Care for your pet like Vince the Vet

The following are chemical additives found in many pet supplements and food.

It is not meant to be an exhaustive list and so if you see an ingredient you don't recognise on a product label, be sure to research it online.

It's also safe to assume, that when such additives are included, it is for the benefit of the manufacturer concerned and not the pet (either to facilitate production or to create a significantly cheaper product).

NOTE:

Some of the additives are included more than once because they have multiple uses.


Artificial Colours:  

E131 Patent Blue V (FD&C Blue 2)

E129 Allura Red AC (FD&C Red 40)

E102 Tartrazine (FD&C Yellow 5)

E110 Sunset Yellow FCF (FD&C Yellow 6)

Titanium dioxide


Artificial Preservatives:

E320 Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA)

E321 Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)

E282 Calcium propionate

E330 Citric acid

E325 Sodium lactate

E237 Sodium propionate

Ethoxyquin

E310 Propyl gallate

Sodium benzoate - now banned in the UK

Sodium propionate


Artificial Sweeteners:

Sucralose  


Anti-caking Agents:

E551 Silicon dioxide

E572 Magnesium stearate


Corn / Maize Derivatives:

These modified starch products are used as thickeners, stabilizers, binders and texturizing agents in many pet foods.

E1404 Oxidized starch

E1410 Monostarch phosphate

E1412 Distarch phosphate

E1413 Phosphated distarch phosphate

E1414 Acetylated distarch phosphate

E1420 Acetylated starch

E1422 Acetylated distarch adipate

E1440 Hydroxy propyl starch

E1442 Hydroxy propyl distarch phosphate

E1450 Starch sodium octenyl succinate

Other corn-derived food additives used include corn syrup solids, corn gluten meal, corn protein concentrate, corn oil, and dextrose. 

And so many pet foods contain quite a bit of corn in various derivative forms beyond whole corn kernels. 


Emulsifiers:  

E322 Lecithins (phospholipids)

Mono and diglycerides  

Polysorbate 80


Fillers / Binding / Bulking Agents:

Carrageenan 

Cassia gum

Cellulose (wood pulp)

Corn gluten meal  

Guar gum

Microcrystalline cellulose

Silica ('sand')

Silicon dioxide ('sand')

Soy protein isolate


Flavours:

Artificial meat flavours

Artificial smoke flavour

Propylene glycol


Flow Agents:

Magnesium stearate

Propylene glycol  

Stearic acid


Gelling Agents:   

Carboxymethyl cellulose

Carrageenan

Cassia gum 


Lubricants:

Magnesium stearate

Stearic acid


Synthetic Amino Acids:

DL-methionine

L-carnitine

L-lysine

Lysine hydrochloride  

Taurine

Tryptophan


Synthetic Minerals / Trace Elements: 

Calcium carbonate

Calcium iodate 

Calcium pantothenate

Calcium propionate

Calcium sulfate

Cobaltous carbonate 

Cupric chelate  

Cupric sulfate

Ferrous chelate

Ferrous sulfate

Iron sulfate

Manganese chelate

Manganese oxide

Manganous sulfate

Monodicalcium phosphate

Phosphorus

Potassium chloride

Potassium iodide

Selenium 

Sodium chloride

Sodium hexametaphosphate

Sodium selenite

Zinc chelate

Zinc oxide

Zinc sulfate


Synthetic Vitamins:  

Beta-carotene

Biotin

Folic acid 

Niacin

Riboflavin

Vitamin A (retinyl acetate)

Vitamin B1

Vitamin B2

Vitamin B6

Vitamin B12

Vitamin C (E301 Sodium ascorbate)

Vitamin C monophosphate

Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol)

Vitamin E  

Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)

Vitamin K  


Thickeners

E407 Carrageenan

E410 Locust bean gum (carob gum)

E412 Guar gum

E466 Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose


Unethical:

Chondroitin (from battery chickens / sharks)