vitamin e supplement
Vitamin E wears two hats in pet food and this is the nutritional one — the acetate ester that feeds the animal but can't protect the fat in the bag.
Also appears on labels as: vitamin e · dl-alpha tocopherol acetate · dl-alpha tocopheryl acetate · all-rac-alpha-tocopheryl acetate
What it is
Alpha-tocopherol, usually as the synthetic all-rac ('dl-') acetate ester. The ester is the point of honesty: acetate-bound tocopherol is stabilized — biologically available after digestion but chemically inert in the kibble, which means the SUPPLEMENT form does no preservative work whatsoever.
Why it's in pet food
Meeting the antioxidant-nutrient requirement, which scales with the diet's polyunsaturated fat (more fish oil, more E needed). The 'mixed tocopherols' on the same label are the other hat: free-form tocopherols added to preserve the fat — same vitamin family, different job, covered on their own page.
How Bowlmark scores it
Scores are deterministic math over the printed label — the rules below apply to every product identically, and nothing estimates or fills in a blank.
Neutral. The dl-versus-d question (synthetic racemate vs natural isomer) is real chemistry with modest potency differences that formulation arithmetic absorbs — another form debate that doesn't move a score. The two-hats distinction is this page's gift: 'preserved with vitamin E' refers to the tocopherol preservative, and no supplement-grade acetate ever preserved anything.
Foods that list vitamin e supplement
Ranked by score where scores exist. Placement here is never sold.
- Kettle Creek Farmhouse Chicken & Sweet Potato94
- Whisker & Pine Free-Run Chicken & Sweet Potato Recipe94
- Copperfield Cats Kitten Heritage Chicken & Oat Recipe93
- Meadow Farms Chicken & Oatmeal Puppy93
- Open Farm Harvest Chicken & Ancient Grains Recipe93
- Open Farm Large Breed Grain-Free RawMix93
- Open Farm Large Breed RawMix with Ancient Grains93
- Open Farm Small Breed Chicken & Turkey Recipe93
Compare foods that list vitamin e supplement
Same species, same form, both scored — closest scores first, so the comparison is a real one.
- Open Farm Harvest Chicken & Ancient Grains Recipe vs Open Farm Large Breed Grain-Free RawMix
- Open Farm Harvest Chicken & Ancient Grains Recipe vs Open Farm Large Breed RawMix with Ancient Grains
- Open Farm Harvest Chicken & Ancient Grains Recipe vs Open Farm Small Breed Chicken & Turkey Recipe
- Open Farm Large Breed Grain-Free RawMix vs Open Farm Large Breed RawMix with Ancient Grains
Sources
Related ingredients
Further reading
Cite this page
Bowlmark. "Vitamin e supplement in pet food — what it is and how it scores." https://www.bowlmark.com/ingredient/vitamin-e-supplement
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