How to Read a Pet Treat Label

Read a treat label in this order: the ingredient list, then the guaranteed analysis, then the calorie line, then the feeding directions. The marketing words on the front come last, because they are the maker's choice, and the required lines are where the rules apply.

The front of the bag and the back of the bag

Take one real bag in your hands. The bag used here is Sniff and Shift's freeze dried beef heart in the 3 ounce size, a single ingredient treat freeze dried in small batches in Malvern, with beef from Pennsylvania farms. Its label is laid out the way many treat labels are, and the lines run in this order:

• Front: the product name, and a line naming the form and the animal, here Freeze Dried Dog Treats.
• Front: the ingredient line, here a single item, Beef Heart.
• Front: the net weight, written as 3 oz (85 g).
• Back: feeding directions, opening with Feed as a treat.
• Back: the guaranteed analysis, four lines of percentages.
• Back: the calorie content, per kilogram and per ounce.
• Back: the maker's name and address, a best by date and a batch number.

FDA's pet food labeling requirements name the product identity, the net quantity, the maker or distributor's name and place of business, and the ingredient list as parts of a label. AAFCO's model rules add the guaranteed analysis, the feeding directions and the calorie statement that many states adopt. Anything on the front beyond those is the maker talking.

AAFCO defines the front panel words that readers notice most, and its definitions are narrower than most expect. AAFCO defines natural as derived only from plant, animal or mined sources and not produced by a chemically synthetic process. AAFCO says its guidance on human grade ties the term to the whole product, ingredients and manufacture, meeting human food standards. A bag may print either word, and the definition is what it has to meet.

Ingredient order

FDA and AAFCO both describe the ingredient list as written in descending order by weight, so the first item is the heaviest. On a single ingredient bag the point does not arise, because there is one item on the line.

A single ingredient claim is easy to test. Look at the list. If it holds one item and no commas, the claim holds. If it holds a protein plus a preservative, a binder and a flavor, the claim does not, whatever the front says.

Read the list as a description of the bag. A name like Beef Heart says what the thing is and nothing else. A list that runs to twenty items says something different, and so does one that opens with a general word such as meat in place of an animal. Neither is a fault. Each tells you what you are buying.

Guaranteed analysis

AAFCO describes the guaranteed analysis as a short list in a fixed order: minimum crude protein, minimum crude fat, maximum crude fiber and maximum moisture. The word crude is the name of the laboratory method and not a grade. On the beef heart bag the analysis is four lines of percentages, with the last two marked as maximums.

The figures are guarantees, not measurements of the bag in your hand. A minimum is a promise of at least that much, and a maximum is a promise of no more. The contents of one bag can sit well inside both.

Percentages on a label are taken as the bag is, water included, so a dry treat and a moist treat cannot be compared line against line. A freeze dried treat has very little water, and its percentages read high next to a soft, moist chew. Compare freeze dried with freeze dried, and soft with soft.

Calorie statement

The calorie line is the one most owners skip and the one that matters most for a treat. AAFCO's model rules ask for a calorie statement in kilocalories of metabolizable energy per kilogram, written kcal ME/kg, along with a figure per familiar unit such as a cup or a piece. The beef heart bag gives its second figure per ounce.

A figure per kilogram is not much use at the counter, because no one feeds a kilogram. Here is the way to turn it into a figure per piece: weigh ten pieces and divide. Take a label that prints 3,000 kcal per kg as a round example, not a real product. Ten pieces weigh 20 grams on a kitchen scale, which is 0.02 kilograms. At the label's 3,000 kcal per kg that is 60 kcal for the ten, or 6 kcal for each piece.

Do the weighing once with the bag you actually have, and write the answer on the bag with a marker. Pieces vary in size from batch to batch, so ten pieces from the middle of the bag give a better figure than ten picked for being small. Once you know the figure per piece, the daily count is arithmetic. The guide on how many treats a day takes it from there.

Feeding directions and the intermittent feeding line

AAFCO describes the intermittent or supplemental feeding statement as the way a label says a product is not meant to be the whole diet. A food that is complete and balanced carries a different statement. A treat carries this one, and it is the honest line on a treat label: this is an extra.

The beef heart bag opens its directions with Feed as a treat. Treat directions are short and rarely give a number, which is why the weighing above matters.

Read the handling lines as well. Raw and freeze dried animal products are covered in the raw feeding notice, which applies to everything on this site.

Keep the part of the bag with the best by date and the batch number until the treats are gone. The raw feeding notice on this site asks you to keep the package, including any lot number or date on it, until the product is used up, and a batch number is how a problem with one batch gets traced.

Origin and the maker's address

This is where labels say the least. A label is honest about what is in the bag and says little about where it came from. FDA lists the maker or distributor's name and place of business as a label requirement, and that is an address, which may be an office or a mailbox and not the building where the treat was made.

A Made in USA claim has its own rule. The FTC says an unqualified claim means the product is all or virtually all made in the United States, and a label that says so while using imported inputs is making a claim it has to meet. The longer answer is in what Made in USA means on dog treats.

When the origin matters to you, look for a label or a listing that states it in words: a state, a farm region, a plain sentence. A label that says nothing is not a hint either way.

The single ingredient dog treats collection is a good place to practice, since a one item ingredient line is the easiest label to read.

Common questions

What does ME mean on a calorie statement?

It stands for metabolizable energy, the figure AAFCO's model rules use for calories on a pet food label. It is written kcal ME/kg, with a second figure per piece, cup or other unit. Weigh ten pieces to turn it into a figure per piece.

What does crude mean in crude protein?

AAFCO uses crude for the laboratory method that is behind the figure. It is not a grade of quality. The same word appears on crude fat and crude fiber.

Why is the ingredient order on a bag important?

FDA and AAFCO both describe the list as written in descending order by weight. The first item is the heaviest. A single ingredient list has just one item and no commas.

What does intermittent or supplemental feeding mean?

AAFCO describes it as the label's way of saying a product is not the whole diet. Treats carry it. It means the product is an extra, to be used alongside the regular food.