| The product name and packaging are what you first | | | | poultry, fish). So a product named Lamb and Rice |
| notice when shopping for pet food. They portray a | | | | Dog Food must contain 95% lamb. |
| certain quality about the content and likely influence | | | | The 25% "Dinner" Rule |
| your purchasing decision. | | | | Add in the word "Dinner" and the named ingredient |
| When you're in the grocery store produce section | | | | need only be 25% of dry weight. So "Beef Dinner |
| you can easily see bananas in the bin labeled bananas | | | | For Dogs" instead of "Beef For Dogs" requires only |
| and oranges in the bin labeled oranges. With pet food | | | | 25% beef. |
| the rules that apply to product naming are more | | | | Sounds straightforward enough except - the specific |
| deceiving than illuminating... unless you KNOW the | | | | word "dinner" isn't the only permitted word. Any |
| rules. So here goes. | | | | "_qualifying descriptive term_" is allowable. Instead of |
| When it comes to pet food naming, AAFCO - the | | | | dinner it can be named "platter", "entree", "nuggets", |
| American Association of Feed Control Officials - | | | | "formula", "meal". Essentially any word should raise |
| writes the rulebook. AAFCO is a private advisory | | | | your suspicion and encourage you to examine the |
| board to the FDA. | | | | ingredient list. |
| There are two different weights you should be | | | | Ingredients are listed in order of weight. Common |
| aware of: | | | | sense tells you if the ingredient of interest isn't the |
| 1. Dry weight | | | | first ingredient in the list, it won't be 95% of the total |
| 2. Total weight | | | | weight. |
| Dry weight is simply 100 minus the moisture content. | | | | The 3% "With" Rule |
| For instance a package of dry food with 6% | | | | This rule states that any ingredient following the |
| moisture content listed has a dry weight of 94% | | | | word "With" needs to be 3% of the dry weight. For |
| (100 minus 6). A can of wet food with 55% moisture | | | | example, "Cat Food With tuna" need have only 3% |
| content listed has a dry weight of 45% (100 minus | | | | tuna. |
| 55). Canned food always has more moisture. | | | | Manufacturers strategically use the "With" rule for |
| To calculate the protein, you divide the protein | | | | ingredients that are perceived to be special and/or |
| amount listed on the ingredient label into the dry | | | | expensive so that the product appears to be more |
| weight. So in the dry food example above if the | | | | premium. |
| protein listed on the label is 12%, you divide 12% by | | | | Examples of the "With" Rule: |
| the dry weight of 94%. The result is 12.77% protein. | | | | Lamb WITH Garden Veggies and Greens |
| Let's say the wet food label also lists 12% protein. In | | | | Beef WITH Cheese |
| this case you divide 12% by the 45% dry weight. | | | | Ocean Fish WITH Crab |
| Therefore the wet food has 26.67% protein. | | | | The word WITH should sound an alarm for you. Still |
| AAFCO has four naming rules: | | | | you can look at the ingredient list to get a clearer |
| - 95% / 70% Rule | | | | idea of how much of that named ingredient is in the |
| - 25% or "Dinner" Rule | | | | product. |
| - 3% or "With" Rule | | | | The "Flavor" Rule |
| - The "Flavor" Rule | | | | The "Flavor" Rule has no minimum requirement. In |
| The 95% Rule | | | | fact it doesn't even require the actual ingredient to |
| The 95% rule applies to primarily meat, poultry or fish | | | | be in the product. The rule requires that animals |
| based products. That's generally limited to cans of | | | | trained to prefer a named flavor must react to the |
| pouches. | | | | food. So cats who've been trained to prefer chicken |
| This rule states that when a product name includes | | | | must react favorable to chicken "flavored" food. |
| an animal ingredient without any further qualifiers, | | | | "Flavors" are often created from "digests" which are |
| that ingredient must be at least 95% by dry weight | | | | animal parts treated with enzymes and/or acids to |
| and 70% by total weight | | | | create a concentrated flavor. A can of Lamb |
| For instance: | | | | Flavored Dog Food could easily have less than a |
| "Tuna Cat Food". 95% of the dry weight and 70% | | | | single bite of lamb... and that lamb flavor may have |
| of the total weight must be tuna. | | | | been derived from lamb bones. |
| "Beef for Dogs". 95% of the dry weight and 70% of | | | | What's IN A Name Examples... |
| the total weight must be beef. | | | | Beef Dog Food - 95% Beef products |
| In the case of multiple ingredients - such as "Beef | | | | Beef Formula For Dog - 25% Beef products |
| And Liver Dog Food" - then: A) the total of both | | | | Dog Food With Beef - 3% Beef products |
| ingredients must be at least 95% of dry weight, and, | | | | Beef Flavor Dog Food - Perhaps no Beef at all |
| B) the first listed ingredient must be greater than the | | | | Now you have the pet food name decoder ring so |
| second listed ingredient. | | | | you can be a more informed consumer and pet care |
| This rule applies only to animal ingredients (meat, | | | | taker. |