Q: "Dear Mr. Bob...I've read the stuff on the web about pet food labels
and it seems very confusing to me...would you explain?"
A: What's there to explain? It only makes sense to a bureaucrat?
Because there is a fine line between giving away secret recipes and
consumer information, the law allows the pet food industry the ability to
tell you the exact composition without actually saying what is stuff is
made from. If you are pro business, this is fair because you get to
protect yourself from competitors who would steal your research into pet
nutrition by simply copying the food and releasing it as their own. If
you are pro people, this is yet another example of how politicians subvert
the needs of the people for cash. I think both sides are probably equally
correct. Get a label in front of you and follow along. You can sing with
me if you like. Oh, for obsessive nit pickers; I am describing USA
regulations, 'cause that's were Iams.
1. BRAND NAME: Iams, Friskies, Hannibal's Homo Sapien Selection, etc.
2. PRODUCT NAME: Identifies the food as beef, chicken, liver, old tractor
tires, etc. If it says CHICKEN, the total product must be at least 70%
mystery chicken. If it says CHICKEN DINNER (or PLATTER, ENTREE, etc.), it
is 10 to 70% mystery chicken. If it says CHICKEN FLAVOR, then it is less
than 10% mystery chicken. IF it says CHICKEN AND LIVER DINNER, then 10-70%
must be a combination of chicken and liver, both have to be more than 3%,
and chicken must exceed liver, which means it's just a mystery. So, if
something says SEA CAPTAIN'S CHOICE, it only has to be 10% mystery fish.
3. STATEMENT OF INTENT: Who the food is made for. It should say, "Food
for Ferrets" or similar. Avoid feeding a ferret anything that says, "For
Tulips."
4. NET WEIGHT: This is the weight of the food, not the container. Duh.
5. INGREDIENTS: Each and every ingredient must be separately listed by
WEIGHT. It can either be listed as a common name (like Bob C) or an
official one (like "Internet Gadfly"). More on this in part two.
6. GUARANTEED ANALYSIS: The percentages of various food components, such
as protein, fat and moisture. This can be very misleading. This is not
the ACTUAL value of the food, but rather a reflection of minimums and
maximums. Some values are required, like crude protein, crude fat, crude
fiber, and moisture, but others are optional. CRUDE PROTEIN (Min) 33%
means that the food has AT LEAST 33% crude protein; it could contain much
more. More on this in part two. There is no requirement to list "crude
and unusual pun-ishment."
7. NUTRITIONAL ADEQUACY: This tells you if the food fulfills all the
nutritional requirements of the animal or not. If not, it must tell you
what you need to make it a complete diet. There are several ways to figure
out the nutritional adequacy; by comparison, by analysis and by feeding
trials. MEETS THE MINIMUM NUTRITIONAL LEVELS (the comparison level) means
the food has been compared to established nutritional profiles, but your
pet is the test. These values are from published tables and may not
actually reflect the actual nutritional values in the product. It cannot
reflect variation in product quality or processing losses, nor can it tell
how much of the food is biologically useful. SUBSTANTIATED BY TESTING
(analysis method) means the food was chemically analyzed and compared to
the nutrient profile table. This takes into account food quality and
processing losses, but cannot tell how much of the food is biologically
useful. ANIMAL FEEDING TESTS (the feeding trial method) means the food
was actually tested in animals, and can tell you how biologically useful
the food is. If it says MAINTENANCE, it means it maintained adult,
nonbreeding, healthy animals for 6 months. If it says GROWTH, it means it
was fed to animals in the most rapid part of their weaned growth cycle.
If it says ALL STAGES or UNQUALIFIED, it means it was fed to females that
mated, went through gestation, gave birth, and lactated, AND it was fed
to the weaned offspring in the rapid growth stage. If it says SENIOR or
REDUCING, it is left up to the manufacturer to establish criteria to prove
the statement, so it varies between brands. If you've read this far, then
you should be labeled a NUTRI-NUT.
8. FEEDING GUIDELINES: This tells you how much you should feed and when,
and how to store. Don't buy anything that suggests you should store it in
mineral oil or risk combustion.
9. MANUFACTURER/DISTRIBUTOR: Who to blame for eruptions of musteline gas.
MANUFACTURED means it was made by the company. DISTRIBUTED means the
company didn't make it, or mixed parts that were "premanufactered" from
other companies. This is also called co-manufacture or co-packing. It
also means you might be paying premium prices for the same food that is
sold under cheaper labels; sort of an outlet mall for the pet food industry
except you don't have to wait for the daughter to try on 50 pairs of shoes.
Bob C and 16 Mo' Nutri-Nuts
[Posted in FML issue 3031]
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