Merrick's new LID canned cat food - "single protein?"

lisamarie12

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I recently read about Merrick's new LID formulas for pets.  Someone had mentioned on another blog that the canned cat food, specifically, the turkey and duck food, contain "dried egg product" and hence, the food cannot be single protein (unless dried turkey egg or duck egg product is being used which in that case Merrick should state that on the ingredient label).

I thought this was a very good point - my own cats are allergic to chicken and eggs. While Merrick states that the LID formulas do not contain, among other ingredients, eggs, what am I to make of dried egg product? What's the purpose of this ingredient if not being a cheap filler to add more protein? Isn't dried egg product made up of protein? How can Merrick market the duck and turkey as single protein?

I emailed Merrick about a week ago and have not received a response.

A Google search on dried egg product revealed some interesting info, both negative and positive, however, my main interest is the protein issue.

Thoughts?

Here are the ingredients for the duck formula:

Deboned Duck, Water for Processing, Natural Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Calcium Carbonate, Organic Alfalfa Meal, Sodium Phosphate, Guar Gum, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Flaxseed Oil, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Niacin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate), Choline Chloride, Minerals (Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Copper Amino Acid Complex, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Glucoheptonate, Sodium Selenite), Taurine, Yucca Schidigera Extract.

Thanks and have a great day everyone. :)
 
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lisamarie12

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Never mind - I got the answer from Merrick. I called their customer service with this issue. The rep admitted that the dried egg in the duck and turkey is indeed chicken protein and "is currently under review." I told her the labels state "single protein" which it clearly isn't.
Let this be an example that if people don't carefully read ingredient labels, any manufacturer can say just about anything. How might this food effect cats who are allergic to both chicken and eggs? Also, on the web site for LID it says "no eggs" which should mean no eggs whatsoever.
Anyway....case closed. :)
 
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lisamarie12

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Just one last comment on this - it's not case closed (I've been sick for awhile and not thinking clearly).

It is false advertising and irresponsible to have the front of two of Merrick's LID labels state "single protein" on both the duck and turkey formulas which both include dried egg product (chicken protein) in the ingredients list; it is clearly not single protein.

There will be customers who have cats that are allergic to both chicken and eggs, who may not look at the ingredient list but rather, just the front of the label.

Food allergies can be very serious in pets, going far beyond just being a little itchy, they can develop secondary infections from incessant scratching.

I reported this -- for what it's worth, to my state AAFCO division.

I finally did receive an email response from Merrick, several days after I called their customer service:

Hi Lisa,

I apologize for the delay in responding.  We have reviewed, we are grateful for the overwhelmingly positive reception for the new Merrick Limited Ingredient Diets.  We appreciate and take to heart the feedback we’ve received about two of our cat can recipes (Real Duck Pate and Real Turkey Pate) containing dried egg product and are working to update these two recipes to remove dried egg product to live up to what our Limited Ingredient Diets are all about: a single source of animal protein for the benefit of pets with food sensitivities or allergies.  In the meantime, our Limited Ingredient Diet – Real Chicken Pate and our Limited Ingredient Diet – Real Salmon Pate are both options as single source animal protein recipes in our lineup.  We pawsitively regret this error. 

Note the last line which seems to trivialize the issue.

What sort of quality control does Merrick have if they can't produce an accurate label? Did they think no one would notice?

Anyway, if anyone is interested in this issue, you can contact your state AAFCO division.
 
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bonepicker

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Just one last comment on this - it's not case closed (I've been sick for awhile and not thinking clearly).

It is false advertising and irresponsible to have the front of two of Merrick's LID labels state "single protein" on both the duck and turkey formulas which both include dried egg product (chicken protein) in the ingredients list; it is clearly not single protein.

There will be customers who have cats that are allergic to both chicken and eggs, who may not look at the ingredient list but rather, just the front of the label.

Food allergies can be very serious in pets, going far beyond just being a little itchy, they can develop secondary infections from incessant scratching.

I reported this -- for what it's worth, to my state AAFCO division.

I finally did receive an email response from Merrick, several days after I called their customer service:


Hi Lisa,



I apologize for the delay in responding.  We have reviewed, we are grateful for the overwhelmingly positive reception for the new Merrick Limited Ingredient Diets.  We appreciate and take to heart the feedback we’ve received about two of our cat can recipes (Real Duck Pate and Real Turkey Pate) containing dried egg product and are working to update these two recipes to remove dried egg product to live up to what our Limited Ingredient Diets are all about: a single source of animal protein for the benefit of pets with food sensitivities or allergies.  In the meantime, our Limited Ingredient Diet – Real Chicken Pate and our Limited Ingredient Diet – Real Salmon Pate are both options as single source animal protein recipes in our lineup.  We pawsitively regret this error. 


Note the last line which seems to trivialize the issue.



What sort of quality control does Merrick have if they can't produce an accurate label? Did they think no one would notice?



Anyway, if anyone is interested in this issue, you can contact your state AAFCO division.
hey at least they are changing it, more than some companies would do!
 
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lisamarie12

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hey at least they are changing it, more than some companies would do!
But it should not have happened in the first place - it is false advertising.

I actually work in the retail pet food industry and have brought this issue up with several of the general managers who do see the mislabeling of these two products as a significant issue with Merrick.
 
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bonepicker

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I know! I am afraid if we knew half of the stuff that went on in the pet food industry, it would make our toes curl! You have a right to be angry!
 
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lisamarie12

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I know! I am afraid if we knew half of the stuff that went on in the pet food industry, it would make our toes curl! You have a right to be angry!
Absolutely, all one has to do is visit TAPF to really learn a lot about the pet food industry, there is minimal oversight by the FDA.

I don't know if you remember a commercial years ago for Sims: "An educated consumer is our best customer", or something or other. While of course I would suggest that people learn to read ingredient labels, both for pet food and human food, the burden shouldn't fall on the consumer to verify the accuracy of those ingredients. For example, Under the Sun makes a lamb kibble for dogs. On the front of the bag it says: "Made with farm fresh lamb". When you look at the ingredient list, however, the first ingredient of this lamb formula is pork meal, lamb is actually the 5th ingredient.

Is that a problem? It's deceptive but the front of the bag did not say, e.g., "Made with farm fresh lamb as our first ingredient."

Any manufacturer can put just about anything they want on the packaging - little bunny rabbits hopping around in fields of gold and hope that people won't look at the ingredients, aside from those few companies that don't have anything to hide and are proud of their ingredients -- and those companies are far and few. But to list "single protein" on the front of a label and then list two proteins instead, in the ingredients, well that is just ridiculous. If it was an "error" as Merrick stated, then what kind of quality control do they have before releasing those products to market? A ten year old reviewing her homework before submitting it would have picked up on that.

I'm sorry but it just makes me scratch my head.

And btw, one of the indy stores where I shop at, the owner, told me he is canceling the LID order of Merrick, until they can produce an accurate label.
 
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lisamarie12

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Thanks for the infor @LisaMarie12

I buy Merrick for mine but now will think twice about giving them my money 
Thanks.

This all came about b/c I actually considered trying the duck for my two cats - until I saw the DEP.

We do mostly commercial raw but still about 25% canned. They can't eat chicken, eggs and turkey is hit or miss - but they do okay with duck.
 
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