Abstract
The aim was to determine the absence of gluten in pet food samples marked as ‘grain-free’ and ‘gluten-free’ diets, to assess the reliability of manufacturer labelling of such products. A total of 15 diets labelled as grain- or gluten-free and 2 commercial diets containing wheat were sampled. An analytical procedure using high-pressure liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry with high power of resolution was developed and applied to determine specific markers of wheat gluten. The results are expressed as mg of wheat flour type ‘00’ present in 1 g of feed. The quantification limit (LOQ) obtained in the flour for ion m/z 894.5043, z = 2, is 4 mg of flour per gram. In 14 out of the 15 samples from a grain- or gluten-free diet the quantifier ion signal was < LOQ, while in 1 out of the 15 samples 10 mg of flour/g feed were measured. Highlights Adverse reaction to gluten in dogs have been documented in certain breeds Gluten is tricky to detect and measure in pet food Contamination of gluten in pet food samples marked as ‘grain-free’ and ‘gluten-free’ diets An analytical procedure was developed using HPLC coupled with HRMS
Highlights
KEYWORDS Gluten; high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC)-high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS); commercial food; cat; dog Anthropomorphism of companion animals has virtually turned them into family members (Boni 2008)
Little research has been published describing the quantification of gluten residues in food
The present study demonstrated that HPLC-HRMS is a reliable method for the identification of gluten residues or contamination in pet food and provides preliminary evidence for the potential use of ‘grain-free’ labelled diets in a dietary elimination trial for the diagnosis of gluten-sensitive enteropathy (GSE) in dogs
Summary
Anthropomorphism of companion animals has virtually turned them into family members (Boni 2008). Pet food manufacturers have responded to this family addition with trendy diets that align questionably with animal health and physiology. One of the best known and advertised is the grain-free diet that the industry claims as high protein ‘ancestral diets’ purportedly healthier than their grain-inclusive counterparts, mainly containing gluten (Conway and Saker 2018). Wheat gluten is composed of gliadins, monomeric low-molecular-weight proteins, and glutenins, high-molecular-weight polymeric proteins. These proteins combine to forge a network that imparts extensibility and elasticity to any food matrix containing it. Such technological properties are interesting especially for bread making
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