HCA: Hermit Crab Association

The oils in fish meal have a bad habit of oxidation, which can create a risk of fires during transportation. In the U.S., Title 46 CFR § 148.265 requires all fish meals (including other seafood meals such as shrimp or krill, as the same risks apply) be treated with an antioxidant to prevent oxidation.


“At the time of production, fish meal or fish scrap must be treated with an effective antioxidant (at least 400 mg/kg (ppm) ethoxyquin, at least 1000 mg/kg (ppm) butylated hydroxy- toluene, or at least 1000 mg/kg (ppm) of tocopherol-based liquid antioxidant)... Fish meal or fish scrap must contain at least 100 mg/kg (ppm) of ethoxyquin or butylated hydroxy- toluene or at least 250 mg/kg (ppm) of tocopherol-based antioxidant at the time of shipment.”

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR ... 48-265.pdf


This is a friendly reminder to use caution when purchasing foods containing fish meal or other seafood meals.

(Note: many countries have similar regulations, however actual antioxidants required may vary.)

Edit: spelling


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Wow! I had no idea. We buy our foods from members here. I wonder if they know. Now I wonder if the krill, plankton and anchovies we buy from pet stores and Walmart have those additives. Have we been accidentally feeding our crabs poison?

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I’m not a lawyer, but they should be fine as long as they’re purchased whole or filleted.


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Freeze dried fish and reptile food are treated with Vitamin E, which is a tocopherol.

This probably has to do with fertilizers. There are a lot of fish meals used for fertilizers

It’s in animal foods, too. Even New Life Spectrum, a high end fish food producer, admits that their foods contain ethoxyquin.

http://nlsfishfood.com/nls-and-preservatives/

They admit that their Naturox series, created using Naturox-preserved ingredients in place of EQ, may still contain trace amounts of EQ as a result of cross-contamination, as seen in publicly available lab data published in 2017.

http://nlsfishfood.com/eqtests1/

I haven’t seen any more recent reports, so what the numbers look like now I’ve no idea (though likely also very low).


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Wow - that is crazy!

Well, we try our best to feed only organic. It's not always possible, but we try. And who knows what the crabbies eat in the wild. This planet is filled with toxins and poisons. It's sad. But, I'm sure we all spoil our claw babies as much as possible!

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