxic" (A generic term has nothing to do with quality or toxicity.)
• Giant Breed Puppies—"puppy food will cause unhealthy too rapid growth" (Any processed food fed exclusively to any breed is unhealthy.)
• Chicken giblets—"by-product, way to obtain proteins, flavoring" (Giblets are not by-products. They are found in any grocery store and are highly nutritious.)
• Gimmicky ingredients—"are of no benefit" (See above. The so-called gimmicky ingredients can be highly beneficial.)
• Glucosamine/Chondroitin—"ineffective" (That is not what clinical studies have shown.)
• Glutens—"toxic, have zero nutritional value" (Glutens are proteins and have nutritional value. They are not toxic except to animals sensitive or allergic to them.)
• Glutens—"The gluten filters into the villa and hardens when it dries, causing the villa to break off. Since the villa cannot regenerate themselves, the damage is irreparable and permanent" (Gluten can cause an immune reaction that damages villi in certain individuals. It does not harden inside villi, and villi can heal.)
• Glycine—"non-essential amino acid used as antacid, indicates very poor quality food" (Since it is non-essential, there would be no point in a producer going to the expense of adding it other than to create a health benefit.)
• Good food—"means no preservatives, no by-products, and no grains." (No preservatives makes the food dangerous. By-products can be the highest in nutritional value. Grains are nutritionally superior to other starch sources.)
• Grain fragments—"nutritionless fillers" (Grain fragments have nutritional value. They are not fillers.)
• Grains—"toxic" (Not if processed correctly, or sprouted.)
• Grass fed—"only safe meat" (There are benefits to grass fed meats, but they are not the only safe meats.)
• Green beans dried—"gimmicky, poor animal feed quality" (Green beans have nutritional value. Animal feed quality does not mean poor nutritional quality.)
• Green tea—"gimmicky" (Provides many antioxidant and health benefits in low dose.)
• Guar gum—"cheap, non-nutritive filler" (It is not cheap, nor is it a filler. It provides digestive fiber benefits.)
• Herbs—"just window dressing" (Herbs can provide many nutritional and therapeutic benefits.)
• Human grade meat—"is more nutritious and safe" (The term "human grade" has nothing to do with nutrition other than indicating inferiority to most by-products. Twinkies and Pepsi are human grade.)
• Human grade—"the best protein is canned human grade pet foods" (See above on human grade. Canned foods are completely subject to high heat, whereas raw foods are not. Heat destroys much nutritional value. Dry foods can be, in part, raw.)
• If no AAFCO definition exists—"that ingredient is 'less desired" (AAFCO approval has nothing to do with nutritional value. They approve such things as dehydrated garbage and a potpourri of chemical additives, while ignoring the benefits of a host of beneficial ingredients consumed for hundreds of years that have proven nutraceutical effects.)
• Imported Ingredients—"toxic" (Every country in the world produces safe and nontoxic ingredients. Any country, including the USA, can produce toxic ones as well.)
• Ingredient Count—"the fewer the ingredients the better the food" (The opposite is true. More ingredients mean a greater variety of nutrients.)
• Ingredient lists—"companies lie because they don't reveal how much of each" (Companies must protect their secret formulas, otherwise they lose the investment they have made in development since anyone could then copy them. Innovation would be thwarted and product advance and quality would suffer if companies could not keep formulations private. Holding formulas private does not mean they are lying.)
• Ingredient sources—"hidden so companies can cheat on quality" (Sources are proprietary for the same reasons formulas are. With the Internet, anyone can find sources of any ingredient.)
• Ingredients—"first ingredients are the most important" (With respect to what? If protein and calories are the most important, then the first ingredients are most important. If health is the primary consideration, then the minor ingredients are more important.)
• Lactobacillus acidophilus—"gimmicky, destroyed in processing" (It is a valuable probiotic and is enrobed after heat processing.)
• Lecithin—"all natural antioxidant" (The primary nutritional value of lecithin is not antioxidation, rather benefits to lipid metabolism, cardiovascular, and neural health.)
• Lentils—"gimmicky." (Lentils have health benefits.)
• Life stage specific diets—"better than diets for all stages" (Animals in the wild—the model to follow if health is the objective—do not eat different foods at different life stages.)
• Life Stage—"overfeeding will occur if dogs are not fed the correct life stage food" (See above.)
• Lutein—"gimmicky" (An important beneficial nutrient.)
• Lycopene—"gimmicky" (An important beneficial nutrient.)
• L-Lysine—"Inadequate way to obtain Lysine (essential mino acid found in meat), cheaper to use for food item enrichment for grain-based food items" (Not everyone can afford all-meat diets for pets. The use of lysine to augment more economical foods is a healthy alternative used for almost a century.)
• Main ingredients—"cause kidney and liver failure" (No proof is provided for the libelous claim.)
