Notes from: Training: Understanding Pet Food Labels
July 30 Free Training's hand outs
How to pick a decent dry kibble out from the crowd of pretty labels
Part I
The
Fast 5
There are plenty of
dog food choices out on the market today, hundreds of brands, and thousands of
formulas that you could choose from. So how do you know what to pick for your
furry family member? We have put
together a list of the 5 items you should look for when selecting a food. This
is merely the basics, one should also consider the pet’s allergies,
sensitivities, raw options and other needs as well.
So let’s begin!
1 where's it made?
Select a bag of
food, turn it over and look for where it's made. Companies that manufacture
their products solely in Canada & the US are proud of it and will boast
about it. If there isn't a country of origin on the bag, then the ingredients
used are iffy at best.
2 what's the fat?
Now find the panel
of ingredients (you may have to look on the side panel.) Read down that list
until you come to the very first form of fat and STOP there. The fat may come
from an array of sources, for example, avocado oil, coconut oil, flax oil, chicken
fat, or beef tallow. So long as that fat source is from a declared species it's
worth your time. However, if that
fat is random i.e. “animal fat”, don’t bother wasting any more precious energy
and select a different brand.
Now pay attention
to all the ingredients before the
fat. This short list is what makes up
85% or more of your pet’s food. Anything below it, although often immensely healthful or immensely harmful, is merely a small
ration of the entire picture.
3 what's the protein?
Now, with our focus
on these first few ingredients, we will begin to evaluate what’s in the bulk of
the bag.
If you saw corn,
wheat or soy put down the bag and back away. Choose another bag & repeat
step 1 till you find a bag that does not contain corn, wheat or soy. OK, Good
job. Now the first one or three ingredients should be a meat or meat meal.
(Please note here that meat meals are a higher concentration of meat than
actual “meat” because they have the moisture already eliminated from them).
This is your pet’s primary protein source and should be an identifiable species
like bison, chicken, salmon. The next ingredient should be a starch adequate
for binding that’s not offensive to a canine or feline. Carnivores don’t
actually require a starch to survive so this ingredients’ real purpose is to
bind all the good stuff into a kibble. There are some big fat NO’s in this
category to avoid: corn, wheat and to a lesser degree brewer’s rice. Some
fairly healthy binders are tapioca, quinoa, oats, sweet potato, potato, chickpeas
or peas. The right binder for you will depend on your pet’s dietary needs like
fiber, tolerance to glutens, or glycemic index. There may be another starch or
carbohydrate listed. This may be to add fiber, calories and sometimes even
protein to a ration, good choices for this group are millet, amaranth, garbanzo
beans, or brown rice. Okay, now for sure
you’re back to the “fat” part of list. If it’s met your criteria you can begin
picking apart the rest of the list.
4 What’s the binder?
The binder is the
carbohydrate or starch choice used to make it all stick together into the
little tiny cookie also known as kibble. If you see corn, wheat, soy meal or
brewer’s rice, look elsewhere-they’re no good. No binder ingredient is going to
be species appropriate for a carnivore, but some are better than others and for
different reasons. There are grains, potato, tapioca, millet, milo, peas, chick
peas & other legumes…what you deem ok for your pet is entirely based on
your needs and preferences. One could pick apart or praise any of them, so know
what you want & don’t want and why and don’t listen to the hype.
5 what's the rest?
Now, after that
primary fat source comes the rest of the recipe. Here you may find a plethora
of vegies, fruits, seeds, oils & herbs -or synthetically derived vitamins
& minerals listed -or a combination of the two. You will see preservatives,
flavor enhancers, and stabilizers. Here's where you have the opportunity to
decide if you want a food whose nutrients comes from whole foods -or from
vitamin mineral pre-mix. Both meet the AAFCO (American association of feed
control officials) approval, but remember only whole foods feed the body synergistically as nature intended.
Ask yourself if you recognize the ingredient?
If you don't, will your pets' body?
So you've now found
a food that has meats, a healthy fat, and binding carbohydrates with purpose,
and you approve of the vitamin & mineral sources. Good Job!
Final thoughts
Is it fresh?Check the date
code. Will it last? Is its packaging useful- not just pretty? Always store your
pet food in a dark, dry, cool place and try to leave it in its original bag as
any exposure to air will begin the oxidization process of nutrient
degeneration. Then, put that bag into an air tight container for the most
longevity.
