AAFCO Nutrient Profiles

AAFCO · Association of American Feed Control Officials

The model standards that decide what a dog food in the United States may be sold as “complete and balanced”.

01 What It Is

The Association of American Feed Control Officials is a voluntary membership body of state and federal feed-control officials, not a government agency. It writes model regulations and nutrient standards for animal food that individual states then adopt into their own law, which is what gives its work practical force across the United States. Its dog nutrient profiles date from 1991.

02 What It Covers

AAFCO’s nutrient profiles set the minimum, and in some cases maximum, level of each nutrient a dog food must provide for a given life stage. A product may carry a “complete and balanced” claim by one of two routes: laboratory analysis showing it meets the relevant profile, or a feeding trial run to AAFCO’s protocol. The protocols are specific; an adult-maintenance trial, for instance, runs for 26 weeks with a set minimum number of dogs.

03 How It Is Checked

AAFCO itself does not test or certify foods. It writes the models; states adopt them into law, and state feed-control officials and the federal Food and Drug Administration enforce them. So the check on a “complete and balanced” claim is regulatory, carried out under state law that mirrors the AAFCO standard, rather than a certificate AAFCO issues.

04 Why It Matters

“Complete and balanced” is the most important phrase on a dog-food label, the assurance the food can be fed as a sole diet without causing deficiency. AAFCO is what gives that phrase a defined, enforceable meaning in the United States, which is why the exact wording of the claim, and the route by which it was met, are worth reading.

Primary sources

AAFCOaafco.org
“Complete and Balanced” Pet Food, US FDAfda.gov