AAFCO Statement

[glencorgi]

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 www.mda.state.mn.us/feed 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** http://www.mda.state.mn.us/feed

[Michael Romanos]

Debbie - you are playing on words. AAFCO-approved to me means that the food contains at least the minimum standards and the maximum standards (where applicable) of AAFCO as applied to the approx 38 vitamins, minerals and nutrients that are currently designated as required for puppies, adult dogs and senior dogs on a daily basis to form a complete and balanced diet.

What do you understand AAFCO-approved to mean?

[glencorgi]

In the sense you are using AAFCO "approved," one should be able to look on a bag of kibble, a can of wet food, or a package of dog treats and see a little seal that says "AAFCO APPROVED", like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, which is not the case. All prior conversations on this topic has yet to convince you that that does not occur in the labeling. However, now that the letter has a thread of its own and isn't lost in the midst of other posts, and it does containt the statement "AAFCO does not approve products," methinks someone else may be playing with words or trying for a semantic out.

Having read many, many a bag of dog food, I know that this is what finds: "Animal feeding tests using Associaton of American Feed Control Officials procedures substantiate that XXXX Brand of Food Formula provides complete and balanced nutrition for all life stages." Or "AAFCO Statement: Animal feeding tests using Association of American Feed Control Officials procedures substantiate the XXXXX Brand Super Pemium Puppy Chicken, Rice & Vegetable Formula provides complete and balanced nutrition for all life stages." To me that does NOT insinuate "APPROVED" rather that the food meets the minimum nutritional requirements as set forth by AAFCO. The statement says nothing about the ingredients or the quality of the ingredients, which could be lamb flavored cardboard, or rendered road kill, or human grade; but as long as in AAFCO feeding tests the appropriate percentage of the 38 or so vitamins, minerals, protein, etc. are met, then the food can have a statement like one of the above on the label. Because of the wide variety of ingredients, not to mention the disparities in quality, that can be found in foods that meet AAFCO requirements, that is a reason many of us do not put as much stock in the statement or as you call it, "approval" as you do. If we are buying a chicken formula food, then we want the first ingredient to be chicken, not corn and we don't have to wade through four or five ingredients to find anything remotely to do with chicken and then have it be chicken by-products at that point. AAFCO statements are no different than the chart at McDonald's that shows the Chicken McNugget Happy Meal meets certain percentages of the USDA's recommended nutritional allowances for vitamins A, B and C for example.

Being a writer, I would think you of all people would know words mean things and statements such as the above are not the same thing as "approval." Just means the food, in AAFCO feeding tests, meets the minimum requirements AAFCO has set forth.

Debbie

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by glencorgi

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.

Now, I take this statement to mean that an adult dog food, forumlated for all life stages is forumlated to meet the requirements of a puppy. And that those requirements might exceed what an adult dog needs.

Which means it meets all the requierments for a puppy's growth stages and WILL NOT HARM OR BE DANGEROUS FOR a puppy. And this what I have been saying all along.

Peggy

[Michael Romanos]

Peggy - you've missed my point again. Not all adult and senior dogs are suited to a daily intake of food that is suitable for puppies too, vis the all stages, all ages. Not all all-stages, all ages food fulfills requirements to obtain an AAFCO approval rating. Any food company can state that their food is for all ages, all stages. Now do you get me?

I personally would not want to give my dog "all purpose' food daily because I believe my Corgi is normal and should have the benefit of separate stages food to maximise the benefits.

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

Peggy - you've missed my point again. Not all adult and senior dogs are suited to a daily intake of food that is suitable for puppies too, vis the all stages, all ages. Not all all-stages, all ages food fulfills requirements to obtain an AAFCO approval rating. Any food company can state that their food is for all ages, all stages. Now do you get me?

I personally would not want to give my dog "all purpose' food daily because I believe my Corgi is normal and should have the benefit of separate stages food to maximise the benefits.

IMO, you keep changing the points. We were not discussing seniors or adult dogs. We were discussing feeding puppies.

And no I don't "get you". You are the one who keeps harping on AAFCO guidelines, approval or whatever. It's their guidelines that make a food suitable for all life stages. Meaning it has to be formulated for the higest of the nutritional values.

And yes, as a matter of fact my adult dogs, and seniors and puppies all eat the same food. An adult maintence food. My dogs currently are ages 2 1/2 to 15 years. And they are all eating an adult maintence food.

