About a month ago I bought a new container of NLS Thera A regular formula for my African cichlids. It had the usual of high quality whole fish meals listed as the first ingredients. Now, yesterday I went back to Petco to get another package of larger Thera A pellets and the formula has changed, they no longer use whole fish meal and instead have replaced it with just whole fish which is pretty much the same ingredient but listed in order of its wet weight, once processed into the food it will weigh 80% less than its initial weight, which moves it a lot further down the list of ingredients that are listed on the package. What gives with the severe decrease in fish protein in the NLS Thera A formulas? Is extra garlic really that much more expensive?
Why the change in NLS formulas?
- Thread starter Fish on Fire
- Start date
Contact them and actually ask them if they made any changes??
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According to their labels and standard food nutritional labeling practices, they did make the switch which results in less actual fish protein and a pellet that has wheat meal as its primary ingredient now instead of even a basic high quality fish meal. Seems to me like they're now trying to cut some costs and dupe the public into paying more for a primarily grain based food laced with some fish and extra garlic. Their initial Thera A formula was great and had high quality fish meals as the main ingredients, however that is no longer the case.
You mentioned this exact same thing recently in another discussion, and I have already explained this to you.
New Life International does not use, or list, anything on any of their labels by wet weight. Zero, nada, none. If you understood the extrusion process you'd understand why that isn't even possible. You can't just mix in whole items in a wet state, ALL of their raw ingredients must be in a dry state when formulated into their twin extruder prior to processing.
The only thing that has changed in the TherA formula is some of the wording on their labels.
Buncha hoopla over nothing ............
New Life International does not use, or list, anything on any of their labels by wet weight. Zero, nada, none. If you understood the extrusion process you'd understand why that isn't even possible. You can't just mix in whole items in a wet state, ALL of their raw ingredients must be in a dry state when formulated into their twin extruder prior to processing.
The only thing that has changed in the TherA formula is some of the wording on their labels.
Buncha hoopla over nothing ............
I'm curious as to what made you check the label on the container that you are referring to?
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This kid seems to be constantly attempting to to prove some kind of point with regards to the quality of NLS. He didn't start this thread seeking an answer, but to once again attempt to flame the New Life brand name. Quite frankly it's getting a bit old.
On Jan 1st Fish on Fire posted the following:
To which I responded:
About that - while in the past some of the raw ingredients were listed differently on some of their labels, as in the term "meal" wasn't included, that was a SNAFU and was corrected rather quickly. Nothing on the NLS labels is listed as "wet weight", nor has it ever been. Every last ingredient used in ALL formulas is & always has been listed as dry weight, which according to AAFCO must be listed in order of predominance by weight, on an "as formulated basis".
Again, New Life does not and never has, used any "wet" ingredients in any of their formulas. They also no longer use any form of soy in any of their formulas - something that will be reflected as their labels are updated.
Terminology, wording, etc on labels have been changing on NLS containers for as long as I have been involved with the company (close to a decade), but one thing that has never changed is the quality of the finished product. There are a TON of both Federal & State regulations that are involved with pet food, and sometimes as those regulations change certain terms must be added, or certain words or terms must be removed.
The following is from a post that I made last year on this same subject...........
As far as regulations ...........
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.
On Jan 1st Fish on Fire posted the following:
To which I responded:
About that - while in the past some of the raw ingredients were listed differently on some of their labels, as in the term "meal" wasn't included, that was a SNAFU and was corrected rather quickly. Nothing on the NLS labels is listed as "wet weight", nor has it ever been. Every last ingredient used in ALL formulas is & always has been listed as dry weight, which according to AAFCO must be listed in order of predominance by weight, on an "as formulated basis".
Again, New Life does not and never has, used any "wet" ingredients in any of their formulas. They also no longer use any form of soy in any of their formulas - something that will be reflected as their labels are updated.
Terminology, wording, etc on labels have been changing on NLS containers for as long as I have been involved with the company (close to a decade), but one thing that has never changed is the quality of the finished product. There are a TON of both Federal & State regulations that are involved with pet food, and sometimes as those regulations change certain terms must be added, or certain words or terms must be removed.
The following is from a post that I made last year on this same subject...........
As far as regulations ...........
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.
Hey Neil, I've just purchased some NLS discus formula and looking at the ingredients list it has whole squid meal. Now compare that to the NLS cichlid formula that I have - that doesn't contain any whole squid meal? Also the label on the discus formula states which fruits/vegetables it contains whereas the cichlid formula doesn't?
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