Are antioxidants in dog food safe?
When we hear of preservatives and antioxidants in foods, we tend to think of it as a bad thing, but don't forget that in spite of some of the undesirable things associated with them, they're necessary in order to keep food for the length of time that we want it to remain unspoiled! Basically, a food coming into contact with the air will “go off” or “spoil” after some time if it contains any fat, because fat molecules and oxygen react together in a process that's called oxidation. This is what we mean when we say that a food goes rancid – it's when unsaturated fatty acids meet with oxygen in the air and start to oxidize or decompose, the chemical process resulting in various unpleasant flavors and smells. The process is naturally slow, but it can be accelerated by heat and light, for example, as well as the presence of certain other minerals. But once the process has been started, it can't be reversed, and will just keep on going until there are no reactants left to continue.
When pet food oxidizes or goes rancid, it loses much of its nutritional value as well as becoming increasingly unappealing to the dog in terms of smell and taste. It can even become unsafe to eat, since the chemical process releases fatty acids and ketones which are potentially harmful to the dog.
Because fat is an important part of a dog's diet (necessary for energy and for healthy skin and coat, among other things), there is usually a high level of fat in dog foods, and a lot of fat-soluble ingredients such as vitamins A and E. And that's why antioxidants and preservatives are added to dog foods. It's not that pet food manufacturers are actively setting out to include controversial ingredients just to annoy people! It's just that it's essential to prevent the oxidation process from taking place so that the nutritional value, quality, smell and taste of the food remains high.
Not only that, but the fats and meat meals used in the manufacturing of dog food go through a lot of processing before they can even get to the factory, and during that processing period and storage time there would be nothing to stop them starting to oxidize or go rancid were it not for preservatives and antioxidants. Something has to be done to slow down or stop the chemical changes from taking place.
This is one of the major arguments against using commercial dog food, from the people who are in favor of raw feeding (with feeding recommendations such as the BARF diet, which consists of raw meaty bones and fruits and vegetables) or home preparation of dog food. Many people prefer to feed their dog a diet that is as close to possible as the diet that they would have in the wild (raw feeding), or simply to avoid controversial ingredients, preservatives and so on.
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