The additives you think are bad aren’t really that scary

Ask some people what they think makes good pet food, and they’ll likely answer by saying any food that’s made with as few additives as possible. There’s an automatic assumption that if a food contains ingredients you don’t immediately recognize (or if it contains any food that isn’t a straight-up vegetable or meat) that it must be unhealthy.

But according to Dr. Heinze, these extra ingredients aren’t usually a cause for concern.

She told INSIDER, “Most of the “additives” that pet owners worry about are vitamin or mineral supplements or preservatives and have been shown to be safe, even beneficial.”

On top of that, the FDA has to approve all pet food additives before it can legally be sold in the United States.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that anything goes, either.

Heinze told INSIDER, “I avoid foods and treats for healthy pets that contain a lot of corn syrup or sugars because it’s really not needed – healthy pets should eat their food without sugar added….It isn’t that these ingredients necessarily cause health issues in healthy pets, they are just unnecessary (e.g. “junk food”).”