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Home / Nutritional Pet Food / Natural Ingredients / Ingredient Sources / Arden Grange Salmon

Arden Grange Salmon

As a result of media concern regarding persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in oily fish, some customers have made enquiries as to whether the salmon products used in the Arden Grange Salmon and Rice recipes are safe for canine and feline consumption. As always, Arden Grange take any customer concerns extremely seriously, and we have therefore produced this statement to provide the assurance of safety that our discerning customers seek.

In 2004, Science magazine published a study that reported higher concentrations of dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (or PCBs) in Scottish salmon than from other countries. PCBs, are stable man-made organic compounds. They were used from the 1920s as cooling and insulating fluids for transformers and capacitors because they did not burn easily, but eventually it was discovered that they also did not easily biodegrade. Although most were banned in 1986, they linger on in detectable levels in animals, fish and humans. When they are incinerated, they can produce dioxins. The study led to much scrutiny in the UK media and selective reporting of the findings. The Scottish salmon was actually well within safe limits and did not exceed the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) tolerance levels, but this fact did not have similar press.

The Food Standards Agency responded, advising that: “The levels of dioxins and PCBs found in this study are in line with those that have previously been found by the FSA and are within up to date safety levels set by the World Heath Organisation and the European Commission. This study does not raise any new food safety concerns. This applies to all salmon, farmed as well as wild, Scottish as well as imported”.

Recent concerns have been expressed that dioxins within salmon are thought to be causing endocrine disruption in the people and animals who eat it. There are also problems in the fishing industry whereby a lot of fish are being found to have odd sexual characteristics, and therefore are not breeding as prolifically. For this reason, hormones are used in some countries to control fertility cycles in parent stock. It is thought that these hormones being excreted in vast quantities are possibly responsible for conditions such as cryptorchidism (retained testes). The Arden Grange Salmon however is reared for meat production, and is rigorously tested by the ministry for hormone residues.

Arden Grange use salmon and salmon oil which are fully traceable. Derived entirely from materials fit for human consumption and which are acceptable to the very stringent controls imposed by the quality UK supermarket chains. A state of the art micro-filtration process ensures that dioxins and other POPs are well below the EC maximum limits. Results show a significant reduction in dioxins and levels below the much stricter EC limits for human fish oil capsules. Results were less than a quarter of those reported in the controversial US report.

Other customers have expressed concerns that salmon may harbour the parasite anisakis simplex. The Food Standards Agency have advised that salmon be frozen for at least 24 hours to kill the parasite at a temperature of - 20°C or colder if it is to be eaten raw or almost raw, or if it is to be cooked, the salmon should reach 70°C for at least two minutes.

Arden Grange impose extremely strict quality control over all raw materials and contaminated salmon would not be allowed into the factory. However, the very high cooking temperatures necessary to produce extruded dog food would ensure that if the parasite were to be present it would be very effectively destroyed during manufacture.

Salmon has been further maligned by some who suggest that salmon-based feeds do not provide a balanced diet. Salmon fed alone would not provide all of the necessary nutrients for our canine and feline companions, but incorporated into a complete commercial pet food at the correct proportion in relation to all of the other ingredients, it is perfectly safe for long-term use.

Salmon is an excellent protein source for cats and dogs which has a high biological value and is easily broken down into its constituent amino acids. It has a low antigenicity and is thus unlikely to provoke allergic reactions. Salmon oil is also highly digestible and contains excellent levels of the beneficial omega-3 fatty acids.