AAFCO wants to know: What do YOU want from an ingredient statement?
Guest Post! Originally posted by Susan Thixton on TruthAboutPetFood, November 6, 2015, and re-posted here with permission.
Your Opportunity to Tell Manufacturers and Regulatory what You want!
This is another first. Consumer representatives have been asked to participate in an industry directed seminar to provide ‘what the consumer wants’. FDA will be speaking, State regulators will be speaking, industry representatives will be speaking. And…consumer representatives get to provide our input too. Wonderful opportunity for us.
At the AAFCO public meeting in January (1/17 – 1/20/2016 in Isle of Palms, South Carolina), AAFCO is holding a special session to help teach ingredient suppliers and manufacturers how to go through the ingredient approval process. AAFCO asked me (and Mollie Morrissette and Dr. Hofve) to participate in this special session providing information on what consumers want from ingredient definitions. My presentation will be based on what you tell me you want them to know.
So…knowing that this session is for industry, and knowing that it is presented to teach industry (pet food manufacturers, animal feed manufacturers, ingredient manufacturers) how to go through the proper process for approval of an ingredient – consumer advocates are asked to present on ‘What do pet parents want from an ingredient statement?’
We have 20 minutes (which is a good amount of time!) to give our presentation. What do you want industry to know?
What are your challenges/frustrations with pet food ingredients?
If you needed to understand a pet food ingredient – where do you go to find that definition?
How easy or difficult is it to find the definition of a pet food ingredient?
Do you understand the definition?
Does the list of ingredients on a pet food label give you the right information? What do you like or dislike?
What do you want the pet food label to tell you (in reference to ingredients only)?
And anything else you can tell me – what you want from pet food ingredients – that will be great. I will put together a presentation based on your feedback – and after the AAFCO meeting I will provide that presentation here for all of you to see.
We don’t know if ‘they’ will listen – but…FDA and AAFCO along with industry will be hearing our presentation. It is a great first step to getting our voices heard! My thanks to AAFCO (specifically to President Richard TenEyck) for giving us this opportunity.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
Tracy here!
Please take a couple of minutes to add your voice to ours and to the many others who are demanding change to the pet food industry’s confusing, unhelpful and at times misleading pet food labeling practices.
Do you want a more accurate Guaranteed Analysis of protein, fat, fiber, moisture and ash than today’s minimum/maximum numbers? How about clear meat/plant identification of calorie or protein sources? Or perhaps an end to “Ingredient Splitting” (often used to hide true “filler” amounts)?
Then contact me directly, leave your comments below, or hop over to Susan’s site and leave your comments there… whatever way is most convenient for you, as long as you say something.
And of course share this opportunity with every pet-loving family member, friend, colleague and neighbor you have.
Join us in working to make tomorrow’s manufactured cat food a healthier option for our kitties!
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I would like to see the amount of purines listed on labels, since I have potential stone forming dogs.
I would like to see cleaner ingredients. Why would I want to feed my babies something I wouldn’t eat. I would like to be able to read the label and know what everything is and know it isn’t by-products or empty calories. I view my animals like they are one of my human children.
I want to see the exact percentages of the meat or fish as well as fillers and what fillers are in the food. I want to know if there are antibiotics, GMOs, etc.. I also want to know why the Veterinarians of this country do not have a rating system for pet foods. They of course would have to offer the ratings impartially, not being bought to give a high rating to certain foods. I also want to know the water content in percentages and where the main meat or fish came from ad CLEAR, LARGE expiration dates on the bags and cans.
Agree!!!
I’d like to see actual calories per can on the foods. KCals mean absolutely nothing to me since I don’t have a degree in veterinary medicine (my daughter does and did the calculations for me, but I don’t have access to her brain sometimes when I most need it), and I’m a total loss when it comes to math! I have 2 cats and one is overweight. If I knew the amount of calories per can it would be helpful.
meat as 1st ingredient, human grade if possible. High protein moderate fat and very low carb and fiber. No grains and no carrageenan, at least 70 % moisture. More accurate labeling rather than maximums and minimums.
IF the ingredient list merely says “chicken” I want to know what percentage of the food is bone. If the title is cuts or chunks I want to know if it is actually chunks of meat or fake meat made out of flour or such. I would like to know if any of the ingredients in canned wet food are rendered ingredients or freshly slaughtered for the manufacture of the food. It would also be helpful to know how much liver is in the percentage as some foods list liver as the third ingredient. Ideally, if it is a fish product to know where the fish came from and whether it was farmed or caught. I”m sure I have a dozen questions that will come to me later. Thanks!
I want to know how much taurine is in the food. Don’t label something as ‘fish’ or meat, I want to know what kind it is! More animal protein and less plant protein. I want to know how many vitamins are in food, is there vitamin a? Where are the ingredients from? I don’t want meat from China or Thailand. I don’t want antibiotics or GMO’s in my pet food. Tell me what is in it!! I would not feed my cats most of the food on the market. I mean cats don’t eat corn, why is it the first ingredient?
Honesty, without fancy names or cover ups to hide what the ingredients truly are. Much less grains, and if there are toxic substances such as ethoxyquin preservative, it must be listed. EVERY ingredient listed and for what it truly is!
I would like to see percentage of what is used and what it is in layman’s terms as well as technical.We NEED to understand it. So much dog/ cat foods on the market are garbage! People need to know that!
PLEASE PLEASE if you can’t make huge changes … leave OUT the artificial colorants! Many cats like humans have sensitivities to RED#, YELLOW# ETC. They are not needed and we do not want them in our pets’ foods!!