Earthborn Holistic?

Looks great to me, though I know some people prefer that manufacturers don't use menadione (I don't think it makes a difference imo lol).  Too bad my oldest dog is sensitive to chicken or I'd try it!

The feedstore where I buy our TOTW has it. I tried the small sample bag for a topper for Aesop and he enjoyed it.  Ginger's allergic to chicken, though, so I don't buy it in larger bags, since she likes to snitch food.

Funny, I just came to these forums to research Earthborn.  The feed store where we buy our birdseed gave us a brochure on Earthborn today; it looks promising, and the price for a bulk purchase is awesome.

The ingredients look really, really good except for menadione bisulfite and that's a deal breaker for me.

I think I'll get a small bag to try out with my guys. If they like it, I might stick it in their rotation (Acana Prairie Harvest, Before Grain Buffalo, Canidae ALS Grain Free Chicken and TOTW Pacific Stream.)

Reference:  Midwestern Pet Foods Earthborn Holistic Primitive Natural

This is an older thread, but if I can get here now, so can someone else.  I'm posting this because I'm concerned about Earthborn Holistic dog food. I put my dogs on this food 4 months ago.  I did my research, including looking at the ingredient listing. I have two dogs, a full pit and a pit lab mix. My pit lab mix had her blood taken 6 months ago as a check up where they check blood levels and general health. I'm on a plan and pay a monthly fee, so this is generally free for me. Anyway, she got a clean bill of health 6 months ago, but today I was having her teeth cleaned and they take blood to check general health before putting the dog under. Her liver enzymes are slightly elevated at 119, a normal on the high side is 100.  I checked the internet and found out an ingredient Earthborn uses, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K Activity) can cause liver issues.  This ingredient has been banned in Europe, but is still okay to use in the USA and still call the food organic. I'm putting two and two together and thinking the Menadione Sodium Bisulfite  might have something to do with my dogs liver issue. It's only slightly elevated, but my dogs have only been on the food for 4 months. Other than that ingredient, I found the food to be good quality. I've written to them about it, hoping if they get enough feedback they might remove the ingredient. The other thing is, my full pit did get really gassy on it.  Just to let you know, the Menadione is not on the list of ingredients on the Earthborn website, but is on my actual package. I am moving them on to Call of the Wild. It's very similar to Earthborn, and does not have the synthetic vitamin K which is what Menadione is. I'm having her liver retested in 3 weeks and will let you know where her levels are to see if it helps to remove her from the food.

I did not know what this was so I looked it up and for those of you like me that did not have a clue this is what it does. Sounds like everyone should avoid this stuff. Does anyone else find it odd that they always ban these things in Europe years before they do here. Says a lot for our FDA----------------------This article is from a German nutritionist As a non-native speaker (German is my native language), it has been difficult for me to compose this article in English, since I had to translate most of my information from literature originally written in German. My search for relevant, unbiased sources in English was not very successful, with exception of some obscure references and texts that provided some information but do not include all the facts. There were also many articles written by authors who didn't even have the basic knowledge to differentiate between vtiamin K1, K2 and K3. Here is a list of negative effects of menadione on the body. It is incomplete, since my English medical terminology is lacking and I was simply not able to translate the more complicated scientific phrases into proper English: causes cytotoxicity in liver cells causes formation of radicals from enzymes of leucocytes, with the consequence of cytotoxic reactions considerably weakens the immune system possible mutagenic effects damages the natural vitamin K cycle has no effect on coumarin derivatives, which are often present in commercial food due to mold contamination (toxic when ingested) causes hemolytic anemia and hyperbilirubinemia, not just linked to large doses disturbs the level of calcium ions (Ca2+) in the body, which is an important factor fibrinolysis is directly toxic in high doses (vomiting, albuminuria), unlike natural vitamin K builds up in tissue and has been detected in eggs, meat and milk of animals supplemented with menadione derivatives causes irritation of skin and mucous membranes causes allergic reactions and eczema

 I wrote to Earthborn and complained about the ingredient in question, "Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K Activity)". Here is the email response I received from the company.

Interesting. . .does this also mean they can ADD stuff without having to list it for some time as well? 

Its a decent food (primitive line), but very high calorie so watch out to make sure your pup doesent pack on lbs.

This was one of the foods I tried Pella on, and I took her off it, because it made her gassy.  Glad to know about the other issues with it, as well.

 Lori - I think I read somewhere that they can legally add/take from the ingredient list without changing the packaging for 6 or so months....