Kaytee Forti-Diet Mouse & Rat Food www.petco.com - $3.49 (2lbs) Product Description: Kaytee Forti-Diet Mouse & Rat Food is a nutritionally complete, fortified pet block for mice and rats. Promotes good health and a soft, healthy coat in your mice and rats. Every bite provides precise nutrition, which makes feeding simple and easy. Ingredients: Ground Yellow Corn, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Ground Wheat, Ground Oats, Ground Peanuts, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Dried Cane Molasses, Lignin Sulfonate, Fish Meal, Corn Sugar, Calcium Carbonate, Salt, Dicalcium Phosphate, Animal Fat (preserved with BHT), Brewers Dried Yeast, Dried Beet Pulp, DL-Methionine, Choline Chloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Ferrous Carbonate, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Manganous Oxide, Ethoxyquin (a preservative), L-Lysine, Zinc Oxide, Niacin, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of vitamin K activity), Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Cholecalciferol (source of vitamin D3), Copper Oxide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Biotin, Calcium Iodate, Cobalt Carbonate, Sodium Selenite, Natural Flavoring. RattyRat's Review: This is a poor quality rat block for your rats because the main ingredient they use is corn. Corn contains high levels of both nitrates and amines which can combine in the stomach to form nitrosamines. Nitrosamines are known to cause cancer. Kaytee also uses two preservatives in their diet, BHT and Ethoxyquin, which are caught up in a huge debate right now as to there safety. The FDA claims that the amounts they allow in pet food is completely safe, but they have many opposers. Many people site the following information... "EQ (ethoxyquin) is the most common antioxidant preservative in pet foods. It has been found in some dogs' livers and tissues months after the animal stopped ingesting it. Ethoxyquin is manufactured by Monsanto Chemical, the largest manufacturer of bioengineered foods. EQ is listed as a hazardous chemical by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and is considered a pesticide by the USDA. It is used in most US dog food, but is banned in Europe. The above information brings up the question why the FDA allows such a small amount of ethoxyquin residue (5 to .5 ppm) in human consumed foods yet allows such high amounts (150 ppm) to be used in pet food and livestock feeds? In the case of the dog, pound for pound, a dog is consuming up to 300 times more ethoxyquin than allowed for people. (depending upon the weight) Also many dog food manufacturers are not always listing it as an ingredient on the packaging, but sometimes merely print "E". Monsanto's (the manufacturer) own cautionary warnings in using and handling this product: They warn that it may cause allergic skin reactions, irritation to the eyes and skin. They advise that workers must wear eye and respiratory protection. The container of ethoxyquin has a very prominent skull and crossbones with POISON written in capital letters. The Chemical Toxicology of Commercial Products says that ethoxyquin has a toxic rating of 3 (on a scale of 1 to 6, with 6 being super toxic requiring less than 7 drops to produce death). At that level it can slowly develop depression, con-vulsions, coma and death; skin irritation and liver damage. In a recent study by The Department Of Pathology, Nagoya City University Medical School Japan, it was found: ethoxyquin promoted kidney carcinogenesis. Also, it significantly increased incidence of stomach tumors and enhanced bladder carcinogesis. The FDA maintains it is safe, yet have asked pet food manufacturers to "voluntarily" lower the levels to 75 PPM." RattyRat's Review Continued: Personally we don't know which side to believe. The Rat and Mouse Club of America has put out information claiming ethoxyquin is perfectly safe for rats, however we do not want to take any chances.