Did you know pet
food companies only have to tell you if they
added any preservatives, not if they bought ingredients that are already preserved? So company morals
& standards matter.
The list of
ingredients is listed in order of predominance, most to least, beforecooking. Feeding
guidelines are just guidelines; you
are the final caregiver of your beloved pet, you be the judge.
And finally, when
feeding a dry kibble-the truth of it is -is that it's dead & dry. Hydration
and enzymes are the source of energy for nutrient uptake so add warm water and a
digestive enzyme to every meal to prevent undue stress on your companion’s
organs.
Part II
What is a Premix?
A premix is a predetermined blend of 20 or more vitamins,
minerals and possibly amino acids. This blend is added to the food component of
a pet food formula so it will meet the minimum Association of American
Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) requirements of the diet for a certain life
stage or stages of a dog or cat. In other words, the food component of the
formula is lacking in certain nutrients, so the formulator adds in via a premix
the deficient vitamins, minerals and possibly amino acids needed so all the
AAFCO nutrient requirements are met.
Are the vitamins and minerals in the
premix natural?
Real, natural vitamins and minerals are in food.
Vitamins, minerals, and amino acids in premixes are synthetic and are made in
chemical plants. Each of the vitamins, minerals, and amino acids come with what
is called a material safety data sheet (MSDS) created by the chemical company
for safe handling. E
If the premixes are synthetic, why do
pet foods using them still call themselves natural?
In the AAFCO definition of natural, it says that it would
be misleading to call a product natural that contained anything synthetic, but
in the case of added vitamins and minerals AAFCO makes an exception. AAFCO
states “that exceptions be made in the cases when chemically synthesized
vitamins, minerals, or other trace nutrients are present as ingredients in the
product provided that the products are not a dietary supplement and that a
disclaimer is used to inform the consumer that vitamins, minerals or other
trace nutrients are not natural.”
So here is the disclaimer that is acceptable to AAFCO to
inform the consumer that vitamins, minerals or other trace nutrients are not
natural in the pet food they are purchasing:
“Natural with added vitamins and minerals”. Now you have
been informed.
Are synthetic supplements in premixes
safe?
They are totally legal and you must be the judge, but
here is some food for thought. The National Research Council (NRC) puts out two
books studying these synthetic elements. The books are, “Vitamin Tolerance of
Animals” and “Mineral Tolerance of Domestic Animals”. AAFCO uses some of the
research in the mineral publication to derive the section in the AAFCO Official
Publication titled, “Official Guidelines for Contaminant Levels Permitted in
Mineral Feed Ingredients”. This section addresses the problem of heavy metal
contaminants that are in the sourced minerals used in animal/pet foods. The
source for many of these is from the by-products of the metal industry. The
potential contaminants are arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, and other heavy
metals that can harm animals at certain levels. In the NRC vitamin publication,
as they studied the man-made vitamins, the main concern became the toxicity of
them. They state in the book there are not enough studies to know emphatically
what the upper safe level of any of the elements is. But they state using
extrapolation and inference from the limited information to come up with the
presumed upper safe level of each element that could be used for a limited
period of time without showing signs of intoxication. The research also admits
the studies have only been conducted using one element at a time, and
they do not know the possible negative effects of two more of the elements
consumed together at elevated levels.. The last time I looked at any pet food
label; there are always 20 to 26 of these synthetic additives used.
How can you spot a premix in a pet food?
Pretty much any added vitamin, mineral or amino acid is
synthetic. Here is just one example of how these look within the ingredient
panel of a bag of pet food:
Yes. Bridger Animal Nutrition can show you which
foods do & don’t have them.
Nature’s Logic is an example of a kibble that
doesn’t have one, and Oma’s is an example of a raw food that doesn’t contain
one. Not containing a premix, yet
obtaining the AAFCO certification, means that that company preformed the very
time staking and costly procedure of feeding trials to prove that their
products are worthy of certification. A type of certification not to be taken
lightly as if speaks volumes about a company’s credibility.
Part III
Meat vs Meal
Fresh meat listed as the first ingredient is a
pretty good sales pitch. However, consider this, fresh meat (chicken, lamb, or
beef) contains up to 70% water, and meal (chicken, lamb, or beef) is simply
fresh meat with the moisture already removed.
