17/11/2023
Hello All,
This is a long post, but we’d like to explain what’s been going on at Blue River Diets.
Our Inception
Our company, Peregrine Livefoods Ltd is one of Europe’s largest suppliers of reptile products, livefood and live reptiles to the pet industry. At our facility, we breed just over 1,000 Crested Geckos per year, and we felt strongly that a new, all natural food should be created to get closer to the natural diets Cresties would experience in the wild. Whilst this is incredibly difficult, at our core we felt the need to remove artificial flavours and colourings seen in other brands, whilst also increasing fruit content and reducing fillers. Normally, natural flavours are less palatable than the sweet, artificial flavours commonly available; but over the past year we’ve managed to develop something sweet, palatable and all natural, that our geckos absolutely love.
The Black Spot Issue
Starting with the elephant in the room, why did we launch with a food that in many cases, created almost immediate “black spots”?
The black spots that appear are Manganese (II) Oxide 3b502, which is entirely harmless. This trace element, one of many compounds is supplied in our vitamin premix from, developed by an expert animal nutritionist. Manganese Oxide is a trace element commonly found in a wide range of human and pet foods.
The problem is, when mixed with water it can oxidise, causing the black spots. Whilst we did spot this during testing, some tests with colleagues and friends didn’t report any issues, whilst others did. We don’t have conclusive evidence as to why, but evidence suggests that oxidisation occurs at differing levels dependant on water quality and PH levels. From what we’ve experienced, the softer the water, the less the black spots occur, and this made it a little tricky to identify the cause of the issue. Nonetheless, we believed after further development we had fixed the issue and went ahead with final manufacturing. Regrettably, and rather embarrassingly, the manufactured formula didn’t end up matching our final test formula and we didn’t realise until it was too late.
Some of you have asked why we didn’t recall this batch, and mostly that’s because it’s entirely harmless. Whilst it doesn’t look great, it causes no ill effect and many customers have not seen the issue occur.
Most importantly, our current stock no longer has this issue, as we made the decision to exchange the Manganese (II) Oxide with Manganese Sulphate, which has eliminated the problem entirely.
Mould
Some of you have confused these black spots for mould.
We created this diet with the intention to improve standards and replicate wild feeding as much as possible. We therefore made the decision not to include preservatives in our foods, which meant our diet will mould quicker than other diets on the market.
From the feedback received, it seems that consumers would prefer a food that lasts up to or even longer than 48 hours (we hear you!) So, we are taking steps to include a human food-grade preservative: Potassium sorbate. This means the food will last in line with normal expectations.
This is currently being worked on and will go live in our next batch. We will of course announce when that happens.
Some people have reported moulding in shorter timeframe than the recommended usage of a 24-hour window. Because the food currently doesn’t have preservatives, and in the right conditions, just like fruit would normally would, mould can occur more quickly. So, if you have warmer environment, or other conditions that would increase the likelihood of moulding, we recommend you remove the food daily. For example, feed at night and remove in the morning.
Other Ingredients
Some people have asked why can’t they see all the ingredients on our packaging, and is it a complete diet?
Given the space limitations on the packaging, we opted to provide the minimum legal requirements, as in truth we didn’t recognise that so many would require such detail. However, we can assure you, more ingredients certainly are included that ensure this food offers a good, all-round balanced diet with sufficient vitamins, minerals and more. We do understand now that there are many of you who’d like to see the full breakdown, so for now we have added those to our website (www.blueriverdiets.com), and we are also going to ensure the full breakdown is visible on our next batch.
Lactobacillus helveticus
We have seen quite a few people provide inaccurate assumptions on the use of Lactobacillus helveticus and how it is used in our foods.
We use (HA-122) Lactobacillus helveticus. This is not an active Probiotic, but it is a Tyndallised Postbiotic or Parabiotic, which essentially means it is heat treated and inactive and would only be the remnants of the bacterium (in short, not a live culture).
Postbiotics are a relatively new area of focus which allows you the benefits of Pre-biotics and Probiotics without the active bacteria and culture being present. Healthy postbiotics include nutrients such as vitamins B and K, amino acids, and substances called antimicrobial peptides that help to slow down the growth of harmful bacteria.
Because our food is produced in the UK, we must conform to what is legally approved to be formulated and sold for animals.
The use of an inactive probiotic (postbiotic) not only means we conform to local standards, but we also remove the risk of introducing live cultures to animals with supressed immune systems and are gentler on the gut all round. We felt this was a real step forwards for a more natural and healthier food for Correlophus and Rhacodactylus species that is not seen in other popular diets.
The next step
We recognise we may have lost the trust of some of you forever, for which we will always regret. For those who wish to give us another try, we’re prepared to offer you all a free sample, delivered to your door.
We’re limiting the free samples to UK residents only, 1,000 total giveaways, and 1 per person; but if you’d care to take us up on the offer and give us another chance, please click the link below, put in your address and we’ll get a pouch posted out to you in the next few days.
Click the link below to receive your free sample:
https://blueriverdiets.com/free-sample/
Yours Sincerely,
Blue River Diets
