Your guide on how to read a dog food label.
How much meat is in my pet food?
What’s written on the front of a dog food packet isn’t necessarily what’s written on the back or what’s inside the bag. A food can be advertised as ‘with’ beef, chicken or fish as long as it comprises at least 4% of that animal protein.
‘Flavoured with’ beef means less than 4% beef is required to be in the food. ‘With beef’ only requires a minimum of 4% beef.
‘Rich in beef’ only requires a minimum of 14% beef.
‘Beef’ requires a minimum of 26% beef.
Derivatives of vegetable origin.
‘Derivatives of vegetable origin’ in other pet foods can sometimes mean that a random mix of vegetables are selected (depending on cost) and are cooked at high temperatures to create a powder to add afterwards, damaging some of the important nutrients.
Deciphering some ingredient terms.
Meat meal.
This is generally made from animal by-products but the tricky part is that the by-products can come from a mix of different species. The trouble with meat meal as a category is that it’s quite mysterious and so it’s difficult to pin down exactly what’s in it as it’s at the discretion of the pet food maker.
These by-products get treated at a high-temperature and are ground into a protein powder to add to pet food.
Cereals.
When cereals appear on some pet food labels, it means they can be anything from corn to wheat depending on what’s cheapest to buy at the time of production. For pooches with sensitive tummies, this can be a bit of a minefield.
Ingredients & Hierarchy
Most pet foods are made from a recipe using several ingredients. These ingredients will be listed under ’composition’, in descending order of weight per wet weight. So, if corn is listed first and chicken second, there is more corn in the food than chicken.
When telling their customers their ingredients, pet food manufacturers have the option to declare by category as opposed to listing individual ingredients.
Categories can be things like meat & animal derivatives, cereal, vegetable protein extract, fats & oils. Whereas individual ingredients would be listed as chicken meal, maize, soya, chicken fat.
Complete Vs Complementary
The term Complete is a legal definition set by the European Pet Food Industry Federation (FEDIAF). Complete means that the product contains all the nutrients your pet needs to support its daily life.
Complementary pet foods are also available. A complementary food means that other food must be added in order to provide nutritional balance. Eg a “mixer”. These meals tend to be very carbohydrate rich.