Are the animal ingredients used in ENOVA passed ‘fit for human consumption’?

We are using only raw materials from animal origin (meats and fats) deriving from animals which were fit for human consumption, and this is true for all our animal products.

GMO. What about them?

For ENOVA we made a clear, simple choice: no ingredient at risk for GMO contamination and no ingredient from “exotic” countries. The raw materials (excepting lamb meat from New Zealand) are strictly from EU origin, mainly from Germany, and always from the same producers (not via dealers) in order to have a food that is 100% safe for GMO, uniform in the final product and therefore in its performances.

What are the requirements that enable you to put “Dried Lamb Meat”

and “Dried Chicken Meat” as opposed to Meal or Dried Protein?

The “dried meat” definition used by other companies is covering all the normal animal meals, as there is no real definition of what should be a low-bone content (this can be seen also in the fact that more than one company claims “Chicken meal” in USA  and “Dried chicken meat” overseas for the same product). There are chicken meals on the market with more than 30% of ash and chicken meals with less than 10% of ash; therefore this is just a marketing definition. The ash content of the chicken meat meals that ENOVA contains is varying from 8% to 15% with an average of about 12%. So if you consider that a living chicken contains about 11–13% of ash in the dry matter of the body, you will see that the meals we are using correspond to that “natural” content of bones and so for the meats, which would be about 2/3 (60–65%). To produce a chicken meat meal – as it is used in pet-food – you cannot use the pure meat, as this is not possible for the technology these products are manufactured with at the moment all over the world. Of course there is a real dry meat available, but this is destined entirely to human food industry (soups, sauces…) and is so expensive, that it is not possible to use it in pet food and, as far as we know, no one is using this; furthermore, the amounts available are too small for pet-food industry requirement. And it will not represent an advantage for the pets, as you would have to add to that meat the missing minerals in order to match the dog nutritional requirements; so you would have to create a mixture which, in the end, is the same than to use the normal meat meals! Our decision to use the same definitions used by other companies is just a way to highlight the quality of our meat ingredients, the absolute best available on the market.

The meats are added as dried meat. Why not fresh?

The dried meat has a water content of approx. 10%: this means that the remaining 90% is full of nutrients. On the other side, fresh chicken contains approx. 70% of water, and therefore the dry matter accounts for just 30%. To be short, this means that 100 grams of dried meat are absolutely not as nutrient as 100 grams of fresh meat! If you want to provide your dog with almost the same nutrients of 100 grams of dried meat, you should feed your dog with at least three times the weight of fresh meat. So read carefully the ingredient list of dry petfoods!

What is exactly fish meal?

The fish meal is produced from fresh fish caught in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean. The main fish species caught for human consumption in that area are herring, cod and pollock. All parts of the slaughtered fishes are used for the production of fish meal. ENOVA Sensitive diets contain special salmon, tuna & herring meal for a mix of healthy sea-fish ingredients.

Why did you choose to use rice as only grain for most of your formulas?

Rice is the most digestible grain: its starch is absorbed by dogs & cats more or less completely; this doesn’t happen with other grains (corn, wheat, oat), in which starch availability to digestion is lower. If you add to this the fact that rice contains no gluten, the protein that can cause allergic reaction in sensitive (celiac) dogs, the choice for ENOVA has been since the beginning for rice, in spite its’ higher price than other grains’.

What about your fat sources?

For ENOVA we decided to include these three sources: chicken fat, fish oil & flaxseed. These 3 ingredients enable ENOVA to provide the perfect amount & the correct proportion of Omega-6 & Omega-3 fatty acids.
Omega-6 & Omega-3 are polyunsaturated essential fatty acids, whose effect are, just to list the main ones:

OMEGA-6:

Reduce inflammatory reactions
Improve skin & coat condition
OMEGA-3:

Reduce the painful effects of arthritis inflammation
Reduce inflammatory reactions in general
Improve skin & coat condition
Reduce the yeast infections (malassezia)
Prevent the onset of atopic dermatitis
Promote a correct development of nervous system & sense organ in growth stage
Prevent some cardiac diseases
Slow down the development of some metastasis & some kinds of cancer
Reduce the cholesterols level in the blood
While is commonly accepted that the a correct ratio Omega-6:Omega-3 is between 10:1 & 5:1, lately some researchers suggested as ideal ratios between 4:1 & 2:1 (especially in case of treatment of above-mentioned conditions) – ENOVA fully complies with this more recent, higher requirement!

Why in formulas like ENOVA LAMB& RICE and ENOVA SENSITIVE the ingredient chicken fat is included?

