Given how often that misinformation has been drilled on here, it is easy to make that mistake. Here are few links pertaining to that very subject.
http://www.gocorgi.com/forums/news/2...ting-find.html
http://www.gocorgi.com/forums/diet-n...not-aafco.html
And, then this statement:
http://www.gocorgi.com/forums/diet-n...statement.html
The below note is from the Chair of AAFCO Pet Food Committee. It has been posted before, however Michael keeps forgetting that AAFCO themselves state they do not approve any products.
Debbie
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"I want to be real sure that you have the correct understanding of the nutritional adequacy statement. It is not an "approval" of any kind. AAFCO does establish the standard, it is the responsibility of the firm to meet the standard, but AAFCO does not approve any products.
Proper formulation and labeling is a legal requirement that the company must meet. The companies are required, by state laws and regulations, to substantiate that their product meets the requirements for one or more life stages and to label the products in agreement with the substantiation so that the consumer will enough information to compare products and to select appropriate products for their animal.
Since the nutritional adequacy statement is in effect a required guarantee, regulators will test products collected from retail to verify that the nutrients are at the correct level based on the nutritional adequacy statement. There are between 30 and 40 nutrients which much be present at specific levels in order for a product to meet the AAFCO Nutrient Profiles. Regulators will also require that pet food manufacturers provide affidavits that they actually did do the work required to establish the nutritional adequacy of the food.
A bit more on the life stages issues. An "All Life Stages" product is a general use, "one size fits all" product which is formulated so that no nutrient (of the 30-40 required) will be below the minimum for any particular life stage. What this means is that such a product will likely be over-formulated for certain life stages, particularly for maintenance. All Life Stages diets are perfectly safe nutritionally, however, a mature couch potato pet may gain weight on this type of product since it will have higher energy and protein values than what is required for maintenance purposes.
In most consumer situations, growth and maintenance are the life stages of interests and an all life stages product and will work out for a normal and healthy animal if a person watches their adult pet's body condition and avoids overfeeding an older animal. Again, All Life stages is OK for a healthy animal, but, for example, an older animal with kidney issues should not be fed an all life stages/growth/lactation/reproduction diet because the protein levels will add additional loads to the kidneys.
You can certainly post the information to your forum. I would also suggest posting the Minnesota Feed Website
Commercial Feed Program so that people can find the pet food references, which will shed a lot of light on product labeling."
Sincerely,
Dave
David Syverson
Chair, AAFCO Pet Food Committee
Located at:
Minnesota Department of Agriculture
Dairy and Food Inspection Division
625 Robert Street North
St. Paul, MN 55155-2538
Web Site**
Commercial Feed Program