Ever since the terrifying pet food recall, when hundreds of animals fell ill and died as a result of eating food contaminated with toxic Melamine from China, Americans have been understandably wary of feeding themselves or their pets Chinese products or domestic products containing ingredients sourced from China.
That includes nutritional supplements, most of which contain Chinese ingredients. (Don’t believe it? Call the manufacturer of your multi-vitamin and ask.) An amino acid, synthetic taurine is a white, crystalline, water-soluble powder that happens to be produced mainly in China, and it’s becoming a hot-button topic. Taurine is added to a wide variety of products, from nutritional supplements (especially those meant to maintain vision wellness) to energy drinks (Red Bull) and even, surprisingly, liquor (V2 Vodka, which is infused with Taurine).
Cat lovers have long known that taurine is essential for feline health because taurine deficiency causes impaired growth and development, reproductive problems, visual impairment and blindness (due to central retinal degeneration), and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).
It was previously believed that, because dogs can synthesize taurine from the sulfur amino acids cysteine and methionine (which cats cannot), there was no need to add taurine to canine diets. But only recently have dog lovers been made aware of findings that show certain large dog breeds with a diminished ability to synthesize taurine – Newfoundlands and Dobermans in particular, as well as breeds genetically predisposed to the condition, such as Portuguese Water dogs -- can also benefit from having taurine added to their diet. The good news is that DCM appears to be reversible with taurine supplementation.
"At one point, inclusion of taurine in dog diets was frowned upon by the FDA and state feed control officials," writes Dr. Greg Aldrich of Pet Food & Ingredient Technology, Inc. "However, for now, it appears that the FDA has agreed to allow the labeling of taurine guarantees and the inclusion of taurine on the ingredient panel of dog foods too."
With funding from the AKC Canine Health Foundation, Dr. Robert Backus of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine completed a study in 2005 looking at a family of Newfoundlands that had very low levels of taurine. His findings concluded that a genetic link may explain why these dogs weren’t producing enough and needed more of it in their diet. The study, "Diet-Related Taurine Deficiency in Newfoundland Dogs and Associated Cardiac Insufficiency," was published in several scientific journals in 2006.
Soon after Backus’ findings were published, pet-food companies that produce human-grade dog foods, seeking to do right by our animal friends, began proudly including taurine in their canine diets. "We added taurine when we made some formula revisions last year," says Solid Gold product expert Elisabeth Mulvany.
But many dog lovers are concerned that the taurine used in pet food – like the taurine added to our own nutritional supplements and novelty beverages - is synthesized in China, and they’re voicing their concerns on discussion threads all over the Internet. The amount of taurine added to dog diets may border on negligible – less than 0.2 percent of the diet, according to Aldrich – yet dog lovers rightly feel that any addition to their dogs’ food, no matter how minuscule, matters if there’s the remotest chance that it could carry a risk of contamination.
Happily, responsible manufacturers such as Sold Gold are rising to the occasion, doing their best to assure consumers that they are rigorously testing Chinese-sourced ingredients and disclosing their ingredient sources on "Country of Origin" labels. The taurine added to Solid Gold is tested by an independent lab upon arrival at the two mills where the food is made, one in California and the other in Missouri, Mulvany said.
"There are two different screens: a broad-spectrum screen and a specific one looking for things that have been a problem, such as Melamine and cyanuric acid," she adds. "The food is tested again as it’s being made. Then the final product is randomly tested throughout delivery; plus, here at corporate headquarters, I will pull random samples and send them to the lab for testing." And so far, Mulvany is pleased to report, "Everything’s come back negative."
