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Mar
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READING LABELS, PART 1 |
READING LABELS, PART 1
There are two agencies that work together in regulating pet food labels. The first agency, the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), is a non-governmental agency made up of state and federal officials from around the United States. They establish pet food regulations that cover areas like guaranteed analysis, nutritional adequacy statements, and feeding directions. Each state decides whether or not to enforce AAFCO’s regulations. Most do; however, some do not.
The second agency, the Food and Drug Administration Center for Veterinary Medicine, establishes and enforces standards for all animal feed. This federal agency oversees aspects of labeling that cover proper identification of products, net quantity statements, and the list of ingredients.
Learn how to read dog food labels, especially when you consider how many brands are out there. Slight changes in wording can make the difference between a quality dog food and one that may not appear to be what it seems.
PRODUCT NAME
You may think the name of your dog food is just a name, but in most cases, it can make a big difference. Specific words used in the name can indicate what is in the food and what is not. For example, a brand name like “Beef Dog Food” must contain at least 95 percent beef, but if it is called “Beef Formula for Dogs,” it is required to contain a minimum of only 25 percent beef. Other words like dinner, platter, nuggets, or entree fall under this 25 percent minimum requirement.
Another word to watch for is “with.” A dog food called “Dog Food with Beef” only has to contain a minimum of 3 percent beef. The word “with” was originally supposed to highlight extra ingredients, but recent amendments to AAFCO regulations now allow the word to be used in the product’s name. Also, the word “flavored” can be deceiving, because it means that only a sufficient amount of flavoring needs to be added for it to be detectable. Therefore “Beef Flavored Dog Food” may not include any beef at all and may only be flavored with very small amounts of beef by-products.
