|Purred: Tue Apr 21, '09 11:20pm PST |
I googled "cat food ash" and there were a few definitions that popped up.
a. "ASH ‘the incombustible inorganic residue remaining after incineration; generally the mineral content of the food’...
In pet food the constituents are broken down in to several components: carbohydrate, moisture, protein, fibre and fat/oil.
Anything that does not come into one of these categories is called by the general term 'ash'. It is called ash because when the food is burned (to determine its analysis) carbohydrate, fibre, fat and protein are all incinerated. Ash is the part of the food that remains after incineration.
...Foods with very high ash contents may contain excessive quantities of vitamins and minerals which can be detrimental to your pet's health."
b. " 'Ash' in cat food is the inorganic mineral content left over when the organic portion has been removed. It generally consists of potassium, magnesium, and sodium salts, along with smaller amounts of other minerals. It used to be thought that the total "ash" content of food contributed to FUS, but recently, attention has focused on magnesium as the culprit. Many commercial foods now list the magnesium content as a separate item in the list of nutrients on the bag, box, or can. "
c. "Ash is measured by heating the pet food to temperatures of around 550 °C, and burning off all the organic components to leave just the inorganic residue."
In other words, "ash" is.... ash. It is how they determine the mineral content of your kibble.
Ash is not added into the food, it is a method of measurement and labeling.
Hope that helps clear things up a little.
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