Dog Food Key Terms

Understand dog food label terms to ensure you purchase quality products

By Casey Holley

Dog food containers are required to list certain information to help the consumer make an informed decision about what to feed a dog. Because most of the information is standardized, there are some key terms that you must understand to ensure that you are selling top quality dog foods to your customers. Once you understand what everything on the dog food label means, you can help your customers make an informed decision. That alone will put you a step above many dog food providers.

Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO)

The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) works with the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure that pet food meets federal standards. Foods that meet the AAFCO standards will bear an approval statement or logo.
Try: Paul's Pet Food offers an explanation of what the AAFCO oversees. It also offers explanations of the different AAFCO approval statements.

Guaranteed analysis

The guaranteed analysis on a dog food label serves to let the owner know what is in the dog food. It includes information concerning the amount of protein, fat, moisture and fiber in the food.
Try: The US Food and Drug Administration offers information about what purpose a guaranteed analysis serves. It also offers information on how to compare the guaranteed analysis for different types of dog food.

Preservatives

Preservatives are necessary to keep dog food fresh. Some dog foods contain natural preservatives, including ascorbic acid and tocopherols, both of which are considered safe. However, some dog foods contain ethoxyquin, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), which are less than ideal for dogs.
Try: Branford Miniature Schnauzers offers information about the function of preservatives in dog food. You can also find out the effects of various preservatives on this website.

Nutritional adequacy statement

A nutritional adequacy statement on a pet food label shows you that the dog food you are selling to your customers has been thoroughly tested and that it complies with federal standards.
Try: You can find information on nutritional adequacy statements on The Dog Food Project website.

Meal

When a dog food contains meat, chicken and other meals, it means that the meal products are heat-processed. By-product meal means that the dog food contains parts of animals that aren't eaten by humans.
Try: Pets for the Environment offers an in-depth look into exactly what is contained in "meal" ingredients in the dog food.

By-products

Meat by-product is an ingredient often seen on dog food labels. This may be listed as a single meat source, such as chicken by-products or as just meat by-products. These ingredients may include beaks, hooves, full heads, eyes, tongues, feet and tails.
Try: Precious Pets provides information concerning the types of ingredients that may be included in by-product listings.

Some words are used strictly for descriptive purposes. Senior, gourmet, premium, super-premium and natural are unregulated words that manufacturers use to describe the dog food.