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Assessing the Fish Food Label: Protein

Shrimp meal is one of the very highest quality proteins in Koi food

Assessing an ingredients label

Ingredients labels can be very exciting, or very misleading.

They can be exciting because they seem to report excellent ingredients and real care and attention in manufacture. Misleading labels use techniques like ingredient splitting and foreign law to dupe the consumer. Come with me to the store and we shall assess a label together in nine steps.

Assessing the Fish Food Label: Step-By-Step

Shrimp meal is one of the very highest quality proteins in Koi food
Shrimp meal is one of the very highest quality proteins in Koi food

Assessment 1: Protein source.

Look for fishmeal, squid meal, whitefish meal, anchovy meal, shrimp meal, blood meal, herring meal, etc as first ingredients. These are the best protein sources for fish and are the ones I recommend. Other proteins, for example if you found a bag of food that showed Lobster meal as the first ingredient, you understand that again, aquaculture protein is best for aquaculture.

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Blackwater Gold-N 40 lbs Medium Pellet: Grade A-minus

Blackwater Gold-N 40 lbs Medium Pellet

Averages $4.50/lb in the 40lb bag.

Assessment:

Two aquacultural protein in the top four ingredients, and only two split ingredient (wheat, soy). No Spirulina and no specific color enhancer. Shit tons of probiotics. So, on the color enhancers. This diet has Spinach. And there’s some data that supports that sunshine and genetics have more to do with color than canthaxanthin or astaxanthin. Look at the converse: Truth: Color enhancers WILL NOT HELP fish who don’t have the genes and aren’t getting sunlight. Joe Pawlak (and his nutritionists whom he OBVIOUSLY teamed up with) know crap tons more about fish nutrition than I do. Unable to tell if cooked.

Ingredients:

Fish Meal, Wheat Flour, Shrimp Meal, Rice Bran, Soy Protein Isolate, Fish Oil, De-hulled Soybean Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Ground Wheat, Poultry By-Product Meal, Blood Meal, Spinach, Propionic Acid (a preservative), Yeast Culture, Ascorbic Acid, Beet Powder, Dried Baciilus licheniformis Fermentation Product, Brewer’s Dried Yeast, Asparagus, Anise, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Menadione Sodium Bisulfate (source of Vitamin K activity) Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Calcium Carbonate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Magnesium Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Cobalt Sulfate, Sodium Selenite

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Aquascape Diet, Color Enhancing Premium – Grade: A

Aquascape Diet, Color Enhancing Premium

Winner! Three Aquacultural Proteins in the top four ingredients!
Winner! Three Aquacultural Proteins in the top four ingredients!

Assessment: Three aquacultural proteins in the top four ingredients and only one split ingredient (wheat). Spirulina and color enhancer. Probiotics. Unable to tell if cooked. This food eclipses their OWN line, and everyone else’s.

Averages $5 per lb in larger/largest bags

Actual Ingredients in order of amount:

Fish meal, shrimp meal, rice bran, krill meal, wheat germ meal, durum wheat, chitosan, fish oil, salt, spirulina, lecithin, astaxanthin, molasses yeast, vitamin E supplement, l-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (vitamin C), calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, iron proteinate, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus subtilis natto, choline chloride, inositol, manganese proteinate, zinc proteinate, biotin, niacin (vitamin B3), pantothenic acid, menadione dimethylpyrimidinol bisulfate (vitamin K), vitamin A acetate, copper proteinate, vitamin D3 supplement, riboflavin supplement (vitamin B2), vitamin D3 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), calcium iodate, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), sodium selenite.