How to Read a Pet Food Label

You want what’s best for your furry friend, but how do you determine what food is best for Fido or Fluffy? Does price make a difference? What ingredients are the healthiest for pets? Which ones are the animal equivalents of fast food?

Gaining a better understanding of how to read a pet food label may help in your decision-making process. Pet food labels are legal documents regulated by an agency under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States.

Most grocery store and generic brands are formulated as “variable formula diets”. This means that the ingredients used in the food will vary from batch to batch, depending on market availability and pricing. In contrast, most premium foods sold in feed stores, pet stores and through veterinarians are produced using fixed formulas. Although the cost for a fixed formula food may be more than a variable formula diet, the consistency between batches of food is a distinct advantage to the dog or cat consuming the food.

When reviewing the list of ingredients, keep in mind that they are listed in order of predominance by weight. Also, the ingredient list can give no indicator of the quality of the ingredients used in the food. Ingredients with similar names can vary in digestibility, amino acid content and availability, mineral availability and the amount of indigestible materials they contain. In fact, some premium foods with very high-quality ingredients may have an ingredient list that is almost identical to a generic food that contains poor-quality ingredients with low digestibility and poor nutrient availability. This can be seen in products that claim to be “the same as” another higher priced product.

In the United States, pet food manufacturers are required to include minimum percentages for crude protein and crude fat, and maximum percentages for crude fiber and moisture. These percentages generally indicate the “worst case” levels for these nutrients in the food and may not accurately reflect the exact or typical amounts included. Also note that these indicate only minimums or maximums found in the foods, actual values may differ dramatically.

Common pet food ingredients

Description	Example	Contribution to diet
Meat (muscle)	Skeletal muscle, tongue, diaphragm, heart	Animal fat, protein, energy
Meat by-products	Lung, spleen, kidney, brain, blood, bone, intestine	Animal fat, protein, energy
Meat meal, meat & bone meal, fish meal, blood meal	Dry rendered product from animal tissue	Animal fat, protein, energy
Cereals	Corn, wheat, oats, barley, corn gluten meal	Carbohydrate, protein, fiber, energy
Soy flour, soy meal	Vegetable protein source including Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)	Protein, texture/chunks (usually the meaty chunks in foods)
Animal fat, vegetable oil	Tallow, chicken fat, corn oil, soy oil	Fats, fatty acids, essential fatty acids, energy
Egg	Egg powder	Protein of high biologic value
Milk	Skim milk powder, whey	Milk protein
Grain nulls, root crops	Bran, beet pulp	Dietary fiber
Humectants	Sugars, salt, glycerol	Reduction in water availability, energy
Digest	Hydrolysed liver or intestine	Flavor and palatability enhancer, some protein and fat
Preservatives	Sodium benzoate, sodium and potassium sorbate	Retard spoilage from molds and bacteria
Flavors	Natural and artificial and “nature identical” flavors, process reacted flavors, key character compounds	Improvement in taste, smell and mouth feel
Coloring agents	Natural and artificial colorings	Improvement in owner appeal
Aromas	Natural and artificial aromas and tones	Improvement in owner and animal appeal
Vitamins, minerals	Vitamin and mineral premixes	Nutrients and dietary balance
Antioxidants	BHT, BHA, ascorbic acid, mixed tocopherols (Vitamin E)	Prevents fat rancidity

In the United States, the name and address of the manufacturer, distributor or dealer of the pet food must be found on the label, usually on the information panel. This information is not required to be complete, and may only include the distributor and city of origin. Most premium foods include their name, mailing address, phone number with hours of operations and possibly a website address. This makes it much easier for you to contact the manufacturer with any problems or questions regarding the product.