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Dog Food Labels: Clarity or Confusion?

Does the label on industrially produced dog food promise more than it can deliver? Do you fully understand everything listed on it? And when do declarations become a real concern? Learn more about labels, declarations and what they actually mean.

As a dog mum or dad, you only want the best for your pet. And that also applies to what ends up in the bowl. Are you always sure about what you're feeding your best friend? Do you understand what the label is trying to tell you about the ingredients? Not so easy, to say the least.

Contents

Learning to read labels correctly

Is your four-legged friend hungry? Then it should surely be a wholesome, tasty and above all healthy meal. A food that doesn't entice you with advertising promises and ultimately contains none of the supposed benefits. In other words, a meal that contains natural ingredients, is easily digestible, does not cause any problems and is affordable. However, finding the right food for your four-legged friend can be more difficult than you think.

A healthy, species-appropriate dog meal is more than just the price, its declaration, analysis, composition and theoretical supply by numbers. A healthy dog diet depends on many different and important criteria that need to be taken into account when choosing the right food for your four-legged friend. Can you rely on the recommendations of the breeder, the dog trainer or your dog owner friends? It's best not to listen to too many opinions - because that can be confusing. Look at the label instead. Or not?

Here we have reached a point where you should learn to read labels. If you can do this, the decision in favour of or against a dog food will be made quite quickly. This is because you can make a rough selection between good and not-so-good dog food from the label without even having opened the food. This is because many facts about the contents are hidden between the lines.

The 4% rule: legal customer deception

How about "Fresh fish with jacket potatoes", "Wild boar delicacies" or "Guinea fowl with chard"? Dog menus today sound as if you were ordering your favourite meal in a Michelin-starred restaurant. According to the motto: "Only the best for my dog", people like to reach for the fine-sounding dog dishes and are delighted with the very special delicacy for their four-legged friend.

Unfortunately, appearances can be deceiving. The current regulations on the labelling of dog food give producers a lot of leeway when it comes to names and ingredients. Some dog menus sound like they contain more than they actually do. The reason for this is the so-called 4% clause as a legal basis, which allows a lot to get away with on cans and bags for our best friends. This clause states that a food called "fine fish fillets" only has to contain 4% fish and the rest can consist of other ingredients. In addition to the legally guaranteed 4% in the dog food, the remaining 96% can be made up of whatever is available in dog food production. And there are many possibilities here.

Turn round once, please: Look at the label

It is always important to look at the back of the label to check whether the contents do what the front promises. You will find all the necessary information about the selected product in the so-called "declaration". This includes composition, analysis data, feeding recommendations and additives - to name just a few of the mandatory details provided by the manufacturer. For the composition, the individual components must be listed in descending order of quantity. In addition, the ingredients listed at the top must contain a quantity, so that the remaining composition must be estimated based on the order and quantities disclosed. One obstacle for the consumer is that the manufacturer can choose between an open, semi-open or closed ingredient declaration and is therefore more or less free to decide how much information he actually provides his buyer in the end.

An eye for the essentials: Declaration is everything

The law offers dog food manufacturers a legal grey area that can also pose challenges for experts. After all, there are various declaration options. In general, there is a distinction between an open, semi-open and closed declaration for animal feed.

  • An open declaration requires a detailed indication of the amount contained in per cent for each ingredient. For this reason, the "open declaration" is almost only used for livestock feed for cattle and pigs.
  • The "semi-open declaration" is more common for dog food. This also contains a detailed description of each ingredient, but not all quantities are stated in order to protect the recipe to a certain extent. The semi-open declaration has the advantage that there is no generalised listing of ingredients in groups or that (precarious) raw materials may be concealed.
  • Unfortunately, many dog food manufacturers often opt for the "closed declaration", which is not quite as consumer-friendly and offers the most leeway on the label. This form is made up of feed groups. Only the overarching group designation such as meat and animal by-products, milk and dairy products or fish and fish by-products is used, regardless of the quality of the raw materials.

    • Unfortunately, the "closed declaration" is not transparent for consumers. Based on such information, no one can recognise exactly which menu components the menu actually contains. If you believe that fine rabbit muscle meat ends up in the bowl, there may theoretically have been many different types of meat and parts used in addition to rabbit. Unfortunately, the label does not reveal this. This is a particular problem for dogs with allergies or intolerances.

    Often read, never thought about: meat and animal by-products

    Even for experts, the component labelling of the "closed declaration" is not particularly transparent. Such a declaration does not allow consumers in Germany to clearly recognise where the protein in the products (muscle meat, meat and bone meal or soya) comes from. In most cases, the packaging only mentions that "meat and animal by-products" or "vegetable by-products" have been used.

    The term "animal by-products" almost always refers to the so-called "K3 material". This describes waste that originates from meat slaughtering or processing. It is no longer suitable for human consumption, but can be utilised in dog food, where it serves as a popular source of protein.

    Meat is the dog's vegetable

    The consumer recognises a high-quality dog food not only by a clear declaration, but also by the main component of the menu. The "carni-omnivore" (carnivorous and omnivorous) dog should always be fed meat as its main food. The quality of the dog food can therefore be assessed on the basis of the meat content alone. Meat should always come first in good food, as the ingredients in the composition appear to decrease in quantity. But be careful, you can also cheat here! Although meat is mentioned first, another part can still predominate if the following individual ingredients outweigh it in total.

    Crude protein - it's worth taking a look

    Not only the ratio of the ingredients to each other, but also the analysis data itself contribute to the evaluation of the feed. The crude protein value is particularly important here. If it is too low, the feed does not contain enough meat or contains inferior meat with a possibly high proportion of connective tissue. And watch out! Crude protein can also come from plant components. For example, a feed could contain only 5 % meat and still contain 25 % crude protein. The protein then comes mainly from the added plant sources.

    However, the nutritional value and bioavailability of plant proteins for dogs is lower than that of animal proteins, as their metabolism can only break down around 35% of plant proteins. In contrast, dogs absorb up to 90% of animal proteins, which means a significantly higher nutritional value for them and makes the food more valuable. To make an accurate assessment of protein content and food quality, it is therefore necessary to evaluate all labelling information in its entirety. In this way, it is possible that the labelling information reveals more than one would expect at first glance.

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    LuckyChef homeAll articles
    Learning to read labels correctly
    The 4% rule: legal customer deception
    Turn round once, please: Look at the label
    An eye for the essentials: Declaration is everything
    Often read, never thought about: meat and animal by-products
    Meat is the dog's vegetable
    Crude protein - it's worth taking a look
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