"Natural" pet food

The word "natural" gets thrown around a lot on pet food labels. But what exactly does it mean? Well, according to the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), "natural" is:

A feed or ingredient derived solely from plant, animal or mined sources, either in its unprocessed state or having been subject to physical processing, heat processing, rendering, purification, extraction, hydrolysis, enzymolysis or fermentation, but not having been produced by or subject to a chemically synthetic process and not containing any additives or processing aids that are chemically synthetic except in amounts as might occur unavoidably in good manufacturing practices.

Confusing, isn't it? It's also open to a lot of interpretation, given that "natural" products can also be subject to "physical processing, heat processing, rendering, purification, extraction, hydrolysis, enzymolysis (?) or fermentation."

Perhaps we should be glad there's any definition at all. Terms like "human grade" still haven't been defined by the AAFCO, allowing pet food manufacturers to use them even more loosely.

And the human food definition of "natural" isn't set in stone yet either. As of January of this year the FDA had no plans to further define the term "natural." The FDA does hold to its 1993 policy definition of the term:

FDA has not established a formal definition for the term 'natural', however the agency has not objected to the use of the term on food labels provided it is used in a manner that is truthful and not misleading and the product does not contain added color, artificial flavors, or synthetic substances. Use of the term 'natural' is not permitted in the ingredient list, with the exception of the phrase 'natural flavorings'.

At least I can understand this definition. Why doesn't the pet food definition of "natural" make any sense? The moral of the story: don't rely on pet food marketing to make a decision. Make sure to read the labels. All things "natural" aren't necessarily good. For some great information on what to look for visit Dr. Remillard's PetDiets.com.