{"id":39941,"date":"2012-12-14T22:42:39","date_gmt":"2012-12-15T04:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/vet\/?p=39941"},"modified":"2019-10-26T18:42:52","modified_gmt":"2019-10-26T23:42:52","slug":"pet-food-labels-unraveling-the-fine-print","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/vet\/pet-food-labels-unraveling-the-fine-print\/","title":{"rendered":"Pet Food Labels: Unraveling the Fine Print"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h2>\n

A critical component for maintaining the health of all animals is proper nutrition. Every patient, healthy or ill, that visits the veterinary hospital should have an evaluation<\/a> of their nutritional status and healthcare team members should be ready to make a nutritional recommendation based on this evaluation. Unfortunately the large number of pet foods available can make it difficult for healthcare team members to make a nutritional recommendation and effectively communicate this recommendation to their clients.<\/p>\n

Nutrition can be defined as the relationship of food and nutrients to health. Proper nutrient intake is essential to normal development, overall health, and disease management in companion animals. Nutrients have many metabolic roles essential to normal physiologic function that can be compromised by insufficient or irregular intake. Minimum requirements for pets have been determined to achieve optimal nutrition, focusing on the key nutrients for physical development, mobility, immune response, cognitive functions, disease prevention, or target treatment.<\/p>\n

Pet owners and healthcare team members today have access to a lot of information regarding pet nutrition via the Internet, news sources, and blogs. With this wealth of information comes sometimes confusing and incorrect nutritional information. Veterinary professionals need to understand companion animal nutrition and sort through the minutiae to educate well intentioned owners on what constitutes proper nutrition for their beloved pet. There is a lot of misinformation regarding pet food, so this paper will take a closer look at pet food regulation and the interpretation of pet food labels.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pet food labels<\/h2>\n

The pet food label is the primary means by which product information is communicated from the manufacturer or distributor to pet owners, veterinary health care team members, and regulatory officials (Fig 1). Reading and interpreting pet food labels is one method that healthcare team members and pet owners can obtain information about pet foods. However, it is important to remember that pet food labels do not necessarily provide information about food quality such as digestibility and biological value. Contact pet food manufacturers or nutrition experts for additional information that can be used to evaluate pet food quality.<\/p>\n

Pet food labels not only communicate information about the product, but also serve as a legal document. A number of agencies and organizations regulate production, marketing, and sales of pet foods in different countries. Each agency has different responsibilities with varying degrees of authority. Some of these agencies regulate information found on pet food labels whereas others influence the regulatory process. Pet foods are regulated at their point of sale, but foods sold outside the United States must also meet labeling requirements of the country in which the food is sold. Pet foods sold in the US must conform to Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), and state pet food labeling requirements.<\/p>\n

Pet food labels include two main parts:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The principal display panel and<\/li>\n
  2. The information panel.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Certain pieces of information are required on each part of the label, whereas others are optional.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Principal display panel<\/h2>\n

    The principal display panel is defined by the FDA as \u201cthe part of a label that is most likely to be displayed, presented, shown or examined under customary conditions of display for retail sale<\/em>.\u201d It is the primary means of attracting the customer\u2019s attention and should immediately communicate the product identity. The product identity<\/strong> must include a designator<\/strong> such as \u201cbird food\u201d. The brand name<\/strong> is the name by which pet food products of a given company are identified. The product name<\/strong> is not essential and may be the same as the brand name; it is usually descriptive of the food and is subject to regulations dealing with composition of ingredients. The product vignette<\/strong> is a visual representation of the product and it must accurately depict the contents of the package. Food pictured on the label cannot appear better that the actual product.<\/p>\n

    Percentages of a specific ingredient can determine product names. For example, the term \u201cchicken<\/em>\u201d requires that at least 70% of the product contain chicken. A \u201cchicken dinner or entr\u00e9e<\/em>\u201d must contain 10% chicken if moist and 25% chicken if dry. \u201cWith chicken<\/em>\u201d means that the product contains at least 3% chicken; \u201cchicken flavor<\/em>\u201d means that chicken is recognizable by the pet (< 3% chicken).<\/p>\n

    A nutrition statement<\/strong> may be provided on the display panel; it is usually brief and can include such terms as \u201ccomplete and nutritious<\/em>,\u201d \u201c100% nutritious<\/em>,\u201d or \u201c100% complete nutrition<\/em>.\u201d The use of these terms implies that the product contains ingredients in quantities sufficient to provide the estimated nutrient requirements of a pet or the product contains a combination of ingredients that when fed to a normal animal as the only source of nourishment will provide satisfactory results.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Information panel<\/h2>\n

    The information panel is adjacent to the principal display panel and includes product information. The ingredient statement must be shown on the label and includes a list of ingredients, which must conform to AAFCO names, in descending order by weight. Ingredients are listed on an \u201cas fed basis, which makes interpretation of ingredient lists difficult since many key ingredients are added with different moisture contents. Meats contain more moisture; therefore they may be listed first on the ingredient list however this is often very misleading to pet owners. In reality the primary component of the food is often a mixture of grains. Furthermore, the ingredient statement does not provide information about the quality of ingredients.<\/p>\n

    One limitation of the ingredient statement is that terms such as \u201cmeat by-products\u201d are difficult to evaluate. Many owners are under the impression that foods containing \u201cmeat by-products\u201d are inferior to foods containing whole meat.<\/p>\n