Ingredients list

[ajcstr]

I recently discovered that Merrick Before Grain took canola oil out of their formula and replaced it with chicken fat (which I am happy about). My question is that I don't understand how, if this happened in Feb 2010 as the rep told me, the bags can still list canola oil on the ingredients list a year later. Seems like they are just starting to change the label info.

I guess there are no regulations with regard to this?

[RawFedDogs]

My guess is that they are using up the bags that they had on hand. What are the ingredients listed on their web page? When was the food that you see in the store packaged?

[ajcstr]

I could swear the website said "canola oil" a couple weeks ago, but it says "chicken fat now". As I said, the rep told me that bags with an expiration date of 3/15/2011 and later would have the new formula. All the bags in the stores have late 2011 expiration dates and they all still list canola oil (with the exception of sample bags I just saw last week which made me raise the question). I could understand an overlap of a couple of months but this is almost a year.

[3Musketeers]

Which store/s have you looked into, was it at just one store or have you noticed this in several stores? It could be possible that the food doesn't sell very well in your area/local store and have been sitting on the shelves for a while.
All I can say is that the bags in my store have said "chicken fat" since at least March 1st (since I started there), so the change definitely occurred before then, maybe the rep isn't lying.
There's also a chance that some of the warehouses by your area are still carrying the older bags.

[ajcstr]

Which store/s have you looked into, was it at just one store or have you noticed this in several stores? It could be possible that the food doesn't sell very well in your area/local store and have been sitting on the shelves for a while.
All I can say is that the bags in my store have said "chicken fat" since at least March 1st (since I started there), so the change definitely occurred before then, maybe the rep isn't lying.
There's also a chance that some of the warehouses by your area are still carrying the older bags.

Just a couple notes

1: Im sure the rep was telling the truth, I am not questioning that.
2: I like Merrick BG very much and I am glad they are now using chicken fat because it is animal based.
3: In my opinion Merrick is one of the better companies out there. I would recommend Merrick BG to anyone.

I am just curious about the regulation process. Now I checked the 3 stores I shop at and they all list canola oil as an ingredient and they all have expiration dates 4th quarter 2011. So for the sake of argument lets say 11-15-11. That is still manufactured 8 mos after the change (bags with expiration dates since 3-15-11 have the new formula) regardless of how long it sat in the warehouse.

Just makes me wonder if companies say get sold and make formula changes, how long is it before those changes are reflected on the bag. This was a very minor change, but it really could be anything. I know some wellness formulas list canola oil and some list chicken fat. Do they really all use one or the other but the bags have not caught up yet? People here are always complaining about their dogs getting sick on a particular food all of a sudden, yet the formula is the same.

[ajcstr]

OK, so I stop in Petco tonight and they have a bag of BG with an expir date of 2/26/2012 that lists canola oil. Now I am wondering if the rep has the year wrong. Would make so much more sense to me if expiration date 3-15-2012 is the real cut off date. The sample bag I have has a date of 4-13-2012. I am going to call them tomorrow.