Dog Food Comparison: Deciphering Dog Food Labels
26 Aug 2008
When it comes to making a thorough dog food comparison, to choose the best value and nutrition for your dog, you may find the process a bit confusing and in some cases even overwhelming. Commercial dog food labels provide a large amount of information, but it is usually difficult to understand and sometimes down-right misleading, which makes a comparison of different dog foods difficult at best.
Here is a brief summary of the items you will normally find mentioned on commercial dog food labels and some guidelines to help make comparing different dog foods less difficult whether they be regular dog food, organic dog food, hypoallergenic dog food or diabetic dog food.
The Product Name – Manufacturers want you to buy their product so they are very adept at using names that conjure up certain images or assumptions on the part of the consumer. The name may not even describe the actual main ingredients of the product. For example, in the United States a product named “Product X With Real Chicken and Rice” could contain as little as 3% Chicken and Rice, and a product name that includes the word ‘flavored’ or ‘flavor’ will likely have only minute traces of the ingredient according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center For Veterinary Medicine. Frankly, it doesn’t matter what the name of the product is, all that matters is what is inside the package.
The Net Quantity Statement – When comparing the price of different dog food containers it is important to know the actual quantity contained. The packages may be vastly different sizes, or they may look the same size but actually contain differing amounts. A more concentrated food may also require less food per meal to satisfy your dog’s needs, so you must make a more thorough analysis of the ingredients (which we will discuss later). To compare products with different moisture content you need to convert percentages for both products at equal moisture content. A food that has higher moisture content means you are paying for more water and less actual food.
The “Manufactured by” Statement - This statement identifies the party responsible for the quality and safety of the product and their location. If the label says “manufactured for…” or “distributed by…,” the dog food was actually manufactured by an outside manufacturer, however the name on the label still designates the party that is responsible.
The Ingredient List - The ingredients of any dog food sold in the U.S. are “Listed in order of predominance by weight” before processing. Meaning that an ingredient (such as meat) that is high in water content when added to the mixture, but constitutes a small amount of the actual finished product after the water is removed during processing could still show up as the main ingredient. It also means that a manufacturer could slip in poor quality ingredients in dehydrated form and better quality ingredients that are fully hydrated to make the ingredient list look better than it really is when it is compared to other dog foods. Typically, if you will look for the first listed fat source, anything listed before and including it will be the main ingredients and anything listed after will make up a much smaller part of the overall product.
A manufacturer can also make a list of ingredients look better than it is by using ingredient names that are approved by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), but are uncommon to the average consumer. For example, “meat” is defined by the AAFCO as the “clean flesh of slaughtered mammals and is limited to…the striate muscle…with or without the accompanying and overlying fat and the portions of the skin, sinew, nerve and blood vessels which normally accompany the flesh.” On the other hand, “meat meal” is “the rendered product from mammal tissues, exclusive of any added blood, hair, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents.” Thus, in addition to the processing, it could also contain parts of animals one would not think of as “meat.” Meat meal may not be very pleasing to think about eating yourself, even though it’s probably more nutritious.
The word “byproducts” is often used in conjunction with an ingredient source such as “chicken byproducts” or some variation of the name. This is usually a much less desirable source of nutrition, as you may imagine.
The Guaranteed Analysis – A pet food label must state the minimum amounts as a percentage of crude protein and crude fat, and the maximum percentages of crude fiber and moisture. The term “crude” has reference to the specific method of testing, and does not refer to the quality or digestibility of the nutrient itself. Unfortunately, this makes it difficult to determine the true quality and nutritional value based on this information. Some producers also state guarantees for other nutrients such as minimum percentages of calcium, phosphorus, sodium, and linoleic acid are found on some dog food products.
The Nutritional Adequacy Statement - All a manufacturer has to do to claim that a dog food is a “complete and balanced” pet food is contain ingredients formulated to provide levels of nutrients that meet a profile established by the AAFCO or alternatively have the product tested following the AAFCO Feeding Trial Protocols. This means that the product itself, or “lead” member of a “family” of products, has been fed to dogs under specific guidelines and found to provide proper nutrition. It does not guarantee the quality of the food, but simply means that it has the minimum nutrition to keep a dog alive and that the dog can survive while eating the food.
Feeding Directions – Directions for the quantity to feed should only be used as a general guideline. You must take into account whether your dog is active or inactive, needs to gain or lose weight, age, breed, metabolism, environment, etc.
The Calorie Statement – Manufacturers may provide a calorie statement on a voluntary basis. If a calorie statement is made, it must be expressed on a “kilocalories per kilogram” basis. Kilocalories are the same as the “Calories” most consumers are familiar with on food labels. A “kilogram” is a unit of metric weight measurement equal to 2.2 pounds.
Calorie statements can be shown using three different values, namely: Gross Energy, Digestible Energy and Metabolizable Energy. To make sure you are using an “apples to apples” comparison you will want to use the same value for each food (preferably the Metabolizable Energy value). Make sure to make this comparison based on weight and not volume, since some foods may be puffed up with air, while others are denser.
Other Label Claims - Products labeled as premium, super premium, gourmet, etc. are not required to contain any different or higher quality ingredients, nor are they held up to any higher standard of nutrition than any other “complete and balanced” dog food products. The term “natural” does not have an official definition either. For the most part, “natural” can be construed as equivalent to a lack of artificial flavors, artificial colors, or artificial preservatives in the product. In other words, when doing a dog food comparison, don’t be taken in by the use of such claims without fully analyzing the ingredients.
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