There are concerns that industrial pet foods might contain unlisted food sources that could negate the usefulness of performing food trials. Furthermore, unidentified ingredients might cause clinical reactions in patients hypersensitive to such items.
These investigators searched article databases looking for agstracts from leading international veterinary dermatology congresses in which pet foods and ingredients were evaluated. Most used PCR or ELISA to detect materials from animal and vegetable proteins. Ingredients were found in foods that was not listed; conversely, other ingredients were left off the label. Thus, the mislabeling of pet foods appears rather common, even in those with “novel” or “limited” ingredients proposed for elimination diets. Unexpected added ingredients are more frequently detected than those missing from the label.
There is insufficient information to determine if the presence of a contaminating component will lead to a clinical reaction in a patient allergic to it, as challenges with the mislabeled foods were not performed in dogs or cats allergic to such ingredients. (MK)