Food & Nutrition
What can honestly be sold as a dog’s dinner, and what “complete and balanced” really means.
The AAFCO brings together US state and federal feed regulators to write model standards for animal food. Its nutrient profiles and feeding-trial protocols define exactly what a product must contain before it may be sold as “complete and balanced” for a given life stage. Individual states adopt these models into law, making AAFCO the practical backbone of pet-food regulation across America.
FEDIAF publishes the nutritional guidelines that serve as Europe’s reference for what a complete dog food must provide across life stages, alongside guidance on feed hygiene and labelling. Though industry-set and not law in themselves, they are the working standard manufacturers across the continent formulate to, sitting alongside EU feed law. They are the European counterpart to AAFCO.
These are food-safety management certifications applied to pet-food manufacturing plants, governing hazard control, hygiene and contamination prevention from raw material to finished bag. Factories are audited by independent certification bodies that themselves hold national accreditation, and the scheme is recognized globally under the Global Food Safety Initiative, placing it firmly inside the formal accreditation chain.