How to Read Pet Food Labels

Read Between the Ingredients List: Key Nutrients

When it comes to nutrition, it can be a numbers game with pet food ingredients. Dogs and cats need more than 30 essential nutrients as part of a healthy pet diet. The challenge is to make the nutrients add up so that the food provides a balanced diet for overall health or a diet that targets a particular health condition.

When reading pet food labels, the key nutrients you should focus on are:

• Proteins—These are sourced from animals, plant material or a combination of both. Proteins are broken down into amino acids which then create new proteins that sustain and boost daily life functions.

• Amino Acids—Since amino acids are derived from digestible proteins, they’re not listed on pet food labels by name unless they’re added separately. Some amino acids you might see called out include arginine, L-carnitine, phenylalanine, taurine and valine.

• Fats/Fatty Acids—Fats are important because they’re a good source of energy. Plus, they help pets absorb vitamins A, E, D and K. In addition, animal fats provide Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids that help your pet’s coat, skin, bone health, metabolism and more.

• Vitamins—Some pet foods add vitamins separately to their formula to help them meet the nutritional needs of dogs and cats. In many cases, the name of the vitamin used is pretty straightforward, e.g., Vitamin D; however, there are instances when you’ll see more scientific names on the ingredients list, e.g., L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (a source of Vitamin C).

• Minerals—Just like vitamins, minerals are sometimes added to pet foods because the ingredients are lacking in some key minerals.

What’s in a Name: Pet Food Terminology

We now come to the “name game” portion of pet food ingredients.

Here’s what you should know when you spy the following descriptions on pet food labels:

• “Recipe,” “Dinner” or “Formula”—The meat or ingredient used in the name makes up at least 25% of the total food content by weight, e.g., “chicken recipe” pet food is at least 25% chicken.

• Two or More Ingredients in the Name—When combined, the ingredients make up at least 25% of the food by weight. For example, if you buy a chicken and salmon dinner for cats, the combination of chicken and salmon together makes up at least 25% of the total ingredients. Plus, there must be at least 3% chicken and 3% salmon in the food to be included in the name.

• The Word “With”—Let’s say the name of the pet food says it’s “with beef.” That means the food is at least 3% beef by weight.

• The Word “Flavor”— Use of the word “flavor” means just that. The food doesn’t necessarily have to include the ingredient that it’s supposed to taste like.

In addition, most “meals” (e.g., chicken meal or meat and bone meal) have had most of the water and fat removed from the meat. This helps concentrate the animal protein. If you see “meat by-products” in the ingredients, that means the pet food could contain livers, blood, bones, stomachs, udders or cleaned intestines.

Why You Can Trust Pet Food Labels

To keep the food labeling game as honest as possible, many states have their own regulations that are adopted from those of the American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). In addition, the use of the word “organic” is governed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The phrase “human-grade” is heavily regulated by the FDA, USDA and AAFCO. Furthermore, according to AAFCO regulations, pet foods must prove they’re “lite,” “low-calorie” or “low fat” if those words appear on their labels.

Food that’s right for one pet could be not-so-right for another. Play detective by reading pet food labels carefully and understanding what you’re seeing. This article can give you many helpful clues, but we also recommend you talk with your veterinarian about any questions or concerns you have about dog and cat food.