Wrong protein content - Hikary Mega Marine

[SamsReef]

As promised here is an update.

First of all thank you Liveaquaria for a detailed follow up and constant communication.

Below is the response from Hikari on their product -“There have been recent labeling adjustments on all of their products to comply with State regulations. Based on their explanation below, our team will be updating all of our product pages to match the revised GA panels. Here is the explanation:

New testing methods require us to take small samples from random cubes for the guaranteed analysis testing. The guaranteed analysis on the package must be the lowest reading we have ever gotten reduced by a now very large buffer based on our parent company’s requirement for all Hikari products. They need to be 100% sure that any test ever done by a state agency would not find a lower guaranteed amount. Unfortunately, they cannot test the whole package of food and provide the analysis for it, which would provide the best information for the consumer.

They stated that the analysis is the guarantee of the minimum level, not what is actually in the product package.

Nothing in the product has changed, the formula is identical to what it has been all along. It is just a new process that protects us against any stop sale issue in any state in the US or any other country we sell in.”

Bottomline, this product can only guarantee 3 percent protein content. I had moved to this product due to high protein content. I am sure some might still like the product.

Hope this was helpful.

Sam

 

[SamsReef]

I also changed the thread name as it is clear that Liveaquaria did not falsify the product claim

 

[ReefFrenzy]

I contacted my sales rep at Hakari but had not had tome to update the thread yesterday. He echoed what you have posted above. Nothing about the product has changed, or the recipe. The "problem" is that now when a food sample is obtained the new testing method requires a syringe to be inserted into the cube and a small sliver of frozen food is extracted. This may not accurately reflect the total protein count in the entire product when in the past the entire cube was sampled. The Mega-Marine recipe has been unchanged and under the previous testing method the samples tested at 13%. Hikari is playing it safe with FDA labeling requirements by stating that the minimum protein content is 3%. We all know that any food product with nominal amounts of animal products as ingredients will test much higher than 3%. If your fish are doing well on that product I wouldn't shy away from it due to a simple label change.

 

[LiveAquaria Verified Sponsor]

As promised here is an update.

First of all thank you Liveaquaria for a detailed follow up and constant communication.

Below is the response from Hikari on their product -“There have been recent labeling adjustments on all of their products to comply with State regulations. Based on their explanation below, our team will be updating all of our product pages to match the revised GA panels. Here is the explanation:

New testing methods require us to take small samples from random cubes for the guaranteed analysis testing. The guaranteed analysis on the package must be the lowest reading we have ever gotten reduced by a now very large buffer based on our parent company’s requirement for all Hikari products. They need to be 100% sure that any test ever done by a state agency would not find a lower guaranteed amount. Unfortunately, they cannot test the whole package of food and provide the analysis for it, which would provide the best information for the consumer.

They stated that the analysis is the guarantee of the minimum level, not what is actually in the product package.

Nothing in the product has changed, the formula is identical to what it has been all along. It is just a new process that protects us against any stop sale issue in any state in the US or any other country we sell in.”

Bottomline, this product can only guarantee 3 percent protein content. I had moved to this product due to high protein content. I am sure some might still like the product.

Hope this was helpful.

Sam

@SamsReef It was a pleasure working with you through this! As mentioned in previous conversations, our team is working with the manufacturer to ensure our GA charts on our product pages match any recent adjustments with the product labels. Have a great weekend!

 

[Reef.]

Wow that is crazy, so if I buy a banana split and the state agent sticks his probe in it, totally missing the banana, only hitting the ice cream, can I then sue the ice cream parlor for having 0% banana in a banana split?