Understanding Pet Food Nutrition Labels

Since I cook Bailey's food I can very closely monitor how much protein, fat, carbohydrate and other nutrients he is getting in each meal using nutrition information and calculators that are widely available for humans.

It's not so easy if you are reading a can or bag of dog (or cat) food because pet food labels do not generally list amounts of essential nutrients in grams. They are not required to by AAFCO, the governing body for pet food. However, all pet food labels must state guarantees for the minimum percentages of crude protein and crude fat, and the maximum percentages of crude fiber and moisture.

That's pretty much meaningless information because most people, including me, have no clue what a percentage of protein or fat means in terms of real nutrition. We relate to nutrition in grams since that is what is is stated on human food labels.

Here is a simple conversion to determining grams of nutrients from pet food labels:

Multiply the crude percentages times the weight of your dog's daily portion. For example, if you feed your dog a 1-lb (454-gram) can of food per day, and the food contains 8% crude protein, the grams of protein would be 0.08 ✕ 454 = 36 grams.*

I know what's going through your mind right now, why don't pet food companies just label their food with the same nutrition information that is on human food. I have posed this question to a few of the pet food companies I've contacted...so far the answer I've received is that AAFCO doesn't require it. I've also heard that AAFCO is difficult to deal with. (No kidding, a government agency that is difficult to deal with, how strange.)

So why not just go around AAFCO and put AAFCO's required information on the label in addition to a human grade nutrition panel? (Interesting concept.) It requires less effort and less cost for pet food companies to just follow AAFCO's requirements. Plus, it keeps consumers in the dark which makes it so much easier to sell them crap.

I just wish pet food companies would stop using the 'smoke and mirrors' approach to pet food nutrition labeling and just put their money where their mouth is, on the label for all to see and understand. But they don't have to, they have AAFCO as their fall guy.

If AAFCO would pull their heads out of their butts, maybe they would realize it would be super easy for them to change pet food labeling requirements.....hello human food labeling laws already exist, they just need to tap into one of their sister agencies, the FDA. Then with the flip of a switch, they can require pet food companies to adhere to those standards. (Ouch, that sounds expensive for pet food companies! OMG do I see a Lobbyist?)

Consumers need to speak out and demand meaningful pet food labeling laws or nothing will change.

*Information from BANR, Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources.