Sweet potato dog treats follow single ingredient trend

Dr-Chew, a dog treat brand owned by Landy Corporation, offers sweet potato dog treats and snacks.

Photo by Melpomene.Fotolia.com
Photo by Melpomene.Fotolia.com

Dr-Chew, a dog treat brand owned by Landy Corporation, offers sweet potato dog treats and snacks that are European Union, Canada and Japan certified organic.

The treats are made of fully peeled, cooked and air dried sweet potatoes, which provide a chewy texture that promotes gum and teeth health in dogs. These vegan dog treats provide an alternative to meat-based rawhides and grain based biscuits. Sweet potatoes are rich in beta-carotene, vitamin C and vitamin B6. They are also high in dietary fiber, low in fat and calories, and a good source of potassium, calcium and iron.

The treats are samples and inspected by US FDA, Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Australia Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS), and the Agriculture Department of Japan.

Nutritional value of sweet potatoes in single ingredient pet treats 

Limited ingredient diet (LID) dog and cat foods use a minimal number of ingredients, but must still provide complete nutrition. An LID challenges pet food formulators to provide all essential amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins and other nutrients, while using only a few ingredients.

Greg Aldrich, PhD, pet food program coordinator at Kansas State University discussed production of limited ingredient diets with Will Henry, director of research and development for Extru-Tech Inc., during a Petfood Industry webinar, “How to solve extruded LID pet food production challenges.”

Aldrich noted that LIDs started as elimination diets meant to help veterinarians diagnose allergies and other adverse reactions to pet food ingredients. In an elimination diet, formulators use only a single protein and starch, then add back in other ingredients to determine which was causing problems for pets’ digestion.

Pet Food Industry listed sweet potatoes as one of four ingredients common in LIDs. Sweet potatoes have gained a reputation as a superfood in human diets. The tubers have also become popular in LID pet foods, as well as conventional diets. Considering dry dog food, 26.41 percent of the recipes in the database contain sweet potatoes. For dry cat food, 20.63 percent contain sweet potatoes.

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