RESPONSE TO INNOVA WEBSITE CRITIQUE OF WYSONG

A. Listing of ingredients claimed not to be in Innova™ foods because they are “unfavorable” for health, according to their “research” (unidentified).

Corn
Innova Comment:
  “Ground Corn is the entire corn kernel, ground or chopped. Although Ground Corn is a good quality source of carbohydrates, it is a common cause of food allergies in pets and is not used in Natura products.”
Wysong Response:

Companies who attempt to demonize grains (corn, wheat, etc.) and soy omit the fact that the meats they use come from animals fed primarily corn and soy. Even organic chickens are fed this diet. Since an animal cannot be something better than the food it eats, it is misleading to claim the demerits of soy, corn, etc. and then use meat products raised on them. It's like buying goods that one knows are stolen, but then claiming to have great honesty and being outraged by theft.

Wysong has many diets that do not include corn. This is ignored since it would make Innova’s strawman comparisons invalid.

Poultry Fat
Innova Comment:
  “Poultry Fat is obtained from the tissues of poultry in the commercial process of rendering or extracting. Poultry Fat is a byproduct of meat processing. The origin of the contributing animals is never known; the source can be any fowl (turkey, chicken, geese, buzzard, etc.) and the resulting oil is very low in linoleic acid -- an essential fatty acid that is important for skin and coat health. Natura uses high quality Chicken Fat which has the highest levels of linoleic acid.”
Wysong Response:

Soybeans
Innova Comment:
  “Extruded Soybeans is the product resulting from extrusion by friction heat and/or steam, whole soybeans without removing any of the component parts. Whole ground extruded soybeans are used in some foods as a supplemental protein ingredient. Although the product has been processed to eliminate the 'bloat' often associated with soybeans, this ingredient can still pose a problem for animals allergic to soy. Soybeans are not used in Natura foods as no soy product has the biologic protein value of meat ingredients, such as chicken meat or chicken meal (dried chicken meat).”
Wysong Response:
1. Wysong uses unique whole extruded soybeans in some, not all, diets. These are not used as a supplement protein ingredient, but rather because of their high content of omega 3 fatty acids, lecithin, and important phytoestrogens.
2. Wysong foods have the highest levels of fresh meat that is possible to incorporate into a dry extruded product, thus, obviously Wysong does not need to add soy for “supplemental protein.”
3. True, some animals are allergic to soy (very few), but so too can they be allergic to every one of Innova’s ingredients.

Salt
Innova Comment:
“Salt is a natural mineral, necessary for life and good health. Most pet food ingredients contain enough sodium to meet a dog or cat's nutritional needs. The salt in the Natura products comes only from the natural ingredients. We do not add salt as a flavor enhancer.”
Wysong Response:
1. Wysong salt is a unique geologic composition containing dozens of trace minerals commonly deficient in modern human and animal processed diets.
2. Wysong salt is not refined table salt and is not added to increase sodium levels as Innova suggests.

Kelp
Innova Comment:
  “Dried Kelp is seaweed from the families Laminariacae and Fucaeae which has been dried. Kelp is added to pet foods primarily as a source of iodine, but it can be very high in salt and potassium. Natura does not add kelp or other salty ingredients to any of its foods.”
Wysong Response:

Yeast Culture
Innova Comment:
  “Yeast Culture is the dried product composed of yeast and the media on which it is grown, dried in such a manner as to preserve the fermenting activity of the yeast. Yeast Culture is an unnecessary flavoring ingredient, used in inexpensive pet foods in an attempt to compensate for a lack of real food flavors. In addition, yeast is an allergen for some animals.”
Wysong Response:Wysong yeast culture is not added as a “flavoring ingredient,” but as a rich source of naturally complexed vitamins, active enzymes, mannanoligosaccharides and immune stimulating glucans.

Chicken Digest
Innova Comment:
  ”Chicken digest is a material that results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and undecomposed chicken tissue. Chicken digest is a palatability enhancer made by reducing (cooking down) chicken meat and fat into a concentrated liquid or dry product. Natura’s products have their own satisfying flavors that come from natural human grade ingredients that are used.”
Wysong Response:

B. Innova has selected a few Wysong features to try to frame an attack, but neglects the many other important features of Wysong, which make Wysong superior to Innova.

