is it grain free?,
is it premium?
it says usda organic.
do any of these label claims actually mean anything? are these cat foods any better than
any other cat foods. let's find out!
hey friends it's jess and jericho from caticles.com here to teach you how to feed your cat better.
if you don't know by now cat food labels can be very misleading and confusing if you dont't
understand product name rules and aafco definitions. even the fda says that pet food manufacturers
use fancy claims and marketing gimmicks to sell their products.
first, let's talk about organic
according to AAFCO Organic regulations specific for pet foods are currently being developed.
In the interim, the NOP has said that pet foods claiming to be organic must meet its
human food regulations. Certified organic foods will display a USDA organic seal and
must be made of at least 95% organic ingredients.
I looked at different brands that had the usda organic seal on the cat food label. one
dry food that had the organic seal was 41% carbohydrates on a dry matter basis! maybe
the ingredient quality is better but almost half the product is carbohydrates!
the wet cat food version of the same brand had 22% carbohydrates on a dry matter basis.
now 22 is better than 41 but it's still not ideal.
the nrc says that carbohydrates are not essential to the cat's diet. additionally, holistic
vets say that carbs lead to obesity. and obesity can lead to a variety of health issues.
another usda organic cat food had 36% carbohydrates for their dry food and 12% carbs for their
wet food.
12% might not seem like a lot but let's put it into perspective.
cats will consume the stomach contents of prey. and their prey are herbivores so stomach
contents will contain some plant material. but it's only approximately 2%. 12% carbs
is a 500% increase from the cat's natural diet.
gimme a polydactyl thumbs up for jericho eating those pinky mice.
by the way, that second organic cat food also said grain-free on the label.
a lot of pet food companies use the term grain free because they know that we want to see
a carbohydrate free product. but grain free does not mean carb free. there are plenty
of vegetables and legumes that are high in carbohydrates.
and in the instance of kibble, carbohydrates are absolutely necessary for the production.
otherwise,all of the ingredients would fall apart.
here's an example of a dry cat food that's labeled grain free. in the first few ingredients
we see dried peas, pea flour, and dried potato. further down the list we see more peas in
the form of pea protein and then pumpkin. this particular grain free cat food is approximately
39% carbs on a dry matter basis.
have you ever seen the word premium on the cat food label? guess what? it means absolutely
nothing! AAFCO says that premium is a completely unregulated term. it does not mean that it's
better quality and it does not mean that the product was held to any different standards
than any other cat food products
here's a wet food with premium, natural, and grain free on the label. 3 for 3!
the carb amount for this NATURAL cat food is 11%. so that's still a 450% increase from
the cat's NATURAL diet. see what I did there? natural.
also, 3 of the first 5 ingredients are a complete mystery. the label says liver, broth, and
fish. where did the liver come from? what type of broth are we talking about? what kind
of fish?
how can this food be premium if the ingredients aren't even specific. you can't even tell
me what type of fish and where the liver came from in this "premium" food?
that label also said natural so let's take a look at that.
The FDA has not yet defined natural in relation to pet food labeling. There is no requirement
or statement that natural feeds or ingredients are safer than those produced by a chemically
synthetic process.
A feed ingredient can be subjected to a number of commonly-used processes during the manufacturing
process and still be deemed natural.
so essentially rendered meats can still be called natural. and I cover rendered meats
in another video about ingredients to avoid. I'll put it in the top right corner and in
the description.
this was taken from a crs report for congress on animal rendering. Renderers annually convert
47 billion pounds or more of raw animal materials into approximately 18 billion pounds of products.
Sources for these materials include meat slaughtering and processing plants (the primary one); dead
animals from farms, ranches, feedlots, marketing barns, animal shelters, and other facilities;
and fats, grease, and other food waste from restaurants and stores.
one cat food brand that I saw is called naturals. the second and third ingredients are corn
gluten meal and brewer's rice aka floor sweepings from the human food industry.
it also has chicken byproduct meal and animal fat. and byproducts include rendered meats.
rendered meats include 4d meats. meaning dead diseased dying and disabled.
and then animal fat is a complete mystery. what animal?
how can you say natural when you can't tell me what animal provided the fat?
another label claim I saw was natural food for cats. it had Brewers Rice, Dried Peas,
and Corn Gluten Meal in the first five ingredients.
rice, peas, and corn are not part of the cat's natural diet.
another ingredient was poultry fat. what kind of poultry?!
now let's talk about the human grade claim. Feed law doesn't officially have a definition
for this term.
on AAFCO's website it states Edible is a standard; human-grade is not.
For a product to be deemed edible for humans, all ingredients must be human edible and the
product must be manufactured, packed and held in accordance with federal regulations in
21 CFR 110, Current Good Manufacturing Practice in Manufacturing, Packing, or Holding Human
Food. If these conditions are met for a pet food,
human-grade claims may be made.
so we have to check the pet food company's website to see if the product was produced
in a human food production facility. that's the only way the pet food can claim human
grade.
the pet food manufacturer should supply a screen shot of an email from the department
of health and human services division of animal feeds center for veterinary medicine stating
that the manufacturer can use this human grade claim.
at the end of the day you can't trust any of these label claims basically.
if you want to learn more about how to read the cat food label, check out this video right
over meow.
thanks for watching!