The equivalent weight of “meal” is always more
nutrient dense than “fresh.” For example, if a 1-ton batch of a chicken first
product has 600 lbs. of fresh chicken, this drops to approx. 180 pounds or 9%
after cooking. In reality, this will make the first ingredient fall down the
list behind the second, third and possibly the fourth ingredient. This is also
the reason these secondary protein sources are necessary so that the minimum
protein guarantee will be met. If the same formula consisted of the same amount
of meal, it would still contain 600 lbs. of meat protein or 30% of the total
product after processing, thereby maintaining its number one position, and
eliminating the need for additional protein sources.
By FDA and AAFCO guidelines, ingredients are
required to be listed on a pet food label in order of pre-cooked weight. Almost
always, when a fresh meat is listed first, it will be followed by additional
protein sources to make up the difference when moisture and weight is lost
during the cooking process.
Don’t be misled by fresh meat at the top of the
ingredient deck. Look a little further down the list to see what’s really in
there
Part IV
Dry Matter Basis — A Better Way to
Compare Dog Foods
Without a measuring method known as dry matter basis,
it can be very difficult to compare dog foods.
That’s because pet food companies report the nutrient content of
their products using something known as Guaranteed Analysis.
In essence, Guaranteed Analysis is the pet food industry’s
version of the Nutrition Facts “panel” printed on every package of
human food sold in the U.S. and Canada.
The purpose of the Guaranteed Analysis panel is to make it easy
for consumers to compare four critical nutrients…
Protein, Fat, Fiber, Moisture
However, when used alone, these numbers can be misleading.
That’s because the system used for reporting the percentages
fails to consider the widely varying amount of water present in different types
of foods.
And this can be a critical factor when comparing
moist foods — like canned or raw products — with dry kibbles.
Even the Food and Drug Administration warns of the importance of
paying attention to this issue on its own website…1
“To make meaningful
comparisons of nutrient levels between a canned and dry product, they should be
expressed on the same moisture basis.”
Dry Matter Basis
Explained
So, when comparing the nutrient content of different products,
it’s important to first remove 100 percent of the moisture content from every
dog food being evaluated.
This moisture-free approach to stating the true
nutrient content of any food is known as dry matter basis.
Let’s say you have a can of dog food listing a Guaranteed
Analysis protein figure of 10%.
This is the protein content just as
it’s fed from the can — what the industry refers to as “as fed basis”.
Doesn’t sound like much protein, does it?
However, what if that same label revealed the product contained
75% moisture?
And what if you were to completely remove all that water
from the can?
You’d be left with just 25% “dry matter”.
To determine the amount of protein on a dry matter basis,
simply divide the reported amount of protein (in this case, 10%)
by the total
amount of dry matter (25%) in the can.
Then, multiply the result by 100.
Dry Matter Protein
Content = (10/25) x 100 = 40%
That gives you a dry matter protein content of 40% — a lot more
than the label’s reported protein content of 10%.
That’s four times the amount
of protein as indicated by the Guaranteed Analysis.
By the way, this same method for computing dry matter basis
works for any other nutrient, too.
Using Dry Matter Basis to
Compare Dog Foods
Now, as long as you’re comparing canned food to canned food, dry
matter basis isn’t that important.
However, when you’re comparing canned food to dry kibble, the
issue becomes critical.
For example, say you’d like to compare two products — a can of
dog food with a bag of kibble.
The canned “wet” product lists protein content at 10% and the
dry kibble reports protein at 23%.
At first glance, the kibble looks like it contains more
protein. Right?
Well, now, let’s use dry matter to level the playing field.
Using Guaranteed Analysis, the wet food shows a water content of
75% and the kibble, just 10%.
Now, let’s remove all the water from both dog foods. Take a
look at the protein values after converting the data to dry matter basis…
The canned product now lists 40% protein, compared to kibble’s
26% figure? The wet food contains much more protein — on a dry matter basis —
than does the kibble.
The Bottom Line
On the surface, when reading a package label, canned dog foods
almost always look inferior to their kibble counterparts.
However, looks can be deceiving.
So, don’t be fooled by a dog food label’s protein or fat
numbers. When comparing the nutrient content of two or more dog foods, be sure
to first convert the labels’ figures to dry matter basis.
