Written by Erica Cook, our resident Pet Beastro naturopathic guru.

Lately, there has been a lot of marketing of “natural” pet foods. It seems like every time you turn around there is another “natural” food on the market. Consumers should know that not all foods labeled “natural” are the same. Here are some helpful definitions so you can choose the right products for your pets!

The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO)

AAFCO is a board of officials, made up of CEOs and other upper management employees from large conglomerates, who represent your grocery store and Big Box Company food brands. They merely approve foods they want on the market, and diets that they see fit.

They define “natural” as:

“A feed or ingredient derived solely from plant, animal or mined sources, either in its unprocessed state or having been subjected 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.”

Grocery Store and Big Box Company Brands

Just because “natural” is on the label or in the name does not mean that the ingredients are healthy. Below are some ingredients found in “natural” dog and cat foods on the shelves of your local grocery or pet superstores:

• Animal Digest
• Soybean Oil
• Soybean Meal
• Soybean Hulls
• Corn Gluten Meal
• (Insert animal here) Liver Flavor
• Smoke Flavor
• Wheat Gluten
• Feeding Oatmeal (byproduct of human manufacturing)
• (Insert animal here) Plasma
• Meat Byproduct
• MSG
• Synthetic Vitamins (known to cause organ damage)
• GMO’s
• Nitrates

This list is just the beginning of non-natural ingredients found in your “natural” pet food.

The Pet Beastro’s Definition of “Natural”

We believe that “natural” means:

• High-Quality
• Non-Synthetic
• Plant or animal-sourced foods
• No Fillers
• No Byproducts
• No Additives
• Balanced Nutrition
• Comes from companies with integrity

We believe in small, family- or self-owned companies that produce high-quality foods under strict regulations and standards, and that “natural” means looking at pets holistically. We also believe that each pet is an individual and there is not one food that works in every situation.

We do not believe in:

• GMO’s
• Corn
• Soy
• Wheat
• Chemicals
• Pesticides

Raising a healthy pet starts with nutrition, which is why we diligently research the brands we carry. Simply stated, we trust our brands and the products they offer.

Source: http://PetFood.AAFCO.org/