Dog owners are known for going overboard with spending money on their pets. There are dog hotels, spas, and bakeries, so it should come as no surprise that many pet parents are making the decision to provide human grade food for their dogs. If you are not familiar with the term then you have found the right page, as we will discuss what human grade dog food is.
A lot of pet food companies throw around the word ‘natural’ in describing their products, but there is no official (set by the government) definition of what ‘natural’ means, so more often than not it is just a marketing ploy. That is not the case when it comes to pet food—the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) has an official definition for the term:
A feed or feed ingredient derived solely from plant, animal or mined sources, either in its unprocessed state or having been subject 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 in good manufacturing practices.
So how does the AAFCO define human grade pet food? It doesn’t; however, they have said that the term can be misleading, because in order for a food product to be considered edible (‘human grade’ is not a standard), it must be produced using ingredients and processing methodology that FDA and USDA requirements for food that is suitable for human consumption.
So what do consumers get when they buy human grade dog food? Since there is no legal definition for the pet food industry, and pet food manufacturers are able to make the claim of producing human grade food without adhering to specific standards, human grade labeling doesn’t mean much.
Since you have come looking for human grade dog food, you are most likely trying to find the healthiest option for your pooch. So, what can you do?
Home Made Dog Food
In order to provide your dog with the healthiest food possible, you will have to put considerable effort into finding out what your dog’s dietary requirements are, and then based on those very specific requirements develop recipes for home cooked dog food.
There are variety of homemade dog food recipes that can be suitable for many breeds, and we will be introducing some of those recipes in future posts.
