This is not what I hoped to be posting,but here it is.Like most of the people here I hoped to find a safe healthy canned food for my cats.I got some samples of Evangers Certified Organic Chicken & Evangers Certified Organic Turkey and Butternut Squash.I had these samples tested for melamine & cyanuric acid before feeding,they cleared,my 3 cats liked the food & I decided to order a large quantity ,spend $$$ to test a couple random samples again from the same batches & be set for about a year with peace of mind.That was the plan anyway.
I sent samples of Organic Turkey & the Organic Chicken (made at different times this July)in for melamine/ cyanuric acid tests & they cleared.I was relieved right up until I went to feed the cats and they suddenly wouldn't eat it.I called Evangers,talked to the owner Joel Sher & asked if they had changed the formula as my cats suddenly did not want to eat the food .I was told no change in formula,but maybe used different supplier of meat & liver or maybe more or less white or dark meat was the reason they did not like.I also said this new stuff looked very different and had some clear globs in it.I was told this is probably guar gum that did not dissolve.I was told food was safe to feed.As I thought maybe I was being paranoid, I coaxed cats to eat the food & then it was barfed back up.At this point I started to wonder if something was wrong like lead or salmonella,so I sent 2 cans of each food (4 cans total of UNOPENED canned food) in for a lot of testing to Midwest Labs.On my reports,I immediately saw that the Evangers "Guaranteed Analysis" on label did not match the actual analysis.Fiber Max is listed at 1.5% but analysis showed 2.49 & 2.47 % and magnesium MAX is listed at .025 but showed .047 & .044 (DM would be .187 & .185),the numbers are 60% higher than stated for fiber and nearly double for magnesium.Those of us with Flutd cats look at magnesium levels and this makes a difference to me.Also of worry to me were the trace mineral levels.Oh,and the pet food industry apologists can spare themselves some typing:AAFCO does not list a maximum level for any trace mineral except zinc at 2000ppm for cats,but one of the animal nutritionists I talked to said National Research Council current recommendations list it capped at 600ppm.I don't have $300 to buy this book to verify.He also looked up some European RDA's and said RDA of copper for 10lb cat is about 400-500 mcg & for zinc around 4-5 mg.Again I don't have access to the books professional animal nutritionists do.
The levels for Organic Turkey & Chicken :
copper 26ppm as fed 104 dry wt. & 28 as fed 117 Dry
zinc 154ppm as fed 618 dry & 138 as fed & 577 dry weight
PPM parts per million is the same as mg/kg.By my calculations,(verified with a chemist,but maybe I'm wrong since school was long ago) each can of food has over 4 mg of copper.RDA for adult humans is 2mg,MAX for 1-3 yr old kids is 1mg as a reference.Following advice I got from 3 different professionals,I had Midwest retest the foods to make sure there was no lab error ,same results of trace minerals.Are these levels common ? Not that I could find.Do I know for sure what these levels will do after 1 feeding or 365 feedings? Nope,and as far as I could find no one else does either.I'll pass on using my babies as test subjects,thanks.And some dog breeds are very susceptible to copper toxicity.
I've made numerous calls to Joel about this.His first reaction was Midwest was wrong,but there was a remote possibility "someone added 10 lbs of vitamin mineral premix instead of 1lb".As I tested 2 different foods made different weeks,there would have had to have been more than 1 error.Joel was "not really worried" and would "look into it" and finally, no one's reported a dead cat & "This is an anomaly" and that more frequent testing of his food would raise the price by a dollar a can...Myself,I'd pay quite a bit for an actually tested ,safe & healthy canned food & I doubt I'm alone.I decided to see whether Midwest or Evangers was the one who was in error.So,with my test cost total at way over $1000 already,I send batch samples to yet
another lab for trace mineral testing.Trace mineral levels & magnesium showed similar.So,here I am considerably poorer,with no peace of mind.I did not have all tests run,so Vitamin A & D & B's & selenium etc levels are not known.Nor did I test for dioxins or botulism.
I do not know if any other Evangers food has these levels,but if you've been using any of the foods canned there it may be a good idea to send in for testing.The trace mineral
only test is like $30-$40 per can.This was a
very condensed tale of my experience and conversations the last 2 months,but I thought I'd share,so you can decide for yourselves.I've taken further actions (as was recommended by one of the Doctors I consulted),but have no real hope anyone will care.
PS Here is a link I was sent when I was researching high trace mineral levels
http://www.fda.gov/cvm/Documents/HHEGoNatural.pdf or google Petcurean Go Natural & trace minerals & see how that turned out.