Chicken fat is a valuable source of animal fats, very rich in Linoleic Acid, an Omega-6 essential acid whose beneficial effect on coat and skin conditions is proven. Chicken fat is purified from proteins, so only fats are added with this ingredient; therefore there is no problem for dogs that shown intolerance or allergy to chicken products for the use of these products.

Why eggs are included in all ENOVA formulas?

Egg is probably the most complete and nutritious food available in nature. Its protein has the highest Biological Value for its perfect amino acidic composition, and for this reason it became an ingredient of paramount importance in ENOVA. Apart from its protein content, egg is also very rich in minerals, vitamins and also in lutein, a carotenoid very important for the sight, being one of the main components of the retina.

Protein hydrolysate. what is this and from what it is extracted?

In detail, protein hydrolysates are low-molecular-weight peptides that are much more easily digestible at the intestine level than normal proteins and much less or, better, not at all able to induce food allergy reactions. Their small dimension & weight allow them to pass the intestine barrier without stimulating the allergic process; this makes of no importance the source of the original digested protein. And this is also the reason why hyperdigestive (hypoallergenic) diet foods are made with hydrolysated proteins. These molecules are also proved to be very effective in improving the palatability and acceptance of dog/cat dry food; therefore protein hydrolysate are of paramount importance to ensure ENOVA the highest palatability performances without compromising its digestibility & hypoallergenic qualities. Please consider that all dog/cat food producers use protein hydrolysate (or digest) as appetizer, but not everyone declares them in the ingredient list (consider also that EU legislation is more strict in this sense than the US one); this is a further demonstration of our serious approach in the making of ENOVA dry foods. The meat base for the current hydrolysate is a mixture of poultry and pig.

Why did you add tomatoes in ENOVA formulas?

Recent research on tomato allowed us to discover many important nutritional properties of this vegetable. Pivotal ingredient of the “Mediterranean diet”, tomatoes have a very high content in lycopene, a pigment responsible for the red colour, who proved to be very effective as antioxidant and anticancer, especially if cooked. Tomato is also rich in vitamins (ascorbic acid & tocopherols), minerals and quality fibre; an high-quality ingredient perfectly in line with ENOVA philosophy.

What is the role of carrots in ENOVA?

Like tomatoes, also carrots are very high in natural antioxidants (especially carotenoid), able to fight damaging action of free radicals; its high content in vitamins and fibres gives further relevance to its nutritional role.

What is the nutritional importance of kelp?

Kelp, in the correct quantity, is a very good source of marine-source minerals (Magnesium, Zinc, Iodine) e vitamins (Vitamin K and folic acid), in a natural and easily-absorbing form, very important nutrients for a balanced nutrition.

What rosemary is added for?

Rosemary is a plant whose healthy properties are well-known and appreciated since long time. Used as tonic, diuretic, anti-parasite and preserving additive; very high in antioxidants, molecules able to deactivate oxygen atoms of free radicals, responsible of aging processes, and in the food, of spoiling process of the fats.

I have heard that red beet pulp can produce red shades on the coat of my white dog, is this ingredient used in ENOVA?

None of the ENOVA products contains red beet pulp. Our pet food products contain processed sugar beet slices, but sugar beet does not contain any red/reddish pigment.

Where the cellulose ingredient comes from?

Cellulose is extracted and purified from plant ingredients. It is a useful undigestible fibre that can help regularize intestinal function, and therefore help the dog producing firmer stools.

What are prebiotics and are they in ENOVA?

Prebiotics are, according to the definition of italian Ministry of Health, undigestible food compounds that, when ingested in adequate quantity, help promote selectively the growth and the activity of healthy bacteria already present in the intestinal tract.

To keep it simple, prebiotics are food fibres that can be found in fruits (e.g. banana) and vegetables (e.g. onion, carrot, asparagus but also potato, tomato, artichoke, garlic and beet). The most important ones are fructanes or fructo-oligo-saccharides (FOS) that include inulin, a plant fibre that is extracted mainly from chicory root. Other prebiotics are GOS (galacto-oligo-saccharides), sorbitol, xilitol and pectines.
ENOVA includes some ingredients with a relevant content in prebiotics: beet pulp, carrot, tomato and chicory (ENOVA CAT).

Why glucosamine & chondroitin feature in the ingredient list

and what is their function?

Joint conditions (hip & elbow dysplasia, arthritis, arthrosis) are always more common concerns in our dogs’ population, especially in elder and/or large dogs. It has been proved that some special molecules (especially glucosamine & chondroitin), also known as chondro-protectors, are necessary for the correct function of joints: in case of joint conditions (arthritis, arthrosis caused or not by dysplasia) it has been noticed a reduced synthesis of these molecules. Therefore they must be provided with food in order to help the regeneration of damaged joint tissues and also to reduce the pain. These two additives work better if provided together: chondroitin works together with glucosamine, increasing its beneficial effect on joint recovery.