• Manufacturers—"must be certified" (A company does not need the expense of outside certifications [passed on to consumers in product price] in order to manufacture quality and safe products.)
• Meat Meal—"rendering companies mix other things in and regulators wink at it" (The pet food industry is tightly controlled by the USDA, FDA, FTC, AAFCO, every state regulatory agency, and laws that can result in business closure, fines, and imprisonment. It is not a free-wheeling organized crime organization, as some like to sensationalize it.)
• Meat Meals—"can be zoo animals, road kill, 4-D meat, euthanized dogs and cats" (No proof for this libelous claim is ever provided.)
• Meat Meals—"toxic" (Note that a reviewer above said anything other than meat meals was toxic. Both are wrong since most of the allegations by reviewers about toxicity are incompetent and libelous.)
• Meat products—"not specified are considered of poor quality" ("Quality" is not defined nor compared to anything, nor are the people who "consider" identified or their expertise explained. Meat products are far superior to some meat ingredients (like many human grade meats), and inferior to other meat ingredients.)
• Meat sources—"if less than two in first three ingredients, food is bad" (The true amounts of ingredients cannot be determined by an ingredient listing. A list of 50 ingredients all at the same level in a formula can be listed in any order desired.)
• Meat—"sent to China for cheaper processing, then sent back to US for use in pet food." (This is not a common practice. If it is done by some, it is in order to keep pet food pricing low so products can be affordable. Domestic products have harmed and killed far more people and animals than imports have.)
• Meats—"must be the first three ingredients" (See above. The order of ingredients does not reveal the actual amounts of the ingredients.)
• Melamine—"put into foods by farmers" (Toxic melamine has been put into foods by ingredient suppliers, not farmers.)
• Milk—"gimmicky" (Milk is one of nature's most perfect foods. Every mammal begins life on it.)
• Milk Calcium—"a publicity stunt" (Using milk calcium creates no beneficial publicity. However, milk calcium is a beneficial source of calcium.)
• Mineral supplement/trace minerals—"means ingredients are poor quality" (Mineral fortifiers have nothing to do with ingredient quality but rather fortifying is done to optimize nutrition or compensate for the losses due to processing, or both.)
• Mixing—"don't mix pet foods as that will imbalance the nutritional systems of each" (The exact opposite is true if you seek health and safety.)
• Non-fat yogurt—"gimmicky, destroyed by heat" (Yogurt has many nutritional merits. Its probiotics are not destroyed if incorporated after heat processing.)
• Non-GMO—"only safe food" (There are many reasons to avoid GMO foods if possible, but all GMO foods have not been proven to be dangerous.)
• Novel proteins—"cause allergies in dogs" (Novel proteins have the potential to cure allergies, not cause them.)
• Nutraceuticals—"just window dressing" (Hundreds of thousands of scientific papers prove the effectiveness of nutraceuticals.)
• Oats—"better than other grains" (They may be better in some respects, but inferior in others.)
• Oat groats—"basically has an outer shell" (The opposite is true.)
• Older dogs—"have nutritional needs that differ from those of younger ones" (In fact, the old and young both have similarly high nutritional demands.)
• Organic—"only safe food" (Organic foods are better in many respects, but all other foods are not dangerous.)
• Pet Food Companies—"try to 'slip things in'" (Not if they want to stay out of jail.)
• Pet Food Companies—"use road kill" (There is no ingredient supplier that provides road kill.)
• Pet Food Companies—"used euthanized pets as ingredients" (There is no ingredient supplier that provides this ingredient.)
• Plant ingredients—"Plant-derived toxins (called saponins and phaseolins) are poisonous" (Only if fed in excess, such as feeding the same food meal after meal, or if not inactivated by processing.)
• Plum—"publicity stunt" (Plums provide excellent nutritional value, help regulate digestion, and retard food borne pathogens.)
• Pomaces and Pulp—"big 'no no's" (These ingredients provide valuable fiber, antoxidants and other phytonutrients.)
• Pork by-products—"non-human-edible parts, diseased, not the best meat for pets" (By-products could be eaten by humans, but humans do not prefer them. They are usually more nutritious than just muscle meat.)
• Potassium iodine—"cause allergies" (Iodine does not cause allergies. In animals thyroid insufficient, iodine may help allergic conditions.)
• Potatoes dehydrated—"indicates poor animal feed quality" (Simply removing water from potatoes does not make them poor quality.)
• Potatoes dried—"indicates poor quality, cheap filler" (See above. Potatoes are not a filler; they are a nutrient source.)
• Poultry by-product meal—"diseased, void of healthy meat, includes feet and beaks" (False. By-products can contain meats, but also contain the most nutritious parts of poultry.)
• Poultry fat—"Non-descript, carcinogenic preservative." (The fat is from poultry, that is descriptive. Most producers use natural safe preservatives.)
