A trip down the pet food aisle these days will blow you away with all the wonderful claims made by manufacturers for their particular products. But what is the truth behind all this wonderful hype? You may be very surprised… let’s take a look.
1. Niche claims. Today, whether you have an indoor cat, canine athlete, Persian, bloodhound, Yorkie, or pet with a sore tummy or itchy feet, you can find a food “designed” just for your cat’s personal needs. pet. Niche marketing has hit the big time in the pet food industry. People like to feel special, and a product with a specific appeal is sure to sell better than a general product like “puppy food.” But the reality is that there are only two nutritional standards against which all pet foods are measured (adult and growth/gestation/lactation); everything else is marketing. Your best option is a food made with good quality ingredients that satisfies “All Stages of Life.”
2. “Natural” or “Organic” claims. The definition of “natural” adopted by AAFCO is very broad, allowing for artificially processed ingredients that most of us would consider highly unnatural. The term “organic,” on the other hand, has a very strict legal definition that the USDA has ruled applies to pet food. However, some companies are adept at evading the intent of these rules. For example, the company or product name may be intentionally misleading. For example, some companies use terms like “Nature” or “Natural” in the brand name, whether or not their products fit the definition of natural.
3. Declarations of quality of the ingredients. Many pet foods claim to contain “human grade” ingredients. This is a completely meaningless term, which is why pet food companies get away with using it. The same applies to “USDA inspected” or similar phrases. The implication is that the food is made with ingredients that are USDA-approved for human consumption, but there are plenty of ways around this. For example, a facility may be USDA inspected during the day, but pet food is prepared at night after the inspector goes home. The use of such terms should be viewed as a “hype alert.”
4. The statement “Meat is the first ingredient.” The claim that a named meat (chicken, lamb, etc.) is the #1 ingredient is usually seen on dry foods. Ingredients are listed on the label by weight, and raw chicken weighs a lot since it contains a lot of water. If you look further down the list, you’ll likely see ingredients like chicken or poultry by-product meal, meat and bone meal, corn gluten meal, soybean meal, or other dry protein. Meals have been stripped of fat and water, and essentially consist of a light, protein-rich, dry powder. It doesn’t take much raw chicken to outweigh a big pile of this powder. Not only that, but the “chicken” used in dry foods is actually a porridge that is about 90% water; then, in reality, the food is based on protein meal, and very little “chicken” is found.
This has become a very popular marketing trick, even in premium and “health food” type brands. Since everyone is using it now, any meaning it once had is so watered down that it’s best ignored.
5. Special ingredient statements. Many of today’s high-end pet foods rely on the commercial appeal of human food ingredients, such as fruits, herbs, vegetables, and a variety of supplements such as glucosamine or probiotics. However, the amounts of these elements actually present in food are small and non-therapeutic. Fruits and vegetables are often leftovers and waste from human food processors; certainly not the fresh, wholesome ingredients they want you to imagine. Such ingredients do not provide a significant health benefit and are just a marketing gimmick.
It’s a jungle out there… Pet food marketing and advertising has become extremely sophisticated in recent years. It’s important to know what’s exaggerated and what’s real, so you can make informed decisions about what to feed your pets.