Now this doesn't mean I won't feed a dog something special if that dog needs it. Right now I don't have any needing special diets.

I also belive you have the choice to feed YOUR dog the way you want and and I have the choice to do the same. And I have the right to voice my opinion and tell people what I belive and what has worked for me.

I do not belive you need to feed puppy forumlas or senior forumlas or whatever. Just adjust the amount of food as needed for each dog to maintain a proper weight. This is what I have been doing for the last 7 years and it seems to be working for me.

Peggy

[Michael Romanos]

I'm afraid what you are saying is nutty amd counter-productive, and if you could stop to think about it, you'd agree.

[glencorgi]

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

Peggy - you've missed my point again. Not all adult and senior dogs are suited to a daily intake of food that is suitable for puppies too, vis the all stages, all ages.

DUH!!!

How much clearer does the below have to be?

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.

Examples of some "exceptions" are given and explained in the above excerpt. Protein levels in puppy foods can range from 26 to 28 to even 30 and 32%; those same percentage levels can be found in "adult" foods and one that comes to mind has a 40% protein level and it isn't a puppy food. And yes, all of these different foods have an AAFCO statement on their packaging or "approval" as you are so intent on calling it. Furthermore, believe it or not, there are even foods that exceed AAFCO's minimum nutritional requirements.

Not all all-stages, all ages food fulfills requirements to obtain an AAFCO approval rating. Any food company can state that their food is for all ages, all stages. Now do you get me?

Labeling requirements are very strict in the US, so it isn't quite as easy to put something on one's package that can't be substantiated as you would like to protray it to be.

I personally would not want to give my dog "all purpose' food daily because I believe my Corgi is normal and should have the benefit of separate stages food to maximise the benefits.

And in that vein, during heavier training seasons for agility do you feed performance formula foods?

Debbie

[Michael Romanos]

No. Hills has advised me that it is un-necessary to feed a Corgi active in agility with one of their high performance/high active type food and instead utilise their normal adult diet.

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

I'm afraid what you are saying is nutty amd counter-productive, and if you could stop to think about it, you'd agree.

And now you're saying I'm nutty. How is what I'm saying counter productive?

Peggy

[glencorgi]

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

No. Hills has advised me that it is un-necessary to feed a Corgi active in agility with one of their high performance/high active type food and instead utilise their normal adult diet.

But isn't that contradicting all the other advice you are giving? Puppies need puppy food, juniors need junior labeled food, adults need adult labeled food, seniors need senior labeled food, Dachshunds need Doxie formulated food, Yorkshire Terriers need Yorkie formulated food, German Shepherds need GSD formulated foods, Herding breeds need herding formulated foods, Toys need Toy breed formulated food, etc., etc. and so on. Soooo, following your advice literally, a dog involved in performance sports and training would need a performance formulated food, would it not?

Now again, should I wish to follow your example I could say that your feeding protocols for a performance dog are "nutty amd counter-productive" and perhaps even "dangerous." HOWEVER, that is not what I believe and via experience and learning from others I am able to respect what is working for you as well as what works for others. The bottom line is there is NO one correct way to feed a dog. What works for your corgis may not work for my corgis. I may not be able to feed Hills because I have a dog with corn allergies. Someone else may not be able to a chicken based food because their dog is allergic to chicken. I have raised puppies that started out on puppy formulas and some did fine, others with heavier bone and more substance we saw some pano problems. I've raised puppies that have been fed adult formula since weaning and they have done fine; no early deaths or debilitating health issues.

What I personally do find potentially dangerous is someone who tries to mandate/dictate in absolutes that his way is the ONLY correct way to feed a corgi. IF I followed what Michael says a corgi puppy should be fed, then I would have a 4 1/2 month old puppy that would be obese and suffering from panosteitis due to his size, substance, amount of bone and overall balance. A continued, steady diet of "hot" foods would be detrimental to him growing in a healthy manner.

So when the question is asked, "What should I feed my corgi?" or "How much should I feed my corgi?" there is NO ONE RIGHT answer to those questions. We can share our experiences and what works for us, make recommendations and suggestions, but the true way to find the answers is trial and error to a degree and research. Read through the archives, read lots of dog food packages and labels. Whole Dog Journal is a good resource to check out, especially their annual food issue. Talk to people at training classes and in the pet supply stores. The right food to feed your corgi is the one that it does well on (and there might be several); how much to feed in many ways depends upon your corgi's age, size, and overall proportions.

Debbie