Why Pet Foods

The pet food industry is a very extensive and competitive industry. It's easy to understand why: an estimated 10 million dogs and cats are responsible for estimated annual sales of pet food items of more than $8 billion. This number grows continually each year, as does the number of pet food manufacturers and their brands. Recent estimates show that there are over 100 pet food manufacturers producing a multitude of pet foods. These products are offered for sales through grocery stores, discount supermarkets, veterinary clinics, pet stores, feed mills, boarding kennels, and grooming facilities.

Choosing the right pet food

With so many different types f pet foods available for so many pets at so many retail outlets, how can the owner pick the correct food? There are many factors that can influence the choice recommendation of a pet food. Veterinarians, breeders, pet store employees, personal friends, and pet food sales representatives can all have a profound influence on the recommendation of which et food to use. But perhaps the biggest influence in selling, buying, or recommending a pet food is the pet food label itself. This influence may be positive, negative, honest and forward, or misleading (intentionally or not). The label may tell you a lot, or it may tell you nothing.

What's on a pet food label?

The information contained on a pet food label is regulated by the Association of American feed Control Officials (AAFCO), with the help from the Pet Food Institute (PFI). Most notably, AAFCO sets the guidelines for label wording and guarantees, the definitions for product ingredients, and the testing protocols used to determine nutritional adequacy for different lifestages.

A pet food label must contain seven different pieces of information to e considered complete. Some of the information listed on the label is straightforward and easy to comprehend. Some of the information is not.

The "Easy" information

The first piece of information contained on a pet food label is the product, or brand name. The product name is usually larger and more conspicuous than the other information printed on the principle front panel. The product name is often incorporated into a unique and recognizable logo.

Secondly, the designating terms "dog food" or "cat food" must also appear on the package. This is, in reality, a very important product designation, since the nutritional requirements for dogs and cats are very different. The terms "puppy food" and "kitten food" can also be used.

The net weight of the product is the third piece of data required on the package. This information is often supplied n English and metric units.

More involved information

The fourth bit of information which must be included on the package is the name and address of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor. This gives the consumer a reference to contact for more information regarding the purchased product.

This data can also give some insight as to the processing and process control of the product. If the expression"manufactured by" precedes the company's name, this company manufactures its own food and exercises its own control over the ingredients, processing, and final products. Products that are private labeled are identified by the words "manufactured for" or distributed by". This company markets and sells the pet food, but has another company manufacture the product. The company selling the food has to rely on the processing and quality controls of the actual manufacturer.

This can be an important piece of insight, since it may give us an indication as to the quality control a company has over its product.

The next, and fifth item to be included on the label, is the statement of the nutritional adequacy, or purpose of the diet. This is often referred to as the "life stages guarantee."

Routinely, the diet will establish its nutritional adequacy by one or two standards. The first standard states that the "diet meets or exceeds NRC requirements". Originally, there was no way of knowing the digestibility or availability of the nutrients, since the initial NRC recommendations were based on purified, 100% digestible diets. To overcome this problem, the Canine Nutrition Expert Subcommittee of the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) established new nutrient requirements based on commonly used, practical ingredients. Full laboratory analyses and digestibility protocols are now required to ensure adequate nutrient digestibility and availability.

The second method of verifying a food's nutritional adequacy is to test feed it to animals in various lifestages A product that has completed a feeding trial of this type usually states that it has passed "feeding protocols established by AAFCO." This means that the diet has actually been fed to animals in that particular lifestage, and that the animals have done well. Of these two methods, AAFCO feeding protocols are generally considered more reliable. If the label says that the food is good for puppy growth, then the food has actually been tested on growing puppies.

The sixth piece of useful information available on a pet food package is the guaranteed analysis. The guaranteed analysis lists the protein and fat minimums, and the moisture and fiber maximums. Other guarantees, such as ash, calcium, phosphorous, sodium, magnesium, etc., are optional. If the label references are made to certain nutrients (e.g. low sodium, low magnesium, calcium levels), those levels must be listed in the guaranteed analysis.

The guaranteed analysis is not a perfect measurement, since it doesn't give any indication as to the actual analysis or actual nutrient intake of the animal. However, the guaranteed analysis can be very helpful when comparing pet foods and determining which products have the same basic protein, fat, fiber, etc., contents.

