Some cat food manufacturers regularly change ingredient composition of the same food

This is an interesting report from the PHYS.ORG website about the inconsistency in terms of ingredients of commercially available cat food. You’d have thought that the same cat food that you regularly buy day in and day out was identical but it is not according to a study carried out by researchers at North Carolina State University.

ingredients in some cat food changes
Picture in public domain. Collage and words: PoC.

The study’s finding of unannounced changes in cat food ingredients was an accident as it was about trying to compare the percentage of cat food to wild animal prey in an outdoor domestic cat’s diet. The researchers wanted to break down the diet of a free roaming domestic cat by analysing the isotopes of elements locked into body tissues.

The method was based around the premise that commercial cat food was consistent in ingredients and therefore they could distinguish it from prey items based on the presence of carbon and nitrogen isotopes.

They also found that cheap cat food had higher carbon values which indicated a strong presence of corn product. Also cat food manufactured in the UK had lower carbon products suggesting less corn products and therefore higher quality.

The study failed in its objective of finding out why some cats kill more than others but it did unearth the fact that some cat food manufacturers regularly change ingredient composition. I have presumed that the changes are unannounced. I would have thought that this would concern cat guardians.

It begs the question: do the manufacturers change the list of ingredients on the packaging to reflect the changes in ingredient composition? I’ve decided that they don’t but I’d like to hear from someone who has insider knowledge.

P.S. The report on PHYS.ORG does not list the manufacturers which do this. I think some more work in needed on this to satisfy the public.

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