Some time ago I came across a Swiss cat food test that made me stop and think. Of fifteen dry foods, only one received a clean result for pesticide residues and the preservatives considered problematic in the test. My question was simple: how much do we actually know about what a cat consumes with its food every day?<\/p>\n
That question is still justified. When reading a test, however, we need to distinguish three things: whether a substance was detected, how much the cat receives through its food, and whether the health effects of that exposure have been studied. Finding a residue deserves attention, but a laboratory result alone does not establish that a particular food causes disease in cats. Equally, limited data do not prove that long-term exposure definitely has no effect.<\/p>\n
The original story concerned the test \u201cPestizide im Fressnapf\u201d, published by the Swiss consumer magazine K-Tipp in March 2020. Its publicly accessible introduction confirms that 15 dry cat foods were compared and that Coop Natura plus was the only one in which neither the pesticide residues tested for nor the preservatives considered problematic in the test were found. These are findings from samples taken at a particular time. They do not automatically describe those brands' current recipes or every possible contaminant.<\/p>\n
My earlier article relied on GreenMe's account of the test. According to the data reported there, glyphosate was found in ten products at 10\u201350 micrograms per kilogram, pyrethroid residues in three, and chlorpropham was also detected. The full laboratory table, including methods and quantification limits, has not been checked again here. We therefore treat these figures as a historical account, rather than a new independent laboratory assessment.<\/p>\n
The word \u201cclean\u201d can be misleading here. A laboratory can report which substances it looked for and whether their concentrations exceeded the method's detection or quantification limit. No such result confirms that a food contains no unwanted compounds at all. A rating of \u201cinadequate\u201d also depends on the test's own assessment criteria. It does not automatically mean a breach of the law or a demonstrated poisoning risk.<\/p>\n
In a 2018 study<\/a>, Zhao and colleagues analysed 18 dog and cat foods from eight manufacturers using ELISA. Glyphosate was detected in all of them, at approximately 78\u20132,140 micrograms per kilogram of dry matter. Some products differed between batches. The study confirms that dietary exposure is real, but it did not measure disease in cats or demonstrate clinical harm from the amounts detected.<\/p>\n The authors used human daily reference values to put exposure into context and stressed that their relevance to companion animals was unclear. A human reference value is not a proven safety limit for cats. Nor can a concentration in micrograms per kilogram of food be compared directly with a daily dose expressed per kilogram of body weight.<\/p>\n For example, if a 4 kg cat ate 60 g of food a day containing 50 micrograms of glyphosate per kilogram, it would receive 3 micrograms daily, or 0.75 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day. This is a calculation example, not a safety assessment. Actual exposure depends on the portion, residue concentration and other sources of exposure.<\/p>\n Integrative veterinary medicine considers the combined effects of daily food and the environment. Pesticide exposure is also among the factors examined in Christina Chambreau's discussions of the microbiome. The practical value of this perspective is to ask about ingredient origins and long-term exposure, rather than assume that every digestive problem is caused by glyphosate.<\/p>\n The microbiome question is not merely imaginary. In a 2021 rat study<\/a>, Mesnage and colleagues found changes following administration of glyphosate and one Roundup formulation that suggested inhibition of the microbial shikimate pathway. This provides a mechanistic reason to investigate further. However, a rat's experimental dose, the pure active substance, a formulated plant protection product and a residue in cat food cannot be treated as equivalent. The study does not show that a small dietary residue produces the same change or a particular disease in cats.<\/p>\n Official assessments also differ. In 2015, IARC classified glyphosate as probably carcinogenic to humans. In ECHA's assessment, the substance did not meet the criteria for classification as a carcinogen, while EFSA's 2023 risk assessment identified no critical areas of concern for the uses assessed, but did identify data gaps. The differences involve the purpose of the assessment, the data used and their interpretation. None directly establishes the long-term health effects of a particular cat food.