Pet Food Ingredients to Avoid: Part II
Carrageenan, second in our “Pet Food Ingredients to Avoid”, written by Laurie Goldstein, is a food additive so ubiquitous in processed foods, it can be difficult to avoid, and that includes canned pet foods. It is a thickening, stabilizing, binding, and emulsifying agent and is used by the human and pet food industries to “improve” texture. It is found in almost all dairy products (especially ice cream), salad dressings, infant formula, processed meat, vegan milk alternatives (soy, almond, and coconut milk) – and what concerns us here – canned pet foods.
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On an interesting note, some folks don’t realize that all natural products such as Rad Cat which includes two different seaweeds, including Dulse which I believe carrageenan is derived from, does not mean it is the Best food for your cat.
Although this is an old post, I thought I would clarify the misinformation of the “Best cat food seeker” of July 7, 2014.
Rad Cat, indeed, does use dulse in their raw foods, but it is NOT the same as carrageenan, which is extracted from Irish Moss. Although both are a form of red alga (there are about 6,500 species!), they are not the same. I emailed RadCat and they were, actually, upset that the confusion exists, indicating that they would NEVER use carrageenan in their food.
It is important that people get their information accurate, as possible, before they post it on line. RadCat is a good raw food and a rare concientious company.
Thank you for posting, Pat. The CatCentric team feels strongly that Rad Cat is one of the highest quality widely distributed commercial cat foods available today, and we’re glad you brought this to our attention.
There are, indeed, thousands of types of red algae. As mentioned in the article, carrageenan is derived from Gigartina, Chondrus, and Eucheuma. These are quite distinct from Dulse (Latin name “Palmaria palmata” and also known as “sea lettuce” and “creathnach.”) Dulse is used in many recipes – for both humans and cats – due to its powerful nutritional punch and important trace mineral content.
Thanks again for taking the time to post!
Tracy & Laurie