The "confusing" information"

The seventh and final bit of information on a label is the list of ingredients in descending order of predominance by weight. This may be the most confusing and biased aspect of reading a pet food label.

The ingredients are (or are supposed to be) listed in descending order by weight. There is no indication as to the approximate or relative amounts of the ingredients, or the ingredient quality. Depending on the individual opinion of the food, or what product is being sold, many things can be "read into" a pet food's ingredient listing. Personal biases for or against particular ingredients can also be a major factor in feeding or recommending a pet food. Biases for ingredients such as poultry by-products, chicken, lamb, corn, rice, wheat, soybean meal, and beet pulp are well known.

Occasionally, the ingredients listed on the bag may be confusing and misleading s to what is actually contained within. For example, consider three of the most misinterpreted ingredients, all animal protein sources, and their official AAFCO definitions:

How to define “quality” ingredients

Quality ingredients come from consistent, known, respectable sources. Quality ingredients are highly digestible and utilizable by the animal. Quality ingredients also contain proper levels of essential nutrients.

To illustrate the definition of quality ingredients, consider the previous example of animal proteins. Poultry (chicken) by-products can serve as a very high or low quality protein source. By-products that contain high levels of beaks and feet will also contain high levels of poorly digestible, poor quality protein. However, by-products that contain high levels of internal organs contain high levels of digestible, smooth muscle tissue. By-products of this type would be an excellent source of quality protein (essential amino acids) in the diet.

As a comparison, consider poultry (chicken) or poultry meal. Chicken or chicken meal can also be a very high or very low quality protein source. Chicken that consists of boneless human-grade, human cuts of meat would be great source of high quality protein (essential amino acids). Unfortunately, due to high consumer demand, use of these cuts of meat is economically limiting.

As an affordable source of poultry protein that still meets the AAFCO definition of “chicken”, the pet food industry makes use of poultry scraps, necks and backs. As with by-products, there is no consumer demand for poultry scraps, necks, and backs, making it economically feasible to use these ingredients. Nutritionally, however, poultry necks and backs contain higher levels of poor quality tendon, ligament, and cartilage-type proteins.

In this example, the ingredient with the lower “consumer appall” (poultry by-products) is nutritionally superior to the product with the higher “consumer appeal” (poultry). This reinforces the fact that the ingredient listing is not an indication of the ingredient quality.

Meat, meat meal, and meat and bone meal can also be of extremely variable quality. Just as with poultry or poultry by-products, the quality, or essential amino acid profile/ content, varies with the amount of bone, collagen, cartilage, tendon, and ligament tissue processed with the meat. If high levels of these types of protein are used, the overall protein quality will be very low, and more protein must be included into the pet food to meet the animal’s nutritional requirements. Most meat and meat meals tend to have higher ash contents and lower protein qualities.

Lamb and lamb meal can also vary considerably in protein quality. If lamb is used in a pet food formulation, the uniformity and consistency of the lamb or lamb by-products should be closely examined, since lamb does not employ the widespread human costumption as chicken does, and is commercially produced in lesser quantities.

How to know what’s in the bag

This may be the most difficult question to answer, since the label doesn’t always reveal the necessary information. The extreme competitiveness and “hype” marketing that surrounds the pet food industry makes it even more difficult to assess what’s in the bag.

The best source of information concerning the actual ingredient makeup of “poultry by-products”, “poultry", “lamb” or “lamb meal”, is the pet food manufacturer. A pet food manufacturer that has confidence in its products will be very open about the ingredients, while a “marginal” manufacturer will not.

When discussing ingredient quality and content, what’s on the label isn’t always in the bag, and what’s in the bag isn’t always on the label.

The best pet food

A properly balanced pet food takes into account the intricate interrelationships between the various nutrients, and contains the proper levels of protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. The best indicator of a good pet food is evidenced by how well the pet does on it. Healthy hair coats, bright eyes, increased stamina, vitality, and proper animal health are direct benefits of proper nutrition. Providing the animal with proper nutrition allows the animal to live, grow, and perform to its fullest potential.