We commend the Association of American Feed Officials (AAFCO)* for agreeing at its 2016 mid-year meeting in South Carolina to form a pet food labeling working group.
PFI, and its members, who make 98 percent of all US dog and cat food products sold in the United States, support modern pet food labeling and use of ingredient nomenclature that is consumer friendly and meaningful. Today, pet food makers and regulators alike are bound by decades-old state and federal labeling requirements that confuse rather than inform U.S. pet food buyers.
We fully support AAFCO’s efforts to try to increase clarity and harmonization with FDA requirements—as we did in the mid-year meeting—but also recognize that bolting wordy phrases onto obsolete terminology falls short of the transparency that today’s consumers deserve. We look forward to working with our AAFCO partners to explore the opportunity that its new pet food labeling working group will provide.
*AAFCO, whose members are state regulatory officials, develops standards and enforcement policies for regulating animal feed, including pet food, and promotes their adoption at the state level.