TestDiet® Frequently Asked Questions
Why should we use Purified Ingredient Diets?
One of the fundamental reasons for using purified diets is that they are "repeatable." With purified diets, your materials and methods are easy to report, repeat, and modify. Your research benefits from constant formulas, with precise batch-to-batch consistency, whenever and wherever your research is repeated. When you want to vary your experiment, modifications are easy to formulate. Purified diets provide a dependable base for your research, with unmitigated consistency from batch-to-batch, whether a month, year, or decade apart.
While the precise amount of each specific ingredient of our natural grain-based animal feeds (i.e., LabDiet�) naturally varies from batch to batch as we strive to achieve nutritional consistency (what we call "Constant Nutrition"), our precise purified ingredient diets are always produced according to a unique open formula. Precise open formulas specify the exact description and the exact amount of each ingredient, including all minerals and vitamins.
In purified ingredient diets, each nutrient is derived from a distinct refined ingredient. Ingredients are obtained from reliable, consistent, traceable suppliers of human-grade food products. You always know not only the exact nutritional content, but also the specific ingredients, no more and no less. We add each nutrient as a separate refined ingredient from a reliable and traceable source.
Purified diets contain no Phytoestrogens and no significant bacterial contamination. In fact, purified diets typically contain as much as 100 times less naturally-occurring bacteria as standard grain-based feeds. Therefore, you can be confident that your resulting data is accurate, unadulterated by unknown and varying components of grain-based animal feed.
In a grain-based diet, each nutrient has multiple sources; therefore, to modify a grain-based diet, many ingredients must be adjusted, resulting in a wide range of variables. Unlike a grain-based diet, a purified diet is easy to modify. Since each nutrient is derived from a specific ingredient, modifications can be easily made by adjusting the amount of only one ingredient. (For example, by adding Vitamin A, or decreasing he amount of potassium.) Modifications can also be made by adjusting the ratio between two ingredients. (For example, by reducing carbohydrate calories and increasing fat calories.) In this way, a series of several diets can be formulated, with precise and discrete variables.
Why should we use Modified Grain-Based Diets?
Often we can meet your research needs by adding nutritional components to standard grain-based food (i.e., our LabDiet� products). This process is used often for adding fats, oils, cholesterol, and can be used to add any nutrient(s), such as protein, minerals, vitamins, carbohydrate, and fiber.
When required by your research, we can also add medications and test compounds to any diet, including standard grain-based diets, as well as custom diets, both grain-based and purified. Alternatively, we can produce custom-formulated grain-based diets for you "from scratch," using standard multi-nutrient ingredients normally used in such products, or substituting nutrient-specific ingredients (such as milk casein as a protein source). This is particularly useful when you need a diet comparable to one of our standard LabDiet� products, but with certain components deleted from the formula (e.g., a diet with no added Vitamin A, or no soy protein).
Can TestDiet duplicate existing diet formulae?
Whether you produce your own diets or use a diet from another company, we can duplicate it and deliver it to you in whatever form you desire�pellet, powder, liquid, or tablet, and ship it to you in as few as five business days.
Purified diets, by their very nature, may be exactly duplicated since "repeatability" is one of the defining hallmarks of purified diets. Any manufacturer of a purified diet must provide you with a complete open formula so that you or anyone else can repeat that precise diet next week, next, month, or next year.
For grain-based diets, precise formulas are usually not available, but a list of ingredients and nutritional specifications are. Consequently, we will produce comparable grain-based diets using similar ingredients and resulting in approximately equivalent nutritional content.
Does TestDiet completely disclose formulas?
For purified ingredient diets, we always provide you a complete formula, listing the exact description and precise amount of each ingredient, including all minerals and vitamins, and a comprehensive nutritional analysis.
For modified grain-based LabDiet� formulas, we provide a list of all ingredients and a complete nutritional analysis.
For custom grain-based diets, using the precise amounts of various grains as you may specify, of course, the complete formula is provided, including those precise amounts of specific grains.
What about high-fat diets?
We can formulate diets with a variety of 20+ different fats, such as animal and vegetable fats, solid and liquid fats, and fats with varying fatty acid compositions. We can produce pellets with as much as 60% kcal from fat (35% fat by weight). Additionally, we can formulate and produce custom diets to your exact specifications; however, often a standard "high-fat" purified diet will suffice.
We manufacture several standard "DIO" (Diet-Induced-Obesity) diets used extensively by researchers worldwide. One group of diets is commonly known as the Van Heek series or diets "#12450B," "#12451," and "#12492." These diets are available from TestDiet�.
We also carry a series of specially formulated TestDiet� DIO diets for the 21st century. These diets include several features that distinguish them from the standard Van Heek diets. This TestDiet� DIO Series provides complex fiber, accurate protein and fat levels, vitamin-free casein, and consistent ratios of simple and complex carbohydrates. The diets are available in any form, but the ?� diameter pellets are most commonly ordered. If you�d like any diet with greater than 60% of the kcal from fat, we can provide the diet in a meal form, which has a �cookie dough� consistency.
How does TestDiet assure confidentiality?
For decades, we have supported the research of leading pharmaceutical companies, government laboratories, and academia worldwide: they continue to trust us to respect absolute confidentiality.
We never reveal information to anyone about the diets you purchase or the experiments you are conducting without your explicit prior approval or by your own publication of research data. When you do publish your research, we encourage you to note precisely the TestDiet� formulas you have used to assist others in repeating and modifying your methods in their own studies.
What are Newco�s Minimum order quantities for TestDiet?
- Pelleted Diets have a 5kg minimum in order to help ensure a homogenous mixture.
- Meal form diets with additives mixed in are available in less than 5kgs quantities however most LabDiet feeds are already available in meal form at a lesser cost for adding your additive to at your own facility.
- Precision Tablets are sold by the jar with tablet quantities varying based upon tablet size.
What are TestDiet packaging options?
Diet orders over 5kgs are typically packed 10kg boxes (orders can be boxed in 5kgs boxes regardless of quantity upon special request). 1kg and 2.25kg vacuum sealed packaging is also available upon special request.
What is the Shelf Life & Storage TestDiet?
- Precision Tablets - 1 year
- Diets (Pellets, Powder, Liquid) - 6 months.
TestDiet products do not contain antioxidants or preservative agents. To provide maximum protection again possible changes during storage, store in a dry, cool location. Storage under refrigeration (2� C) is recommended. If long term studies are involved store the diet at -20� C or colder. Be certain to keep in air tight containers.
What is the Lead time for TestDiet products?
Newco advises 3-4 weeks for most non-irradiated diets/tablets and 5-7 weeks for most irradiated diets/tablets (Orders can be direct shipped with additional costs to expedite lead times).
What pellet sizes are available?
Below is a picture of the different pellet sizes that they can manufacture at TestDiet. The 1/2� is the most common size used for most diets including rodents. The 3/16" would be the smallest size and they can do this as a short cut which makes its length even smaller. This is the same size as our g.pig diets. The 3/8" would be the small primate pellet.
