Human Grade Dog Food: is there really such thing?

Article by kendra k.

In recent days there has been an eruption in the dog food market with what is called human grade dog food. This is the rave now with people who can afford to pay the additional costs of feeding their family dogs with these. Some do so thinking that it is the best quality dog food available and are therefore prepared to pay the relatively higher price.

But, the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) has yet to define what exactly “human grade dog food” is. Hence it currently pretty much means whatever the food manufacturers want it to mean. Most people just take it to mean that it refers to food that can be eaten by humans but produced for dogs.

The AAFCO has said that using this term on dog foods is inaccurate and misleading. Since there is no clear definition yet of what is human grade, there are really no standards to follow in ensuring that a particular dog food is in fact human grade. In view of this, each manufacturer who can include whatever ingredient it chooses or feel are human grade. This situation has led the AAFCO to prohibit the labeling of “human grade” on dog food. In spite of this, there are companies that have been doing so for some time now. Others do not really print such claims on the dog food packaging itself but they do make such claims on their websites and in other promotional literature.

This is very alarming and should be of fantastic concern to dog owners. But it has not stopped the dog food makers from using these terms on their foods. The law seems to be on the side of the dog food makers as can be seen from the 2007 trial against a pet food manufacturer (The Honest Kitchen) which claimed that they are the only company that makes truly human grade dog food. They won that court case by proving to the FDA that every ingredient used in their dog food was fit for human consumption. Even though that particular company was able to prove this, there are many

Filed: Humanities
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