New design, old recipe?

Time and again we receive queries as to why some information, z.B. the feeding recommendation or the ingredients, has changed and whether this always means that the composition has also changed. In this blog post, we would like to explain the background to such changes on the packaging:

In addition to some other information, the following details can be found on the packaging:

• the feeding recommendation,
• the list of ingredients and
• the added nutrients, the so-called nutritional additives. nutritional additives.

Ingredients

The ingredients can be declared including or excluding the water content.

The raw materials used are listed in descending order. Only the ingredients that also appear in the product name must be declared as a percentage. Example Sensitive with lupin protein: Here, the percentage of lupin must be stated in the list of ingredients.

ADDITIVES

When it comes to additives, there are specifications that are either mandatory or voluntary on the packaging. Additives with a legal maximum quantity or amino acids, for example, must always be declared. Substances without a legal maximum amount, z.B. B vitamins, do not have to be declared. This means that a number of other additives may be included in addition to those declared - such as z.B. the B vitamins. Important: nutritional additives are only nutrients that have been added to the food, not actual analysis data.

For recipe protection reasons, many manufacturers do not list all ingredients as a percentage and also limit the list of additives. As part of our design relaunch, we have also adjusted some of the information:

Because some of the product names have changed, different ingredients are now listed as a percentage than before. In addition, the ingredients are now listed without the water content.

However, this has no effect on the recipe - this has remained the same. The nutritional additives are of course still added.

Overall, the composition of our wet food has not been changed, it is simply an adaptation of the information on the packaging.

Feeding recommendations

The feeding recommendation depends on various factors, z.Bsuch as the energy density and protein content of the food. As the quantities of nutrients naturally contained in the ingredients can change, it is sometimes necessary to recalculate the feeding recommendations.

The fact that feeding recommendations change at all (despite the same recipe) has to do with an optimized calculation of the nutrient intake, for example with regard to the supply of crude protein and energy.

Among other things, we have taken into account possible influences on the apparent digestibility of crude protein and energy due to the higher crude fiber content in vegan recipes and included safety margins.

Crude fiber also plays an important role in the dog's diet, especially for the microbiome. For this reason, the fiber content was retained and the feeding recommendation was adjusted.

It should also be noted that an oversupply of some nutrients can also lead to problems. A "more" of nutrients is therefore not automatically "better". We always incorporate the latest results from research and development into our product development.

If you have any further questions on this topic, please feel free to contact our vets at tierarzt@vegdog.de oder watch the related video on YouTube: