How to Read Pet Food Labels

Learn to look past clever marketing and how to read pet food labels. Understand which ingredients to avoid to keep your furry little friends healthy and happy.

By Hannah Kincaid
Updated on August 9, 2023
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by Dreamstime/Amaviael
Look past catchy phrases and showy packaging to help your companion live a fuller, happier life.

Learn to look past clever marketing and how to read pet food labels. Understand which ingredients to avoid to keep your furry little friends healthy and happy.

I’m a label reader. I pause in grocery store aisles and in front of drug store displays to puzzle my way through ingredient lists on everything from yogurt (sugar added?) to Q-tips (organic cotton?). However, the labels on my pets’ food bags have led to more confusion than clarity. Is “human-grade” really better? And what exactly is the difference between “meat byproducts” and “beef meal”? The following primer on common pet food labeling requirements, ingredient definitions, and marketing terms will answer those questions and more, empowering conscientious pet owners to put as much consideration into their companions’ diets as they do into their own.

Pet Food Label Basics

Pet food is regulated on both a state and federal level, while labeling requirements and ingredient definitions are created by the nonprofit Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), the same organization that oversees livestock feed. According to the AAFCO’s website, every pet food container must include eight designations. The first requirement — the brand and product name — provides one of the biggest clues about the ingredients within. The AAFCO has strict guidelines that a product’s name must accurately reflect how much of the key ingredient is included in that particular recipe. According to Marion Nestle and Malden C. Nesheim’s book Feed Your Pet Right, a meal labeled “all-tuna cat food” must contain 100% tuna (except for the water used in processing and minor additives). A bag labeled “tuna cat food” without the “all” precursor must contain 95% tuna (70% if water is used for processing). Titles such as “chicken dinner” or “chicken entrée” imply that chicken is at least 25% of the ingredients’ weight. Bags that claim that a pet food “contains tuna” or is “made with beef” need to contain only 3% of the advertised ingredient. Foods labeled “meat-flavored” must simply include the flavoring agent somewhere in the ingredient list.

If you’re rushing through the store and want to grab a pet food based on the name alone, skip the “dinners,” “entrées,” and “flavored with” bags, and opt instead for foods that include higher percentages of the advertised ingredient that caught your eye in the first place. Always double-check that the ingredient list verifies the label’s claim.

The AAFCO also requires that pet food containers clearly state the species for which the meal is intended. Commercial pet foods are carefully formulated to meet each species’ unique nutrient needs, which is why you shouldn’t regularly feed cat food to dogs or vice versa. For example, cats, but not dogs, need a supplement of the amino sulfonic acid taurine for vision and heart health.

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