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At the AAFCO 2023 annual meeting, its member units jointly approved the new labeling guidelines for dog and cat food. New standards have been established for pet food manufacturers and distributors. Feed regulatory professionals in the United States and Canada collaborate with consumers and professionals in the pet food industry to develop strategic guidelines to ensure that pet food labels provide more comprehensive product descriptions.
Austin Therrell, Executive Director of AAFCO, stated, “The feedback we received from consumers and industry consultants throughout the process was an important component of our collaborative improvement. We sought public opinion to learn more about changes in pet food labeling. We increased transparency and provided clearer information in a consumer friendly format. The new packaging and labeling will have clear definitions and be easy to understand. This is good news for all of us, from pet owners, manufacturers, to pets themselves.”
The new pet nutrition table will be more similar to the content on human food packaging, including labeling of dietary fiber and total carbohydrates.
Main changes:
Even it is retorted pouches, it will also need 100% recyclable retort pet food pouches.
AAFCO stated that in order to develop these new labeling regulations, AAFCO collaborates with feed and pet food regulatory professionals, industry members, and consumers to develop, collect feedback, and ultimately determine strategic updates to “ensure that pet food labels provide a more comprehensive product view.”. AAFCO has given pet product manufacturers 6 years of transitional time to fully incorporate labeling and packaging changes into their products.