For example, Wysong products are characterized by:

C. Response to Innova “Notes.”
   Although Innova would apparently like consumers to think their ingredients are “hand scooped” from retail containers right from the grocery store, this is very misleading. In actual fact, Innova products are manufactured in a conventional pet food facility, using usual pet food ingredients, and formulated using the myth that processed foods are “100% complete.”

Chicken meal
Innova Comment:
  “Chicken Meal is the dry rendered (cooked down) product from a combination of clean flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts of whole carcasses of chicken -- exclusive of feathers, heads, feet, or entrails. Chicken Meal is considered to be the single best source of protein in commercial pet foods. Natura uses high quality, low ash chicken meal extensively. This ingredient is very digestible, very palatable, and very expensive.”
Wysong Response:

Cottage Cheese
Innova Comment:
  “Cottage Cheese is the result of separating milk or cream into curds and whey. The curds are drained and pressed to form the soft, white, spoonable cheese. Cottage Cheese is an excellent source of calcium, phosphorus, protein and vitamins. Natura uses table-quality cottage cheese, straight from its retail container. The cottage cheese has only trace amounts of lactose and because of its limited inclusion in the formula, the ultimate amount of lactose in the finished product is insignificant and would not be in sufficient supply to cause an intolerance problem.”
Wysong Response:
  Are we to understand that someone hand scoops cottage cheese out of retail containers into Innova products? Extruded foods, such as Innova, are produced at many tons per hour. Innova does not explain how such retail package hand scooping is compatible with production rates at several tons per hour. What does “hand-scooping” have to do with good nutrition?

Lamb Meal
Innova Comment:
  “Lamb Meal is the dry rendered (cooked down) product from lamb tissues, exclusive of any added blood, hair, hoof, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices. Lamb Meal is simply lamb meat with the moisture removed, making it suitable for use in dry food. Before you buy a product containing Lamb Meal, ask the manufacturer about the origin of the Lamb Meal they use. Natura uses only high quality lamb meat from New Zealand, not the lamb by-products found in some other pet foods.”
Wysong Response:
  Are we to believe Innova adds lamb chops and racks of lam to their products at a retail price of approximately $10.00 per pound? How could this be when Innova foods cost about $1.00 per pound retail, and half that at wholesale? Innova needs to describe exactly what the special “human-grade” lamb product is to explain this conundrum.

Human Grade Ingredients
Innova Comment:
  “The chicken Nature uses is not only human grade, but also tested to be free of hormones, antibiotics and pesticides, as well as chemical preservatives such as BHA, BHT and ethoxyquin…. Natura uses only fresh, whole fruits and vegetables, like you would buy at the grocery store, in our foods.”
Wysong Response:
  Human grade can mean by-products from human-grade processing. These are the same “human grade” ingredients virtually all other manufacturers use. If Innova means their ingredients are human grade right from the grocery store, then it must be explained how they can process, package, and ship their products for far less cost than the price of these ingredients, and why most of their ingredients are not found in the grocery store.

Glucosamine
Innova Comment:
  “Glucosamine Hydrochloride is a compound that occurs naturally in the cartilage cushioning the joints. Glucosamine, together with Chondroitin Sulfate, is believed to stimulate the rebuilding of the cartilage matrix and to play a role in the fight against osteoarthritis.”
Wysong Response:
  Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate are unapproved pet food ingredients. Wysong products provide natural sources of proteoglycans, cartilage and all classes of collagen, providing excellent building block nutrition for joints and all connective tissues. These ingredients contain glucosamine and chondroitin, but not in unapproved forms as in Innova.

