Northfin food

[PYRU]

I recently posted the following in another discussion, probably better suited to go here, a discussion that is specifically about this product. Unfortunately it appears that I now have to eat my own words, and stand corrected in my previous quality reviews. I can't stand behind a product where an accredited lab demonstrates one thing, while the manufacturer says another.

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Just for the record I have no issue with ethoxyquin being used in fish food, but I don't expect to see elevated levels such as shown in that lab report (over 300 ppm!), and I most certainly don't expect to have any ethoxyquin in a food that is advertised as being *ethoxyquin free*. Keep in mind that this is a food that I have also fed to my own fish, and a food that I have said positive things about on this forum and others, so not really happy about this outcome. In my personal opinion, the lab results that I have seen appear to be genuine.

I have been feeding Northfin for a couple years now, experimented with it exclusively in some tanks. My results were positive. My issue with NF, and for me it's a pretty big issue, is that the company has made some pretty bold statements regarding their use of ethoxyquin, or any form of preservative.


From their website:


"NorthFin Premium Fish Foods does not use any preservatives or harmful chemicals to preserve its product line.
The combination of certain ingredients/vitamins, along with the drying process itself allows the foods to be naturally preserved."


http://www.canadian-aquatic-feed.com/?page_id=34


For myself, that just isn't logical. Sans preservatives, fish food will soon go rancid, and most certainly won't have a shelf life of 2-3 yrs, so WTF?

Now I had only my common sense, many years of experience in this field, and scientific logic to go by, until a few months back when I stumbled upon some lab results posted online by an interested party.


Not only does NF apparently use preservatives, they are apparently using ethoxyquin, and apparently at rather elevated levels. Levels that I believe in the product shown in the lab report above was more than double the AAFCO recommended maximum of 150 ppm.


Whoa! I have seen other reports as well, since removed from some website owners that were concerned about legal backlash. Kmuda from Oscar forum promised to send in his own samples, yet thus far I haven't seen those results.

Perhaps Darius from Northfin will pop in to explain how such high levels of ethoxyquin are showing up in a food that is marketed by his company as being preservative free, and ethoxyquin free.

Well I was actually about to suggest it as a quality food until this. If you can get past the lies and it being over the absolute max allowed by 150ppm(ridiculous amount). Then yeah its a good food.... For me this is a deal breaker

 

[RD.]

The FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) at one point asked the pet food industry to voluntarily lower the maximum level of use of ethoxyquin in dog foods from 150 ppm (0.015%) to 75 ppm, as an added layer of safety. Considering the body mass/size of a fish, compared to a dog, I would think that % in fish feed should probably be even lower. At the very least, a max of 100 ppm would be a good start. Not 300+ ppm

Here's a couple good reads on the subject for anyone interested.

http://www.petfoodindustry.com/articles/206-ethoxyquin-redux

https://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/ucm047113.htm

 

[RD.]

The following lab report was also posted online, Different lab this time, but still showing ethoxyquin in the sample.

 

[Woefulrelic]

Krill again. Do these tests have a margin of error that could result in ppm 100 apart? I know ppm is usually fairly inconsistent but I don't know the accuracy of these tests, nor the nature of them. Can we assume other products using krill as a main ingredient to have similar levels, or at the very least a detectable level of etho? Thanks for your time RD.

For reference the first listed of jumbo fish formula are listed as "Ingredients: Whole Antarctic Krill Meal, High Omega-3 (DHA) Herring Meal, Whole Sardine Meal..."

https://www.supercichlids.com/collections/frontpage/products/northfin-jumbo-fish-formula

 

[RD.]

The accuracy of these tests would typically allow only for a very-very narrow margin of error. The reporting limit on the Midwest lab report is 1.0 ppm, so I would expect that their accuracy is at the most +/- 1 ppm.

How much ethoxyquin is in each & every formula is obviously anyone's guess at this point. It could easily change from batch to batch. I saw another lab report for I believe the cichlid formula, that showed 159 ppm ethoxyquin. I can no longer find where that was posted, I suspect it was removed.

Bottom line is, their food appears to contain ethoxyquin, and some foods could be what many pet food critics would consider fairly high levels.

 

[Wailua Boy]

Wow. I would love to hear a response from this company. Thanks for info RD.

 

[PYRU]

Great info. Thanks for posting all of this.

Fairly high levels lol...especially since they supposedly aren't suppose to be there in the first place.

 

[RD.]

Just trying to keep things real.

On that note, here is a thread from several years ago when kmuda and I discussed the topic of ethoxyquin. It's a long read, a bit heated at times, but about as much info on this subject as I think one will find online, at least in regards to fish food.

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/what-are-you-feeding-your-fish.510234/

I would also like to publically apologize to kmuda, his suggestion that some fish foods may be over 150 ppm ethoxyquin was blown off by me, apparently I have now been proven wrong. For that, my apologies to kmuda, and anyone else that read that previous discussion. It appears now that in 2017 there may in fact be fish foods that contain 150+ ppm ethoxyquin. Perhaps in some products more than double that amount.

 

[jaws7777]

Just trying to keep things real.

On that note, here is a thread from several years ago when kmuda and I discussed the topic of ethoxyquin. It's a long read, a bit heated at times, but about as much info on this subject as I think one will find online, at least in regards to fish food.

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/what-are-you-feeding-your-fish.510234/

I would also like to publically apologize to kmuda, his suggestion that some fish foods may be over 150 ppm ethoxyquin was blown off by me, apparently I have now been proven wrong. For that, my apologies to kmuda, and anyone else that read that previous discussion. It appears now that in 2017 there may in fact be fish foods that contain 150+ ppm ethoxyquin. Perhaps in some products more than double that amount.

your a stande up dude Neil

 

[Woefulrelic]

N NFC hasn't been active since Oct '15 but I'll tag him anyway.