<\/p>\n GMO-free ingredients have been a deliberate selection criterion for me, and I still want to know where ingredients come from and how they are checked. But that preference needs a precise explanation: GMO-free labelling alone does not confirm the absence of pesticide residues. Non-genetically modified crops can also encounter residues during cultivation or in the supply chain. Cornell reported glyphosate in the study's one food labelled GMO-free as well.<\/p>\n The same applies to grain-free food. Replacing wheat with peas or other plants does not itself demonstrate lower residue levels. Soy, wheat, almonds, peas, beet sugar, carrots, sweet potatoes and quinoa are often mentioned among foods containing the most glyphosate. The available information does not, however, allow a universal ranking of those ingredients by glyphosate content. Asking for an analysis of the particular ingredient and batch makes more sense than deciding solely by the plant's name.<\/p>\n Pyrethroids are a group of insecticides, and substantial exposure to some substances or formulations can be very dangerous for cats. That does not establish that any pyrethroid residue detected in food causes seizures or vomiting. We need the exact substance, concentration and dose. A concentrated household insecticide and a food residue detected by a laboratory represent very different exposures.<\/p>\n The EU did not renew chlorpropham's approval in 2019. This concerned its authorisation as a plant protection active substance, and it is not accurate to describe it simply as a ban \u201cin most cat foods\u201d. Requirements for ingredient residues and finished feed need to be assessed separately.<\/p>\n BHA and BHT are synthetic antioxidants, not pesticides. Their purpose includes preventing fat oxidation. I prefer transparent ingredients and clearly identified preservation methods, but an ingredient's name alone does not reveal the size of a clinical risk. Its precise permitted uses and limits must be assessed against the current authorisation for the particular substance, animal species and application. Rancid food does not become better simply because it carries a \u201cpreservative-free\u201d label.<\/p>\n EU Regulation 396\/2005 addresses pesticide residues in food and feed and includes principles for processed and composite products. The ingredients and processing must be considered when assessing a particular cat food. The absence of a separate cat food table does not mean that no legal requirements exist.<\/p>\n Customers have told us that cats which previously vomited stopped doing so after switching to Winner Plus. That is valuable experience. It does not prove that pesticides caused the problem with the previous food, or that the new food contains no residues. Several things may have changed at once, including the protein source, fat content, tolerance or feeding practices.<\/p>\n Our confidence comes from the manufacturer's information about GMO-free ingredients, ingredients suitable for human consumption and its food safety management system. However, an ISO 22000 or FSSC 22000 system, an ingredient quality claim and a pesticide analysis of a particular batch are different types of evidence. One does not replace another. Without the corresponding laboratory result, we cannot guarantee residue-free food even for the products we sell.<\/p>\n We have no magic solution that reveals everything about a cat's food safety at a glance. We can, however, ask for better answers and make informed choices. You can examine our Winner Plus cat food range<\/a> using the same questions we ask other manufacturers.<\/p>\n Some time ago I came across a Swiss cat food test that made me stop and think. Of fifteen dry foods, only one received a clean result for pesticide residues and the preservatives considered problematic in the test. My question was simple: how much do we actually know about what a cat consumes with its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":192503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[771,767,698,770,699],"tags":[922,923,924],"class_list":["post-192490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-choice-composition","category-general-health-prevention","category-health","category-nutrition","category-products","tag-glufosaat","tag-kassitoit","tag-pestitsiidid"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":{"landsacpe":["https:\/\/fendaf.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/FendaF_245_EN_300x300.jpg",300,300,false],"list":["https:\/\/fendaf.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/FendaF_245_EN_300x300.jpg",300,300,false],"medium":["https:\/\/fendaf.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/FendaF_245_EN_300x300.jpg",300,300,false],"full":["https:\/\/fendaf.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/FendaF_245_EN_300x300.jpg",300,300,false]},"yoast_head":"\nWhy integrative approaches discuss this issue<\/h2>\n
GMO-free does not mean residue-free<\/h2>\n
Pesticides and preservatives require different questions<\/h2>\n
What we can honestly say about Winner Plus<\/h2>\n
A practical check before choosing cat food<\/h3>\n
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Sources<\/h2>\n
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