Results of the study have been reported to the manufacturer. If the experimental dog food is ever commercially available, the company might opt to use the results to substantiate advertising claims, said food chemist Carole Setser, foods and nutrition professor. The study design called for two weeks during which one group of beagles ate a control diet and the other group ate the experimental formula, at which time the 14 volunteer consumer panelists evaluated the dogs in pairs for any change in the offensive oral odor. Then, on to another pair of dogs. The normal dog-breath odors like sweaty, salty and fishy are usually fairly okay with people, Setser said.
People find that extremely offensive.
That's the target chemical the dog food manufacturers would like to find a way to eliminate. The diets were then switched during the second two weeks of the study, and consumer panelists re-evaluated the oral odor.