An Investigation into the Protein Mislabelling in Commercially Available Dog Food

Abstract

According to The Canadian Animal Health Institute, 7.9 million domestic dogs were owned in 2022 across the country, with an estimated $1,200 spent on food alone for each pet annually. Thus, mislabeling in commercially sold dog food poses a vast and concerning issue, and many studies have shown this to be a continuing problem. In this study, different types of dog food were investigated with the intent of finding a correlation between commercial quality and degrees of mislabeling. It was hypothesized that higher-quality foods should have a lower degree of mislabeling compared to their counterparts. 4 samples of dried dog food and 1 sample of freeze-dried dog food underwent standard PCR analysis protocol, including DNA analysis, PCR amplification, and gel electrophoresis with an additional sample preparation process. Results were unfortunately inconclusive, with most samples failing to develop analyzable molecular bands on the agar gel. Hence, no conclusion could be made regarding the relationship between commercial quality and mislabeling, but valuable insight was provided into the procedure of dried dog food PCR analysis.