The Truth About AAFCO – What It Really Means for Your Dog’s Food

Last updated: August 2025

If you’ve ever picked up a bag of dog food, chances are you’ve seen a line that says something like: “This food is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by AAFCO.” Pet parents often assume this means the food is AAFCO approved—but here’s the truth: AAFCO does not approve, certify, or regulate pet food at all.

In this post, we’re going to break down what AAFCO actually is, how their guidelines shape the pet food industry, and what regulation really looks like in North America. Spoiler alert: an “AAFCO statement” on the bag doesn’t guarantee the food is high-quality or even completely safe.

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What Is AAFCO?

AAFCO stands for the Association of American Feed Control Officials. Despite the official-sounding name, AAFCO is not a government agency. Instead, it’s a private organization of regulators, veterinarians, and animal nutrition experts who create nutritional guidelines for pet foods.

Think of AAFCO as a standard-setter. They provide model laws, nutrient profiles, and feeding trial procedures. But they do not test, approve, or enforce these standards. Enforcement is left to U.S. state authorities or other regulatory bodies.

Example of an AAFCO nutritional adequacy statement on a dog food label.

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“AAFCO Approved” Doesn’t Exist

This is one of the biggest misconceptions in the pet food world. No pet food is ever AAFCO approved. Instead, companies can legally use wording like:

• “This food is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles.”
• “Animal feeding tests using AAFCO procedures substantiate that this product provides complete and balanced nutrition.”

These statements are very different:

1. Formulation Method: The food was lab-tested to contain the required nutrients, but no dogs actually ate it before sale.
2. Feeding Trial Method: The food was fed to dogs in a controlled trial to see if it supported health over time.

Neither statement guarantees ingredient quality, safety, or long-term health outcomes.

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Pet Food Regulations in North America

So, are there regulations? Yes—but they are limited and indirect.

United States

• The FDA oversees pet food under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, requiring that food is safe, produced under sanitary conditions, free of harmful substances, and labeled truthfully.
• The FDA does not pre-approve recipes. Compliance is mainly checked through inspections or after complaints, recalls, or health issues are reported.
• States adopt AAFCO’s model bills for nutrient standards, but enforcement varies. This is why “AAFCO compliant” can mean different things depending on the state.

Canada

• The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) regulates pet food to a degree, mostly focused on import/export safety, labeling, and pathogen prevention.
• Most Canadian brands voluntarily follow AAFCO guidelines for consistency and to stay competitive in North America.
• There is no federal pre-approval or strict oversight of pet food formulas in Canada.

In short, yes, regulations exist, but they are minimal and mainly focus on safety and labeling. No agency in North America reviews or approves recipes before they reach store shelves.

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Why Pet Parents Should Care

Marketing language can be very misleading. “AAFCO compliant” sounds official, but it only means the food meets minimum nutrient levels on paper or in a feeding trial. It says nothing about:

• Ingredient quality or sourcing
• Digestibility of nutrients
• Contaminants like Salmonella or Listeria
• Long-term health impact on dogs of different breeds or life stages

To understand more about reading pet food labels and what really matters, see: How to Decode Dog Food Labels.

Labels can make pet food sound healthier than it really is.

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Takeaway from Part 1

AAFCO sets nutrient guidelines, but it does not regulate, approve, or guarantee pet food safety. North American oversight exists via the FDA, state authorities, and CFIA, but it is limited. An “AAFCO statement” on a bag is not a seal of quality—it is a baseline standard. For pet parents, the real work is in checking ingredients, company transparency, and safety records.

In Part 2 of this series, we’ll explore why recent recalls show that even AAFCO-compliant foods can pose risks to dogs’ health.

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