Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Nutrition Fact #8

If a pet food label includes the phrase" with ingredient X", the pet food is required to contain only 3 percent of X (beef, chicken, seafood etc.)

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Nutrition Fact #7

Pet foods that are labeled "dinner", "platter", "entree", or "formula, etc. are required to include only 25% of the main ingredient (chicken dinner, beef entree, etc.). If you purchase a can of cat food labeled as "seafood entree", the manufacturer is required to include only 25% seafood in the product.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Nutrition Fact #6

Ingredients are listed in descending order by their predominance by weight. However, weight values are not included in the ingredient statement, meaning that the listed ingredients could vary by weight only 0.1 percent, or by 20 percent.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Nutrition Fact #5

Formulation method v. feeding trial method: If your pet's food label says something to the effect of "This food is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the Association of American Feed Control Officials..." rather than "Animal feeding test using AAFCO procedures substantiate that this food provides complete and balanced nutrition...", it means that the food did not undergo actual feeding or digestibility trials. The formulation method is quicker and cheaper, but does not document the effect on animals.