As some of you know, TOTW's Pacific Stream formula (Diamond Dog Foods) added ethoxyquin to their foods as an artificial preservative.

However, starting in May 2010, a full conversion was made to a supplier using tocopherols, a natural antioxidant. For those of you who didn't want to feed TOTW for this reason (understandably) this will come as good news! And it's certainly good news for those of us who fed TOTW despite this ingredient.

Here are my emails to confirm this for your benefit Yay to consumers making a difference! Good job to all those who wrote in (as I know many members did inquire).

The First Reply to my inquiry. I asked whether the rumored changes were true, the reason for the switch, and why if it was true that it wasn't advertised (it was a submission through their site, so I don't have a copy of my inquiry):

Quote :

Dear Tori:

Thank you for your inquiry.

At the beginning of the year, we began running shelf-life studies on fish meal we received from a supplier who has the necessary exemption to allow them to preserve the ocean fish meal they supply us with mixed tocopherols, versus ethoxyquin. We completed these studies being satisfied with the results of our tests.

Prior to our conversion, tests for ethoxyquin were run routinely on our foods. The results ran less than 5ppm. This is equivalent to 0.0005% or 5 ten-thousandth’s of a percent. This is a true trace level that many laboratories are unable to detect. The amount allowed, and considered to be safe, by the FDA is 75ppm. However, due to consumer demand, we sought and found a supplier with whom we were satisfied and have made a full conversion as of May of this year.

While I agree that it could be better publicized, we do not advertise anything. You will not see Diamond brand foods on t.v., and you won’t see elaborate coupon programs from this company. One of Diamond’s core philosophies is to make great quality foods at the most affordable price our customer base can afford. Advertising, including changing bag templates to show a change such of this ultimately gets passed back to our customers in the way of a price increase.

Sincerely,

Melissa Brookshire, DVM
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My response:

Quote :

Hi Melissa,

Thanks so much for your quick response. I am happy to see that the rumors were indeed true and I will happily continue my use of TOTW Pacific Stream since my dogs do well on it and we're all very happy with it

I can appreciate the lack of advertisement and the concern to save the consumer money. I would have just thought that the news would at least have been displayed on the website or in a quick press release on the site? Again, I know many people that refused to feed TOTW due to its usage of ethoxyquin, so even something small like a website update would be beneficial?

So since the full conversion happened in May, does this mean that bags currently on shelves at my local retailer are likely to be bags with this ingredient change?

Thanks again,
Tori

Her response:

Quote :

It is supposed to be posted on the website, but I don't know when it will go
up. Another department does that.

Any bags with a best-before date of June 2011 or later, are bags for which
we used the new supplier.

Regards,
Melissa

that is great news but i had stopped feeding the pacific stream not cause of the ethoxyquin but because Jack stopped eating it and i put him back on high prairie. sierra is eating a mix of that with the natures domain salmon from costco. wonder if they are now free since it is the same manufacture?

Since the change was made throughout Diamond...I would say so

We're on a Diamond food. I have no clue what that substance is or why <5PPM would bother anyone, but I'm sure you could elaborate. Heh, I supplement my dogs' diet like I'm a 70 year old man in 1973. Burger King, PB&J, cooked vegetables, bacon, eggs and so forth.*









*harrise does not recommend supplementing your dog's diet with the aforementioned items.

The use of the chemical preservative at all makes a lot of people nervous. As previously stated, I fed TOTW with full-knowledge of its use. I saw <5ppm as an acceptable number even though I would have preferred the use of natural preservatives. Diamond's switch just makes the food that much better in my eyes

Many people are hesitant to feed Diamond products because it was a major company involved in the pet food recalls a few years back. However, those recalls were based on grain contamination on a lot of Diamond's lower-end products. TOTW is grain-free and one of their top-of-the-line products. It's ingredient base, how well my dogs did on it, and its price all played a part in my decision as I know it did in others Some people prefer to play it safe than sorry. Some people also claim that Diamond has a history of being evasive about the ingredients found in their foods. Perhaps that is based on their lack of advertisement? (Also why my second email pushed that issue). However, I found the vet's response to be reasonable and believable. But that is my opinion I posted just to keep people informed