• Poultry giblets—"non-descript waste" (It is descriptive. Giblets such as liver and hearts are the most nutritious part of poultry.)
• Poultry liver—"cheap flavoring, non-descriptive, diseased tissues, toxic to body" (Nonsense. See above.)
• Poultry—"can include any foul (sic), non-descriptive, diseased meat, non-human grade" (All fowl are good nutritional sources. Not all fowl carry diseases. Human-grade does not equate to nutritional value.)
• Preservatives—"none is better than synthetic" (The opposite is true. Fats that become oxidized are far more toxic than any synthetic preservative.)
• Probiotics—"toxic" (That could be said only by someone totally ignorant of the scientific literature. It is also libelous.)
• Protein percentage—"should be twice that of fat in adequate foods" (This is arbitrary and without scientific basis. These nutrient percentages should be as they are found in natural prey.)
• Protein sources—"bad if not meat meals" (Meat (entire prey) is the best source of protein for carnivores, but all other protein is not bad.)
• Protein—"can come from any dubious source" (The source of protein must be identified on product labels.)
• Psyllium seed—" too harsh on digestive tract" (The opposite is true. Psyllium is an excellent fiber source that aids digestive motility.)
• Puppies—"large breeds have vastly different nutritional needs from smaller breeds" (If the assertion is true, how have young animals survived for millions of years eating the same thing as the adults?)
• Puppies—"only feed approved foods until they are full grown." (False. See above.)
• Quality—"companies have a Constitutional right to lie about ingredient quality" (They also have the Constitutional right to have their businesses closed and be put in jail if they do so.)
• Rabbit-by products—"includes tumors, ears, carcass, etc." (Untrue. By-products can be the most nutritious part of the animal.)
• Rating—"if the food meets AAFCO and NRC it gets between 5 and 10 for health" (Both of these criteria lead people to believe they should feed only one food meal after meal. That deserves a zero.)
• Raw meat—"is not best since it could be contaminated" (Then explain how all carnivores in the wild eating grossly contaminated prey have survived for millions of years.)
• Raw meat—"wrong since dogs 'evolved' next to humans eating cooked scraps" (Canines were canines long before any association with humans. Human contact did not "evolve" them, it simply tested their genetic limits.)
• Rice bran—"cheap filler, can lead to digestive upset" (The bran contains an array of important nutrients and helps digestion, not upsets it.)
• Rice—" Filler, linked to diabetes, always white rice, floor sweepings from rice industry" (It is not a filler, it is not always white, it is not floor sweepings. It is no more linked to diabetes than any other starch source.)
• Rice—"beneficial way to get protein" (It is a source of protein, but not a more beneficial way than from meats.)
• Salt—"added to cover rancid meats" (Salt does not cover rancidity. It is used because it is required nutritionally.)
• Salt—"toxic" (Libelous. See above.)
• Saponins—"the true cause of bloat" (The true cause is not known, other than by this unqualified pet food rater.)
• Saturated fat—"from vegetable oils cause premature aging" (Vegetable oils are primarily a source of unsaturated fats. Premature aging is not caused by the oils found in vegetables.)
• Sea salt—"cover up rancid meat and fat, kidney and heart disease, hypertension" (Used for trace mineral content, not as a masking agent, and pets do not get hypertension.)
• Selenium—"non-descript, can indicate poor quality" (How does one get more descriptive than the name of the element being used? Selenium is an important nutrient and fortifier.)
• Shelf Life—"longest shelf life is best" (The opposite is true. Real foods, foods with high natural nutrient content, degrade most rapidly. Therefore, a good food would have a short shelf life.)
• Small Dogs—"require more energy and nutrients" (The opposite is true. More size means greater nutrient demand.)
• Soy protein concentrate—"dogs can not convert soy to protein" (Soy is not "converted" to protein, its proteins already exist.)
• Soy protein isolate—"Dogs cannot convert soy protein to useable fuel" (False. Any thinking and informed person must wonder how on earth these rater and advisor "experts" come up with such nonsense.)
• Soy—"dogs cannot convert it to protein = toxic" (Soy contains protein; it does not need to be "converted." The toxic charge is libelous.)
• Soybean meal—"dogs cannot digest soybeans, can bloat/die. Good for cats" (Dogs can digest soybeans if they are properly cooked. Soy does not cause bloating and death. It is no better for cats than for dogs.)
• Soybean mill run—"sweepings off the floor-cheap filler" (It is not a filler nor is it from floor sweepings.)
• Soybean—"will kill dogs unless lysine is added to digest it; high lysine = high soy" (Lysine does not "digest" food, it is an amino acid.)
• Soybeans—"toxic" (Untrue if processed properly. A libelous charge.)
