First Ingredient Misconceptions


Ingredients on a pet food label are listed in the order of the amount included in the product. However, this can lead to misconceptions about how much actual meat is in a product in comparison to grain, since they are listed in a manner that includes their water weight.

Simply listing the word "chicken" or "lamb" indicates an ingredient that is high in water, diluting its protein and nutrient content. The word "meal" seen behind a meat source indicates it is a dry form ingredient which provides denser protein and nutrient levels.

In many foods that list meat as the first ingredient, grain content can actually be higher since the moisture is cooked out of the "chicken" or "lamb" during production.

Label Deceptions 101

I have been really happy to see the increased interest consumers have about dog food ingredients and how they are trying to learn how to read a label. However, there are some misleading issues that are being omitted from what I've been reading.

A Tale of Making a Purchase

A family member is asked to go buy salad dressing. When they get to the store WOW what a selection! There will be quite a difference in taste depending on the choice. More often than not, you do get what you pay for. NOW, they take the salad dressing home and dinner is prepped. Opening the container, they put one teaspoon of salad dressing on someone's salad.

Quiz

How can you tell how much of what particular ingredient is really in the salad dressing? You can't. But your taste buds will be able to tell. In the same way, a dog food label can be deceptive and the only true way to find out what is best for your dog is to actually try a product out.

Comment

If one teaspoon of salad dressing was placed on a salad, TECHNICALLY, there has been salad dressing placed on the salad.

What does this have to do with dog food?

You can't really tell how much of each ingredient there is by label representation. You also can't tell the quality. The most miniscule amount can make it on the label. Both quality and quantity count - but you won't be able to discern that by the written word.

First Ingredients

Boy, have we ever been brain washed on this one.

The first ingredient is often WHAT THERE IS THE LEAST OF in a pet food by the time you start adding up the first five to ten ingredients.

Example??

Lets say the food is formulated by the ton.

Look at your ingredient label. If you have chicken or even chicken meal followed by three to five grain sources, there is much more grain in your food than "meat." This mock formula has only 300 pounds of meat and 1250 pounds of grain.

BUT what have we been taught??

Look at that first ingredient and obsess on it!!

Pet food ingredient labels are listed in "wet weight matter" meaning that the first ingredient contains the most moisture in the product.

When reading a label, the nomenclature is critical to understand.

"Chicken" is approximately 65% - 70% moisture and 13% protein

"Chicken Meal" is approximately 6% - 8% moisture and 65% protein

"Chicken" as a first ingredient is probably one of the best marketing angles the pet food industry has come up with. They have played on the concept that the first ingredient is what there is the most of in a feed, which is true. But, if you were to remove the moisture content, chicken as an ingredient would sink on the ingredient label panel.

When reading a pet food label, think of individual ingredients as belonging to a "meat" or "grain" family and add that total up. It creates an entirely different picture of the true "meat" content in the product. If you examine closely, you will see that many companies lead in with chicken as their first ingredient (again, mostly moisture) and follow it with a wide variety of grains, hence "splitting out" the ingredients.

Even products that list chicken meal as a first ingredient "split out" the remainder of their food with multiple grains in order to be cost effective. Even though you are looking at dry kibble, the actual content of "meat" is important to your dog's health, as well as the palatability.

If you truly want to be an educated consumer, it takes some common sense along with knowledge to make the right choice. What is the true motivation of a company? How much of their budget is being spent on advertising and fancy packaging?

There are a lot of great products on the market, but there still wasn't one that was good enough for me. Every year we review any scientific data that is substantive to consider to improve Kumpi products.

We aren't "dumbing down" in any way and we don't adjust the formula to accommodate the fluctuations in market commodities.

Pet nutrition is my passion. Give me a call and just try to get me off the phone!!