Nutritional and Safety Surveillance Study of Some Puppies' Commercial Dry Foods

Abstract

A surveillance study was conducted to evaluate the nutritional value and safety of some puppies' commercial dry foods available in Egypt. A total of (100) extruded puppies' dry food samples (18 imported and 2 locally produced) were collected from different batches and subjected to proximate analysis for determinations of Moisture, Crude protein, Ether extract, Crude fiber and total ash%. Moreover, all samples were examined for their water activity values as well as Mycotoxins levels (Aflatoxins and Ochratoxins). Results of proximate analysis in comparison with the values stated on the bag label revealed that, moisture ranged from 4.95 to 11.36 %, CP ranged from 23.37 to 40.96 %, EE ranged from 5.35 to 19.21, CF ranged from 1.30 to 4.19 % and total ash ranged from 3.48 to 12.49 %. Water activity values (a w ) ranged from 0.43 to 0.71 in comparison to the standard acceptable level of 0.6 for dry food, a condition that may be explained on the basis that the examined puppies' dry foods might be subjected to excessive dryness during the manufacture as a tool for protection against microbial growth. Results of Aflatoxins levels revealed that all samples were proved to be positive for the presence of Aflatoxins, 30% of them were over the permissible limits, which ranged from 1.2 to 17.6 ppb. Furthermore, all examined samples were proved to be positive for Ochratoxins with minimum and maximum levels 0f 3.9 and 42.3 ppb respectively.