NLS - ginseng added and no more squid meal ?

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T

tableau

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 16, 2009
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Montréal, Québec
I bought yesterday a new batch of NLS 2mm (Med. fish formula) and noticed, while reading the ingredients list, that there is no more squid meal, but there is now ginseng. Is it specific to the med fish formula ? How good for the fish is ginseng ?
 
Interesting! We'll have to see what Neil (RD.) has to say about it. Ginseng?
 
I read the ingredients of my NLS cichlid formula, and it also contains Ginseng. Ginseng is a very expensive oriental herb that is supposed to have almighty power to prolong life and sexual vitality in human. I don't know what it will do to fish. But listing the ingredients means nothing other than good marketing unless the minimum % by weight is listed.
 
I know a little about ginseng since I have grown it and dug it to sell. It is a terrestrial plant that grows in mature stands of timber because it loves shade. I have never seen it around water because it likes it`s feet dry.

And as far as what tiger15 says:

" Ginseng is a very expensive oriental herb that is supposed to have almighty power to prolong life and sexual vitality in human."
A billion and a half chinese can`t be wrong! I doubt it does anything for fish.
 
I wonder what would happen if I stopped answering all of these types of questions? Would anyone actually think of asking the manufacturer? LOL Oh well, I suppose unless one was to talk to Pablo himself no one at New Life would be able to answer these types of questions either.



For a starter, the labels on NLS containers have been constantly changing for as far back as I can remember, they are constantly in a state of flux due to the ever changing government regulations involved in these matters, both domestically, and abroad. The following label regulation info is a repost from a comment that I made in a past discussion.

Most people have no idea what type of red tape, regulations, and inspections are involved when actually manufacturing pet food, it can be an absolute nightmare for a US based company that has to not only deal with federal regulations, but also each state individually.

In the USA this involves not only the FDA, but also the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Veterinary Services (VS), and The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO).

In many cases these regulations change on a frequent basis. It's gotten to the point that probably the less info one places on their label, the better, or you'll be updating your labels every 6 months. These changes cost $, for larger companies lots of $$$$ , and someone has to eat the cost of outdated labels, and yet another run of new updated labels.

As an example, most states allow Vitamin C to be listed on a pet food label, but all it takes is one overly anal state inspector to decide that it must be listed as ascorbic acid, and you are forced to either remove that listing from your label, or play by their new rules. Even if the vitamin C you are listing is the total content, most comprised from the raw ingredients themselves, not from some vitamin premix. One wrong word or term can equate to your product being disallowed in an entire state, and each state requires a permit just to get your product across their border, and like everything else, you have to pay for that privilege.

And that's just what takes place within the USA, now factor in all of the other various countries that some fish food products are exported to & things can become goofy stupid.

The USA & Canada couldn't give a rats behind with regards to things such as GMO products, but the UK requires additional labeling if the product contains .9% or greater GMO. A country such as Turkey doesn't allow any GMO products, not even if it's as little as .0001%. They use outdated testing equipment that simply tests positive, or negative, and if it's positive your shipment will be refused at their border.


I seriously doubt that fish food will ever come under the same type of scrutiny as dog/cat food, but it doesn't get any free passes either. Having said all that as clockwork suggested the way things currently are there are a number of ways that one can bend the rules & manipulate a fish food label, and some manufacturers do take advantage of these loop holes.
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As far as Ginseng .........


Ginseng, Spirulina, Garlic, etc contain bioactive compounds. Some of these compounds have been shown to have biological effects on FISH such as growth promotion, immunostimulation, antistress, antibacterial, antifungal, antivirals, and appetite stimulators.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-7345.2008.00153.x/abstract

Abstract
The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary ginseng herb (Ginsana® G115) supplementation on growth performance, feed utilization, and hematological indices of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L.), fingerlings. A total of 378 Nile tilapia fingerlings with an average body weight of 24.4 ± 0.2 g were divided in the six experimental treatments (three replicates each). The experiment was conducted for 17 wk. Six isonitrogenous, 27.2% digestible protein and isocaloric, 12.3 MJ/kg digestible energy experimental diets were formulated. The control diet had no Ginsana G115 added. Diets 2–6 each contained Ginsana G115 at levels of 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 mg/kg, respectively. Growth performance and feed utilization efficiency of Nile tilapia were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher in all treatments receiving Ginsana G115-supplemented diets than the control diet. Red blood cells counts, hematocrit, and hemoglobin significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased with increasing dietary Ginsana G115 levels compared to those of the control diet. The same trend was observed for total plasma protein and total plasma globulin levels. The results of present study suggested that Nile tilapia fingerlings fed diets containing at least 200 mg/kg Ginsana G115 for 17 wk had enhanced growth performance, diet utilization efficiency, and hematological indices.
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http://www.springerlink.com/content/j2356346wk83101n/


Abstract
To determine the effects of Siberian ginseng residuum extract (SG-RE) Eleutherococcus senticosus on non-specific immunity in olive flounder Paralichthys olivaceus, the fish were provided either a commercial diet or a diet supplemented with Siberian ginseng (3 and 7%) for 8 weeks. The fish that were fed a diet supplemented with 3% SG-RE exhibited improved non-specific immunity, not only cellular responses such as phagocytic activity and nitroblue tetrazolium reduction by anterior-kidney leukocytes, but also humoral response such as lysozyme activity in the serum and skin mucus. Moreover, the fish that were provided SG-RE developed resistance to Edwardsiella tarda and Vibrio anguillarum infection.
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The probiotic used in the following study partially consisted of allicin, one of the active ingredients in garlic, and ginseng extract.

http://www.sciencepub.net/nature/ns0805/06_2393_ns0805_46_53.pdf



Either way I wouldn't lose any sleep over any of this, by this time next year you probably won't see Ginseng on the label any longer due to the ever growing amount of red tape/regulation in this industry. :)
 
See that was easy now wasn't it. I knew you'd be around Neil ;)
 
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