Natural Flavors
Innova Comment:
  “Natural Flavors are minimally processed flavor ingredients that do not contain synthetic or artificial components. Natura uses only quality Chicken broth as a Natural Flavor in the Innova Lite Cat food. This is much like a reduced broth you would use in making your own gravy to intensify the flavor of the food naturally. A proprietary blend of herbs and spices is used as a Natural Flavor in the HealthWise products.”
Wysong Response:
  If Innova is made of such outstanding ingredients, why must it be spiked with a “flavoring”? Innova criticizes other manufacturers for using flavorings, so why do they use them? Why wouldn’t hand-dipped cottage cheese, buzzard-free fat and human levels of vitamins be sufficient?

Sodium Ascorbate
Innova Comment:
  “Sodium Ascorbate is a non-acidic form of Vitamin C. Vitamin C cannot be stored by the body, so it must be replaced every day. Sodium Ascorbate has a neutral (non-acid) pH, making it safer for sensitive stomachs.”
Wysong Response:
  Innova is using human nutrition guidelines erroneously for feeding cats and dogs. For humans, vitamin C is an essential vitamin. For cats and dogs, it is not, since they are capable of synthesizing it. If Innova does not understand this fundamental principle, why should consumers trust their expertise in making a “100% complete and balanced” food? (This is not to suggest vitamin C could not benefit cats and dogs under certain circumstances, but t`his is not because cats and dogs need human vitamin levels as Innova argues.)

Raw Apples and Carrots
Innova Comment:
  “Whole Raw Apples are the edible fruit of the apple tree, part of the rose family. Apples provide important 'protector' nutrients, as well as plenty of carbohydrates and fiber -- essential for your pet's good health. Natura uses fresh, whole Washington apples, right out of the box, like you would find in the produce section at your local market.
Whole Raw Carrots are the root of the carrot plant, a member of the parsley family.
Carrots provide flavor and important nutrients, including 'protector' antioxidants. Natura uses only fresh, whole fruits and vegetables, fit for human consumption. Innova’s carrots are not pre-processed, so they retain the healthy qualities of the foods you serve at your own table.”
Wysong Response:
  These ingredients are evidently included to appeal to human food folklore, such as “an apple a day…” and “carrots for the eyes.” Although cats and dogs may benefit some from occasional fruits and vegetables, a practice Wysong recommends using the real fresh, whole form, they are not in a pet’s natural diet and are not required for “carbohydrates and fiber.”

Steamed Potatoes
Innova Comment:
  “Whole Steamed Potatoes are freshly-cooked Idaho and russet potatoes. Potatoes provide B vitamins, carbohydrates, zinc, Vitamin C, copper, iron, magnesium, niacin and potassium. Natura uses only fresh, whole fruits and vegetables, like you would buy at the grocery store, in our foods. They are not pre-processed, so they retain the flavors and important nutrients (including 'protector' antioxidants) of the foods you serve at your own table.”
Wysong Response:
  Does this mean that the potatoes are “steamed” in a home-kitchen sense and then added to a food that is being extruded at 5 tons per hour? In actual fact, all Innova ingredients are “steamed” in the process of extrusion just like what occurs with all other extruded pet foods. Innova needs to explain what exactly the merits of “steamed” potatoes are.

Innova ignores or does not understand the most important issue in pet feeding. That is, consumers should not rely on so-called “100% complete” pet foods (which have been proven to create serious disease and death), but rather should learn how to incorporate fresh natural foods into the diet. Wysong stands alone in the industry in focusing on this crucial point and creating foods and supplements that recognize this principle. Innova, on the other hand, further attempts to persuade owners to feed exclusively processed foods by misleading them into thinking Innova’s processed products are hand-dipped, kitchen-steamed, boosted with human vitamins, match the mythical human food group pyramid, and composed of grocery store human-grade ingredients.