It must be noted that in ENOVA the declared levels of these two nutrients are not the sum of an average estimated content of each ingredient, but are exactly the quantities that we add (as a normal ingredient and that’s the reason why they feature in the ingredient list) to the food. This means that the quantities declared in ENOVA are real and the levels are so high (up to 1.000 mg/kg each in the LARGE BREED & LIGHT products) that they provide the same (sometimes even more) chondro-protectors as the main joint-health supplements in pill.

A simple example: joint supplement – composition: chondroitin sulfate: 100 mg/pill + glucosamine: 200 mg/pill
Large Breed Puppy 4 months old (expected adult weight 35 kg and current weight 15 kg):
1,5 pills per day, that is 150 mg chondroitin sulfate & 300 mg glucosamine;

A simple example: joint supplement – composition: chondroitin sulfate: 100 mg/pill + glucosamine: 200 mg/pill
Large Breed Puppy 4 months old (expected adult weight 35 kg and current weight 15 kg):
1,5 pills per day, that is 150 mg chondroitin sulfate & 300 mg glucosamine;

Enova Puppy/Junior Large Breed: 405 g/day, that is 405 mg chondroitin sulfate & 405 mg glucosamine.

What is propyl gallate?

Propyl gallate is not a preservative but an antioxidant, whose EU definition is: “substance which prolongs the shelflife of foodstuffs by protecting them against deterioration caused by oxidation, such as fat rancidity and colour changes”, while the preservatives “are substances which prolong the shelflife of foodstuffs by protecting them against deterioration caused by micro-organisms” (see EC Directive 95/2 – 20 February 1995).

Consider that the dosage of propyl gallate used in ENOVA is less than 35 ppm (or mg/kg) that, combined with the action of tocopherols of natural origin, allows a perfect preservation of the nutritional properties of the food and its fat (especially Omega 3 fatty acids that are very easy to spoil – but very important for your dog’s health) for at least all its shelf-life.
Propyl gallate (or E310) is proved and permitted by the EU as effective antioxidant and to be on the safe side, the EU has fixed a safe limit for antioxidants like propyl gallate which is at least 100 ppm in some human foods, but higher in some other foods (see EU legislation).
And it is allowed for all animals – even for the animals used for human consumption. So there is really no risk and there has been no proved case that a dog or a cat got ill by the use of propyl gallate when it is used in the legal way. That is the reason why the compound has been allowed by the EU; it is in the official list of the EU additives. Many companies are using propyl gallate since more than 10 years without any problems.

Here are some useful links on this subject:
a quick overview on propyl gallate
a page updated October 2007 in which is referred that in the Carcinogenic Potency Database (6540 scientific tests) there is no published scientific paper that reports a carcinogenic effect of propyl gallate on rat and mouse). The situation is different for the other two main antioxidants still widely used in petfoods, BHA (see) and BHT (see), on which there are serious doubts about their carcinogenic potential.
a 2007 article in which is referred that “Propyl Gallate is a generally recognized as safe (GRAS) antioxidant to protect fats, oils, and fat-containing food from rancidity that results from the formation of peroxides” and “in four other studies, Propyl Gallate at doses up to 2.04 g/kg was nonteratogenic in rats, rabbits, mice, and hamsters”) a 1994 scientific paper in which is reported that propyl gallate, “which exhibits antimicrobial activity, has been found to be toxicologically safe after almost 30 years of evaluation.”

I am concerned about the quality of pet food, so what are your quality & food safety warranties?

20 I am concerned about the quality of pet food, so what are your quality & food safety warranties?
ENOVA pet foods are manufactured under the more strict food quality & safety standards available; the plant is certificated since years with ISO 9001:2000 (now ISO 9001:2008), HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, against hygiene and health related problems with food production), and IFS (International Food Standard, a high-level food quality-control standard, requested for human food production).

Are ENOVA formulas safe for heavy metal content?

Yes definitely. Incoming ingredients and final products are both tested for heavy metals on a regular basis, in order to have foods that are safe for daily use & that fully comply with requirements of EU Reg. 574/2011 as for heavy metal levels.

Is ENOVA pet food cruelty-free?

Absolutely yes! We love pets and therefore we are doing our best to offer them the best possible food, without exploiting or hurting them in any way… So no cruel animal experiments, but only simple, non-invasive acceptance (palatability) tests with the agreement of the pet owner.

This page helpful? Appreciates it on Facebook!