Why Is There Ash In Fishfood?

[Dubby]

Looking at another post on contents of fish food got me thinking on this one. Most fish food have a large percentage of ash. Why is this?

 

[jungle king]

Maybe it aids digestion? There is something that swallows stones to aid in processing the food

 

[The-Wolf]

I think it is used as an emulsifier

 

[Fella]

I've asked this question before, and the answer I got was that ash in flake food isn't actually ash, its the name just given to the miscellaneous products added after or created during the process.

I'm not too sure on it to be honest, but I wouldn't worry too much...

 

[jungle king]

Non-nutritive components listed on your bag of feed
may also include fibre, ash, pigments and preservatives.
Fibre and ash are present in fish feed because they are
natural byproducts of other diet components. They
provide little benefit to the fish and have preferably
been minimized in a quality diet.

Copied from http/www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$departme...pdf?OpenElement

 

[Clairel]

Yep, if you look at cat and dog food, this also presents ash.... i think its just rubbish they throw in, i dont understand why, and why it doesnt have a real name.... Mmmmmmmmmmm

C x

 

[Bignose]

When all the quality ingredients are mixed together, they very rarely will stick together in a pellet or flake on their own. This is where plant oils and proteins are added. They soak into the food, and then this mixture is cooked. The cooking binds everything together, but the cooking process does overcook some food or singe parts of it.

This percentage that gets ruined is called ash, and it is kind of a crapshoot what exactly it is. But it is undigestible filler. The ash is a result of cooking quickly at very high temperatures. Some of the food with lower ash contents have been cooked more slowly, for instance. But, consider that food cooked more slowly means that less can be cooked at any one time, which means that less food is made, which means that prices are higher.

While I suspect most of us probably would not mind paying extra for higher quality of foods, the forum members are a very small minority of fishkeepers, maybe not enough to support a company, and most people just aim for the cheapest food they can find anyway.

 

[Dubby]

Thanks guys and gals. That was useful info. Special thanx to Bignose... What would we do without you?