I find it truly amazing what AAFCO (Assoc. of American Feed Control Officials) considers truthful labeling of animal foods. From their website, the stated goal of AAFCO is “... to provide a mechanism for developing and implementing uniform and equitable laws, regulations, standards and enforcement policies for regulating the manufacture, distribution and sale of animal feeds; resulting in safe, effective, and useful feeds.”
I take issue with certain terms in the above statement. Especially “safe”. I truly believe few animal feeds are “safe”.
Let's say that I decide to make my own dog food. I follow AAFCO’s testing protocols and then put a statement on the label reading “My food is made following AAFCO guidelines and must pass stringent
testing." Sounds great! At least until we take a close look at the test guidelines. "The Testing Protocols For Providing An Unqualified Representation of Nutritional Adequacy For A Dog Or Cat Food" are
spelled out in the book, Official Publication, 1994, AAFCO, Inc.
For adult maintenance dog food to pass the AAFCO test:
* 8 dogs older than 1 yr. must start the test
* At start all dogs must be normal weight & health
* A blood test is to be taken from each dog at the start and finish of the test
* For 6 months, the dogs used must only eat the food being tested
* The dogs finishing the test must not lose more than 15% of their body weight
* During the test, none of the dogs used are to die or be removed because of nutritional causes
* 6 of the 8 dogs starting must finish the test.
That's all there is to it. No tests about other side effects from malnutrition or toxins. And two of my starting dogs can die. But my food is safe!
Companies that are proud of using non-rendered USDA human-grade meat are not allowed to say so on the label. If a company uses pre-stabilized fat they don’t have to list the stabilizer (usually ethoxyquin - a dangerous toxin not allowed in human food) on the label. Terms such as "meat", "meat meal" and "by-product meal" don’t tell us that this is usually from rendered meats from 4D animals (Dead, Dying, Diseased & Decayed). Or that only 50% of what goes into a rendering pot labeled “chicken” has
to be chicken. The rest can be anything from road kill to your beloved pet that was euthanized.
Many processed dog and horse feeds are no more than a way to sell agri-waste. So what can we do? Read labels and research company websites for those who use human-grade ingredients. Buy whole grains instead of highly processed foods for our horses. Consider feeding your dogs and cats fresh, raw meat, bones and vegetables. And last - but never least - demand that our state officials require better truth on animal food labels.
