Pet food labels Flashcards
What are the legal requirements for a food label
In Canada, labeling requirements are minimal.
Industry Canada, through the enforcement of the Competition Act and the Consumer Packaging and Labeling Act , regulates that:
Labels must appear in both official languages
Product identity
Net Quantity
Dealer Name and Principal Place of Business (sufficient for postal delivery).
For foods manufactured in Canada, there are no other legal label requirements, not even for ingredients or nutritional claims. In practice, however, a great deal more information appears.
What are the industry code practice
Canada has a ”Guide for the Labeling and Advertising of Pet Foods”
https://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/01229.html
Contributors to this guide include:
Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA)
Pet Food Association of Canada (PFAC)
Canadian Animal Health Institute (CAHI)
Health Canada
Canadian Kennel Club (CKC)
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
“Guide for the Labeling and Advertising of Pet Foods” is
Is a guide, not a law
Voluntary code of conduct setting best practices
Applies to prepackaged pet foods for cats and dogs only.
Does not apply to pet treats or food for other pets
Addresses the label and the claims made on that label and in any associated advertising of that product.
1.2 A label must contain sufficient legible information to provide the consumer with the common name, net weight, list of ingredients, feeding instructions, guaranteed analysis, and the nutritional adequacy or intended life stage for which it is suitable.
What is AAFCO and what is it good for
Association of American Feed Control Officials
https://www.aafco.org/
Private, non-profit corporation:
A process for defining ingredients in animal feed and pet food
A forum where state agencies, federal agencies and industry develop uniform language that states may adopt or reference in laws
Because manufacturers compete within a global framework, labels often follow U.S. regulations.
Regulations developed by the American Association of Feed Control Officials are particularly helpful in evaluating pet foods.
Members of the Pet Food Association of Canada manufacture to the nutritional standards set out by AAFCO.
What is on the pet food label
Product Name, Manufacturer, Address
Net Quantity
Guaranteed Analysis
List of Ingredients
Nutritional Adequacy Statement
Feeding Directions
Product Name, Manufacturer, Address
The label should clearly state the species for which the product is suitable
There should be a way to contact the manufacturer; an address for their principal place of business and/or toll free phone number
What is net quality
Required on label in metric units
Weight of food (not including packaging)
You need to know the net weight to do a cost-per-gram comparison between diets
What does a guaranteed analysis include
Values should be states on an “as fed” basis
Crude Protein (min)
Crude Fat (min)
Crude Fibre(max)
Moisture (max)
These give you maximum or minimum values– what’s actually in the bag could be much higher or lower
Guaranteed Analysis (PFAC Guideline) is based off of
Guarantees are listed on an “as fed” or “as is” basis
This means it includes moisture!
Canned foods usually contain 75-80% moisture
Dry foods contain 10-15% moisture
To compare products, you can convert nutrients to a “dry matter” basis
(% nutrient) / (100-% moisture) X 100 = % of that nutrient on a dry matter basis
How are ingredients listed
Listed in order by weight as used from greatest to least
Ingredients are listed by weight as added including their inherent water content.
Meat has a high moisture content and weighs more when added than meat meal or corn or soy.
Why might an ingredient list be misleading
As a result, even though meat may be listed first and corn second, there may be more plant material than animal when compared on a dry matter basis.
Meat is defined as “clean flesh of slaughtered mammals…limited to striated muscle…with or without fat, skin, sinew nerves and blood vessels which normally accompany the flesh”
Meat By-products are “ non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents.”
Does not contain hair, horns, teeth and hoofs.
In other words, all the bits of animals that are suitable for human consumption but are not wanted by people
Meat meal is “The rendered product from mammal tissues, exclusive of added blood, hair horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents”
Rendering involves heat or chemical treatment to remove pathogens
What does a nutritional adequacy statement include
If the diet is intended to be fed as the sole source of nutrition for the animal, it should provide complete and balanced nutrition.
For that species
For that life stage
“Complete” means contains all nutrients required
“Balanced” means nutrients are present in correct ratios
It should also state which life stages it is suitable for:
Maintenance (adult)
Growth
Gestation/lactation
All life stages
Qualifier for large breed (30 kg+) puppies
If it says it is suitable for growth, then any feeding trials done must have included growing animals.
If labeled “for all life stages”, then the product would have had to meet the higher nutritional needs of a growing, pregnant or lactating animal.
May be excessive nutrition for the maintenance of an adult dog or cat.
How do you test food for a nutritional adequacy statment
Feeding trial
Nutritional profile
What is AAFCOs involvement with diet trials
AAFCO does not regulate, test, approve or certify pet foods in any way
Establishes nutritional standards for complete and balanced pet foods
Individual company’s responsibility to formulate the products according to the appropriate standard
How to do a feeding trail for maintenance/adult food
8 animals, over 1 year of age
6 month duration
No more than 15% BW lost
Blood test at start and finish (Hgb, PCV, ALP, Albumin)
6/8 animals must complete the test
No deaths, no removal from trial for nutritional causes
How to do a feeding trail for growth food
8 animals, no older than 8 weeks
10 week duration
Blood test at start and finish (Hgb, PCV, ALP, Albumin)
6/8 animals must complete the test
No deaths, no removal from trial for nutritional causes
