Misleading Advertising for Raw Pet Food (again)
excerpt below
“Finally, the terms “human grade” and “restaurant grade” are frequently used for the ingredients despite the fact that these are not legally defined terms or part of the USDA meat grading system. Use of such meaningless terms cannot be anything but misleading and deceptive since they appear to indicate an official judgment on the quality of the food’s ingredients when the manufacturers must know that no such judgment has been made by anyone but them”.
https://www.petfoodindustry.com/blogs/10-debunking-pet-food-myths-and-misconceptions/post/6917-are-human-grade-pet-foods-really-human-grade excerpt below
AAFCO guidelines for human grade claims
In its Official Publication (2018), AAFCO clearly outlines the guidelines for pet food companies wanting to make human grade claims. The guidelines are broken down into four parts on pages 151 to 152. For purposes of this blog, I will abbreviate these parts:
The use of the term “human grade” is only acceptable to the product as a whole. Every ingredient and finished food must be stored, handled, processed and transported in a manner that is consistent with current good manufacturing processes (cGMPs).
The definition “human grade” is false and misleading if the finished good as a whole is not human edible. Human grade claims cannot be made on individual ingredients if the finished good is not human grade.
For substantiation of human grade claims, a manufacturer must have documentation for the following:
a. That each ingredient is fit for human consumption
b. Every ingredient and finished food is stored, handled, processed and transported in a manner consistent and compliant with cGMPs for human edible foods in 21 CFR part 117.
c. The manufacturing facility is licensed to produce human food by the appropriate authority (local, county or state public health authorities).
4. A pet food with human grade claims must be labeled for its intended use (e.g., dog food).
