Re: Ash in fish food?

[ToeKnee]

On Fri, 6 May 2005 14:05:14 +0800, "Jo" >
wrote:

>Has anybody read the ingredients list on fish food packagings and wondered
>what does the component "Ash" does?
>
>Thanks.
>


I did a little research on this a few years ago, same questions. When
we (lay people) read it, we typically think burned
wood/paper/something type stuff as ash, or worse cigarette ash.
typicaly yukky stuff.

Not exactly correct. Ash has numerous uses, depending on the type.
I know that a lot of formulations call for Soda Ash (Synonyms: Sodium
carbonate; Disodium carbonate; Soda; washing soda,calcined soda; ASH;
Carbonic acid disodium salt)

There is also Potassium carbonate (Synonyms: Carbonic acid,
dipotassium salt; Pearl ash; Salt of tartar; Potash; salt of wormwood;
Dipotassium carbonate; Carbonate of Potash)

As I understand what I read and remember, there is actually a good
nutrious value to the ash. I honestly don't remember what the value
is, and I would assume that the value would depend on the type of ash
used.

I hope that provides some sort of answer for you, and may be will spur
more people to jump in.



--Tony

[Rocco Moretti]

Jo wrote:
> Has anybody read the ingredients list on fish food packagings and wondered
> what does the component "Ash" does?

It probably depends on where the "Ash" is listed. I don't have my fish
food package in front of me, but I'd guess "Ash" is listed not in the
"Ingredients" portion of the label but on the Assay portion (The
equivalent to the Nutrition Information on Human foods. This list
compenents as percentages: e.g. Ash 10%, Protein 30%, etc.) This doesn't
mean they *added* ash - it just refers to the fraction of the fishfood
that is left over after ignition. This includes trace minerals and
inorganic salts, as well as the carbonates from the bones in the fish
meal which is added as an actual ingredient.

[Jo]

Thanks for the answers... for some time I've been thinking that "ash" is
some kind of (possibly toxic) unnutritous stuff that manufacturers add to
act as fillers for fish...

[John Thomas]

Ash isn't really ash. When you see it in an analysis, it means they have
something they couldn't figure out what it was, and just called it ash
to complete the mass balance.

When a QA dept runs a chemical analysis, they literally cook the sample
into dust, and then run it through more processing (often a mass
spectrometer) to see what sort of atoms it is made out of. The process
is referred to as "ashing". If you're trying to study an enzyme, for
example, it's a good way to figure out it has something like iron or
molybendum as a cofactor in its reaction center.

This is a fairly old, crude, and above all cheap, way of figuring out
what's in a sample. It's not terribly accurate, but companies trying to
save a centavo per metric ton will use it to comply with consumer or
country demands for labeling.

The pet food industry operates on frighteningly low margins, and will
try to save money whereever they can. Besides skimping on chemical
analysis, they do other thing like scrape fish dieoffs off beaches, use
rotten animal leftovers, etc...

[ToeKnee]

On Sat, 07 May 2005 09:44:00 -0700, John Thomas >
wrote:

>Ash isn't really ash. When you see it in an analysis, it means they have
>something they couldn't figure out what it was, and just called it ash
>to complete the mass balance.
>
>When a QA dept runs a chemical analysis, they literally cook the sample
>into dust, and then run it through more processing (often a mass
>spectrometer) to see what sort of atoms it is made out of. The process
>is referred to as "ashing". If you're trying to study an enzyme, for
>example, it's a good way to figure out it has something like iron or
>molybendum as a cofactor in its reaction center.
>
>This is a fairly old, crude, and above all cheap, way of figuring out
>what's in a sample. It's not terribly accurate, but companies trying to
>save a centavo per metric ton will use it to comply with consumer or
>country demands for labeling.
>
>The pet food industry operates on frighteningly low margins, and will
>try to save money whereever they can. Besides skimping on chemical
>analysis, they do other thing like scrape fish dieoffs off beaches, use
>rotten animal leftovers, etc...


Well DAMN!!! I learned more form this than did in my other research!

Thanks!


--Tony

[Dr Engelbert Buxbaum]

John Thomas wrote:

> Ash isn't really ash. When you see it in an analysis, it means they have
> something they couldn't figure out what it was, and just called it ash
> to complete the mass balance.

Not quite. One of the tests they do is to put the sample into a china
dish, determine the weight of the sample and heat it in electric oven at
about 1000-1200 degrees Celsius. Protein, fat and carbohydrates will
burn away, water will evaporate. Then the sample is cooled and the
weight of the remaining material, the ash, is determined.

The ash is mostly minerals, sodium, potassium, phosphorus and the like.
One could do an analytical breakdown of it, but usually that's not
required.