• Special Diets—"avoid as they contain acids, fiber, and fats that cause problems." (All special diets do not contain acid. Those that do can help prevent and reverse certain urinary conditions. Fiber and fats are essential nutrients, not problems.)
• Spinach dried—"most nutrition lost in drying / gimmicky" (Drying does not lose most nutrients. If dried with no or little heat, essentially no nutrients are lost. Spinach in rich in nutrients, not a gimmick.)
• Squash—"gimmick" (Squash has many valuable nutrients, it is not a gimmick, i.e., worthless.(
• Starch—"starch is the natural diet of pets according to a Nature scientific study" (Pets may have adapted to a degree to starch, but it is clearly not their natural diet. It could not be since starches have to be cooked in order to be digested. No dog cooks its food. The study referred to simply shows the effect of epigenetics in permitting dogs to adapt. But this adaptation in order to survive on the food humans have been feeding them, starches, says nothing about the food they require for optimal health. Mere survival is not health.)
• Sunflower oil—"better than other oils, is the only non-toxic oil in the market place" (So all companies who use oils other than from sunflower are poisoning people and pets? This is a libelous claim. Dozens of vegetable oils are of benefit if processed and stabilized properly.)
• Sunflower oil—"gimmicky, source of fat for energy, not preserved, toxic" (This "expert" advisor/rater disagrees with the above "expert." Neither knows what they are talking about.)
• Sweet potato dried—"can indicate poor feed quality" (Untrue. They provide no proof for this.)
• Sweet potato powder—"indicates waste product, filler" (Sweet potato has nutritional value. It is not a filler.)
• Taurine—"regulates the nervous system" (This amino acid does not regulate anything. It is one of many nutrients important as a substrate in metabolism.)
• Thiamine hydrochloride—"cheapest, poorly assimilated source of Thiamine" (It is not cheap nor is it poorly assimilated.)
• Tomato pomace—"gimmicky filler ingredient, heat destroys" (Tomato contains many valuable nutrients. Pomace is not a filler, nor is it destroyed by heat.)
• Tomato—"gimmicky, publicity stunt, too acidic for pets, digestive upset" (No company gets publicity from using tomatoes. At reasonable levels, it is not too acidic nor does it cause digestive upset.)
• Trace minerals—"indicates lack of well-rounded supplementation" (Trace minerals are supplements. Their use indicates good supplementation, not lack of it.)
• Tricalcium phosphate—"anti-caking agent, phosphorous source, alkaline/acid balance" (It is used in pet foods as a calcium (tri) source, not a phosphorous source or for acid/base balance.)
• Tryptophan—"gimmicky" (Being an essential amino acid, tryptophan is not a gimmick.)
• Turkey by-product meal—"carcass, feet, beaks and diseased turkey organs, tumors" (False. See above comments on poulty.)
• Turkey—"contains water in the muscles, adds weight, less protein nutrition" (Fresh turkey contains water, but so does any real natural food.)
• Turmeric—"gimmicky" (Turmeric has many nutritional benefits.)
• Unspecified Source Ingredients—"toxic" (No manufacturer can legally use toxic ingredients.)
• Variety—"dogs are creatures of habit, so they can eat the same food all the time." (Only if they have no other choice.)
• Vegetable oil—"non-descriptive, saturated fat hard on the body, causes aging" (Vegetable oil is primarily unsaturated, not saturated.)
• Vegetable Oils—"toxic" (False and libelous.)
• Venison by-products—"not fit for humans, diseased organs, tumors, promotes aging" (By-products are not disease and tumors, nor do they promote aging. They can be the most nutritious part of venison.)
• Vitamin and Mineral Fortification—"toxic" (The opposite is true. Unfortified processed foods are dangerous because of the losses and the toxins created due to processing.)
• Vitamin B12 and D3—"indicates lack of well rounded supplements" (These vitamins are supplements; their use cannot mean lack of supplements.)
• Vitamin K3 Menadione—"toxic" (False and libelous.)
• Water cress—"gimmicky" (Watercress has nutritional value.)
• Water—"the cheapest filler of them all" (In dry foods it cannot be a filler because it is removed when drying. In canned foods it is necessary for processing. In real raw foods it constitutes more than 70%. Nature does not use "fillers.")
• Wheat middlings—"sweepings off the floor causes allergies and digestive upset" (False.)
• Wheat mill run—"floor sweepings, allergies, digestive upset, feeds arthritis, aging" (Unfounded and false.)
• Wheat—"toxic" (False and libelous.)
• Whey—"encourage allergies, cheap protein source" (Whey does not encourage allergies and costs more than most other proteins.)
• Yeast Culture—"toxic" (False and libelous. Yeast culture provides many nutrients and has probiotic effects.)
• Yeast—"toxic to liver" (False and libelous.)
• Zucchini—"gimmicky spice" (Zucchini is a nutritious vegetable, not a spice.)