BHA / BHT in dog and cat food
Short answer
Synthetic antioxidant preservatives; BHA is listed as a possible carcinogen. Natural preservatives (mixed tocopherols) are preferred.
How it appears on a label
Pet-food labels vary by market and language, and Open Pet Food Facts carries ingredient tags in several languages at once. This class is matched on bha, butylated hydroxyanisole, bht, butylated hydroxytoluene, e320, e321, with accents folded so an Italian or French label resolves to the same flag.
How it affects the score
BHA / BHT is a quality concern and caps a product's score below 50 on its own. Open Pet Food Facts has sparse nutrition coverage, so pet scoring is driven by the ingredient list rather than by a nutrition table.
This is not veterinary advice
The flags here are class-level and precautionary. If an animal has eaten something on the toxic list, call a vet or a pet poison-control line — not an app.
Source: IARC (BHA 2B); NTP
Other pet food ingredients we flag
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