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In a chart provided to retail stores and presented on their website, Innova compares itself to various brands including Wysong. Heading the chart ( ) is the following statement: “Only Innova has 3 meat proteins as the first 3 ingredients, all five food groups, 10 fresh ingredients, 6 balanced proteins, 10 fresh ingredients, NO beef, corn, wheat, soy, NO processed flours, No glutens, and 10 years of feeding excellence.” A thinking person would respond as follows

1. “Only Innova has 3 meat proteins as the first 3 ingredients” By this statement people are being led to believe that Innova has more meat than all the others. But how could Innova be very meaty when they list 15 major ingredients, only 3 of which are meat, and four being sources of starchy carbohydrates? Also, a food could list only one meat source and have more meat than Innova, or list 8 meat sources and have less meat than Innova. The number of meat ingredients has nothing to do with anything other than describing which meats are in the food. There is an upper limit to how much meat can be incorporated into an extruded product. Innova’s foods are extruded and thus they cannot incorporate any more meat than any other manufacturer. In fact, they likely use less since several other brands on their chart and in the market have more protein than Innova’s 24%. If they wish to claim that they have more meat, they should state the exact percentages of the meats in their formula. Finally, if the amount of meat in a food is the ‘game,’ then Wysong wins since it produces several 100% meat diets. But such Wysong products are not listed on their comparison chart.   2. “All 5 food groups” Pets don’t require the five human food groups in a meal. First off, humans are omnivores, pets are carnivores. Carnivores not only do not need a dose of starch, vegetable, fruit, and dairy at every meal, such a diet can lead to food sensitivities, allergies, and a host of diseases. See The Truth About Pet Foods. Also, in an extruded cooked product, which Innova is, cooking all these foods together can decrease or destroy nutritional value and even form toxins. See How all pet food companies don't get it.   3.   “10 fresh ingredients” Innova is a cooked food and as such cannot be considered fresh. Additionally, they use chicken meal which has already been cooked. So in their final product this meat is cooked three times: once before they get it, another time when it is extruded, and another when it is baked in their drying oven. That does not equal “fresh.” (Elsewhere in their promotional materials they make the claim that Innova is what should be fed when pet owners cannot feed raw. But there is absolutely nothing about the Innova products that has any similarity to raw foods!) In contrast, Wysong produces TNT™ (true non-thermally processed) foods that have not been heated at all and are as close to fresh and raw as a packaged pet food can get. That is not mentioned in the Innova chart.   4.   “6 balanced proteins” They do not state what they mean by “balanced,” which proteins they are talking about, or how their proteins are superior to those in any other brand. Also, if Innova contains all the ingredients they list, their products contain well over a hundred proteins, not “6.”   5.  “NO beef, corn, wheat, soy” The implication is that there is something wrong with these ingredients and what they have in their stead is superior. No evidence or proof is cited, just a scary caveat that plays to currently popular pet food myths. Presumably they are omitting beef because of public concerns about mad cow disease. But that is a Red Herring since pets are not getting mad cow disease any more than they are getting bird flu from Innova’s chicken. Corn, wheat, and soy are presumably omitted because they ‘cause’ allergy. But any ingredient, such as Innova’s barley and rice, can cause allergy if fed exclusively as they recommend.   6. “NO processed flours” But they grind, cook, and bake barley, rice, and potato. All of these are starch flours, and milling them into powders to extrude with the other ingredients is processing. Starch is required to extrude a formed dry nugget. Whether the starch is from barley, corn, rice, potato, or whatever makes little difference. The implication is that their products do not contain carbohydrates, but primarily meat. But that is misleading. If no processed flours is the game, then Wysong wins because it makes products with no processed carbohydrates or starches whatsoever. But those Wysong products are not on the comparison list.   7. “No glutens” That is only important if a pet is sensitive to glutens. But virtually no pets would be sensitive to glutens – or any of the proteins, including the “6” special ones in Innova – if pet owners would not exclusively feed processed pet foods as Innova recommends. Variety and true freshness are the key to health and freedom from food allergies and sensitivities. See The Myth of 100% Complete Processed Pet Foods.   8. “and 10 years of feeding excellence” Wysong has 25 years and was in the market with every meritorious feature Innova claims for its foods – plus many more – for more than 15 years before Innova was in existence.   9. “Wysong Adult Maintenance” The ingredients listed in the chart under this heading are not an accurate representation of the ingredients in this product. Nor is this product an accurate representation of the range of products Wysong produces or how Wysong recommends that foods be rotated and fed. The Innova chart does not demonstrate the superiority of Innova products. It highlights either misleading information, or worse, Innova’s inability to understand basic logic and nutritional facts.