What is AAFCO and Why Should I Care?

The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) is an organisation made up of committee members from federal agencies (like the Food and Drug Administration and states Department of Agriculture), government agency representatives from several countries and officials from each US state and territory. The association recommends model regulations on what the minimum nutritional standards should be for dog food, cat food, actually any animal feed, based on an animal’s particular life stage.

AAFCO sets out specific standards for feeding trials to make sure those tests include an adequate number of animals, take place over an appropriate amount of time and include regular observations, measurements, and veterinary examinations.

AAFCO also provides resources for manufacturers including food ingredients (feed ingredients), nutrient profiles, food safety, pet food label (ensuring the products labelled accurately), online manuals (official publication) and how to calculate guaranteed analysis.

You feel good when you eat well, right? It’s no different for your dog. You wouldn’t expect your child to head off to school with a tummy full of ice cream and chocolate bars, would you? We believe that a dogs vitality and longevity are directly related to the quality of the food they eat. That’s why we pay close attention to food nutrients recommendations established by AAFCO.

But, I’m in Australia - Who Cares?

Well, we do. The pet food industry in Australia is self-regulating, which means it’s entirely possible to fill your dog up with ‘junk food’. Produced cheaply with fillers like rice, meal, and grains that have no business being in pet food, your dog will eat up because yes, he is hungry. But filling your dog up is quite different to providing a top quality meal.

What Does Your Dog Eat?

Is your dog getting the best quality ingredients specifically designed to help her grow, thrive, and stay healthy and vigorous into her senior years? Who knows? Reputable companies in Australia strive to meet the standards set out by AAFCO, but there’s no requirement for them to do so.

You Deserve to Know

At Rawmate we believe there should be strict labeling regulations so all consumers know exactly what they are feeding to their pets. We aren’t waiting around for someone else to sort through the red tape and put some rules in place, we love our dogs as much as you love yours and we want to know what they are eating. By meeting (or exceeding) nutritional standards established by AAFCO, we are leading the way by producing a quality product that follows a best practices approach.

Complete and Balanced for All Stages

When you see “Complete and Balanced” on a dog food label, that should mean that the contents meet or exceed AAFCO minimum standards (or, in some cases, don’t exceed maximum standards - it’s true that your dog can have too much of a good thing).

You owe it to your dog to provide top quality meals that take into account the dog’s size, breed, and stage of life (puppy, adult maintenance, senior) A senior pet obviously requires a diet with a different nutritional and caloric balance than a young female nursing a litter of lively puppies.

Real Whole Food for Vitality

Vitality is directly linked to the food we eat. That goes for our dogs, too. That’s why our dog food doesn’t just meet minimum standards set out by AAFCO, we go above and beyond every pet food manufacturer that we know of to seek out locally produced protein sources.  We never add meal, rice, corn, by-products or artificial preservatives. We know that dogs love real, whole food.

When you provide a meal produced by Rawmate you can sleep well at night knowing the gourmet delights Ralphie just wolfed down were not only delicious, but that the meal was complete and balanced in accordance with AAFCO guidelines.

For more information on the ingredients used in our Rawmate original formula, check out the Rawmate Ingredients page.