Many dog owners and veterinarians find assurance in a food which meets AAFCO nutrient standards. But are the current standards appropriate for raw dog food?
One of the purposes of the American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) is to oversee nutritional adequacy statements on pet food labels. Although AAFCO statements are intended to assure the available pet foods are “complete and balanced” diets, AAFCO doesn’t regulate, test, approve or certify pet foods. It’s the pet food manufacturers’ responsibility to manufacture the pet food according to AAFCO standards. In fact, the guaranteed analysis of the food and whether or not it truly meets AAFCO nutritional standards may never be verified by a regulatory authority.
Currently, all pet foods carry one of three statements, as approved by AAFCO:
“Animal feeding tests using AAFCO procedures substantiate this product provides complete and balanced nutrition for all life stages of dogs and cats.”
This means the company chose to conduct feeding trials on their food. This could be an excellent way to test a food if the trials were statistically significant. But at present only eight dogs are required to be in an AAFCO feeding trial and only six have to complete it for that trial to qualify. Additionally, trials are run for only a short period of time: 26 weeks (unless the trial is for growth, then it is only 10 weeks).
Only four values are examined in an AAFCO feeding trial: hemoglobin, packed cell volume, serum alkaline phosphatase (SAP) and serum albumin. There is no requirement for a full blood chemistry panel, no complete blood count and no urinalysis. The dog is examined by a veterinarian before and after the trial for clinical signs of nutritional disease, but unless a food is blatantly formulated wrong, it’s unlikely that within this brief period of time the dog will develop clinical signs of a problem.
According to David Dzanis of the FDA, “Especially in the maintenance trials, subtle chronic nutrient deficiencies or excesses can be overlooked.”
“This product is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog and Cat Food Nutrient Profiles for All Life Stages” (or for growth).”
Rather than doing expensive feeding trials, manufacturers may choose to formulate their food to meet AAFCO nutritional panels. But can chemical analyses and nutrient profiles determine if a food provides excellent nutrition for a dog? According to the National Research Council‘s The Nutrient Requirements of Dogs (NRC Guidelines) “…caution is advised in the use of these requirements without demonstration of nutrient availability, because in some cases requirements have been established on the basis of studies in which nutrients were supplied by highly purified ingredients where digestibility and availability were not compromised by the interaction of dietary constituents and effects of processing. Practical diets formulated from commonly used ingredients are not free of such interactions and effects, and therefore may provide less available nutrients than the amounts measured by chemical analysis. For this reason, such diets formulated to the chemically assayed nutrient levels…may prove inadequate in meeting the nutritional needs of dogs.”
There is often variance from batch to batch yet manufacturers aren’t required to test every batch. They can also vary their ingredients to some degree and aren’t required to report it on the label.
“No one knows how to precisely formulate a diet with optimal amounts of nutrients….The amount of any needed nutrient falls in an optimal range rather than being a specific amount” says Dr. Donald Strombach DVM, PhD (Home-Prepared Dog & Cat Diets:The Healthful Alternative): “Feeding a marginally adequate diet may result in no signs in a sedentary animal. However, with the addition of stress, that diet is nutritionally inadequate.”
David Dzanis from the FDA writes, “Unequivocal proof of a product’s nutritional adequacy for all animals under all conditions can never be achieved.”
“This product is intended for intermittent or supplemental feeding only.”
This means the food does not meet AAFCO nutrient profiles. Interestingly, some commercial raw foods fall under this category and are forced to display this qualification on their label. Can a food labeled this way still be a good choice for our pets?
Alternatively, can a raw food meet AAFCO standards and still adhere to the principles of raw feeding?
The Myth of 100% Complete Nutrition
If raw foods are required to meet the same standards as kibble, AAFCO standards may actually cause raw food manufacturers to do more harm than good.
Continue Reading Here:
https://rawdogfoodandco.com/why-labels-say-for-intermittent-or-supplemental-feeding/