Got a reply from Drs. Foster & Smith regarding Dog Food Project website condemning synthetic vitamin K in dog food. So nice to get a full reply to a question unlike two other dog food companies I had other questions for. I'm more comfortable considering their dog food.
Merrie
Here is their reply:
Thank you for contacting us with your question about the use of menadione dimethylpyrimidinol bisulfate in our dog food. The use of menadione in dog food is approved as safe by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). When we received your question, we looked at the information from The Dog Food Project web site, and we also did a search for scientific information about menadione.
As far as we can tell, the toxicities listed on The Dog Food Project web site are from the injectible form of vitamin K, not the oral form. In addition,the journal references on the Dog Food Project web site are in German. This in itself certainly doesn't mean that the references aren't valid (the author of the site notes that she is German and had difficulty translatinginto English), but I have been unable to find any articles from peer-reviewed, scientific journals in English (on respected scientific search sites such as Pub Med) that back up her claims. To me, this means that at this point this is merely her opinion, which she is certainly entitled to, but it is not a valid reason for us to remove menadione from our food at this point. We will continue looking into this, and if we find valid information to give us reason to remove menadione, we will.
Sincerely,
Kristy Raith, CVT
Veterinary Services
Drs. Foster and Smith
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