09/12/2024
❓Do you look at the ingredients list to select your pet food❓
We should actually be looking at the nutrient list to check how good a pet food is, and that they have a certified nutritionist working for the company.
❌ Not looking for trigger words like: ❌
🍴Human grade
🍴Super foods
🍴High protein
🍴Natural
🍴Fresh
🍴Hypoallergenic
🍴Grain Free
These terms are often misleading & good marketing techniques to humanise our pets food.
Veterinary Voices UK have done a great post- read more below.
Stop reading your pet food ingredient list!
https://vet.tufts.edu/news-events/news/stop-reading-your-pet-food-ingredient-list
Misinformation in pet nutrition is abundant. With people playing on your emotions to judge on your feeding choice.
The most important thing is your pet is fed and healthy. Then, also considering quality of the diet, risk of the diet to your pets health or risk to humans (zoonotic risk). We also need to know if the company is supported by a Veterinary Nutritionist, if they formulate only on spreadsheets or if they follow up with feeding trials. You may also need to consider the protein sources if your pet has dietary allergies, if they are fixed formula, and you may also have other requirements or wishes such as sustainability of the protein source.
💙There are strict rules when it comes to ingredients that can be used in pet food and the details that must be provided on packaging. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation and scaremongering that can make reading pet food labels confusing.
➡Here are a few misconceptions:
❎Myth - animal parts that are not safe for human consumption are included in pet food
✅Reality – all animal derived products used in pet food in the UK must be safe for human consumption. Pet food manufacturers may make use of parts that there is a lower demand for in the human food chain but that are still safe and nutritious, for example offal. Using the term 'human grade' does not really make a difference in the UK, we MUST use products safe for human consumption.
❎Myth – the term “meat and animal derivatives” means that the animal derived ingredients are of poor quality
✅Reality – This term is used because of labelling regulations and is an example of category labelling, it does not reflect ingredient quality. Category labelling allows manufacturers to adjust some ingredients without having to print new packaging. This means that they can make use of what is seasonally available, helping to keep the food affordable. For pets that are sensitive to changes, the alternative is that each ingredient is listed individually which is more often the case for foods with a fixed formula such as those in the Purina Pro Plan range.
“Meat and animal derivatives” are ingredients which are often surplus in the human food chain.
For example, parts of animals that are not normally consumed by people in the UK but that are highly nutritious, such as offal.
❎Myth – Pet food often only contains 4% meat/animal derived products.
✅Reality – This misunderstanding is usually due to labelling rules when a specific ingredient is named. For a product to be labelled as “containing” or “with” a particular ingredient, it must have at least 4% of the specified ingredient. For example, a product that “contains chicken”, must be a minimum of 4% chicken. It may contain much more, and it may also contain other species of animal, such as pork or lamb, under the umbrella of “meat and animal derivatives”, (which has previously been explained still provides good nutrition).
❎Myth – dogs and cats shouldn’t be fed grains. They are used as fillers.
✅Reality – properly prepared grains are a great source of beneficial nutrients. For example, they can provide slowly released energy, essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals and fibre. Grain allergies and intolerances are uncommon in dogs and cats.
❎Myth – pet food contains ash
✅Reality – the “crude ash” listed on the label under analytical constituents is a legal definition which reflects the mineral content of the food e.g. calcium and phosphorus which help support healthy bones. Other names include inorganic matter or incinerated residue.
❎Myth – higher protein = higher quality food
✅Reality – you can’t judge the quality of complete pet foods by the ingredients list or analytical constituents (e.g. protein %) alone. For example, a higher protein quantity isn’t beneficial if it’s of low quality and not very digestible, or if it is in excess of what the animal can make use of.
Choosing a pet food – you should look to feed a complete diet made by a reputable manufacturer that employs experts to formulate the food following FEDIAF guidelines, has strict quality control procedures and analyses the finished product. Further reassurance can be gained by choosing a manufacturer that performs feeding trials on their products and doesn’t rely wholly on computer-based formulations.
➡The World Small Animal Veterinary Association have an excellent guide to choosing a food
https://wsava.org/global-guidelines/global-nutrition-guidelines/
➡UK Pet Food have lots of great information on ingredients in pet food
https://www.ukpetfood.org/information-centre/industry-guidance/ingredients.html
➡There are some FAQs below:
https://www.purina.co.uk/your-questions-matter
