How to Read a Cat Food Label

Nutrition plays a major role in your cat’s health and wellbeing, so it’s important to choose the right cat food for your feline friend. However, both new and seasoned pet owners alike can find it challenging to make sense of the information on cat food labels. Read on to find out how to read cat food labels so that you can make an informed decision when choosing your cat’s food.

What’s on the cat food label?

The information on cat food labels is regulated by the Food Standards Agency (FSA). By law, specific details about the product must be included (known as statutory or obligatory declarations), and all information must be factual and accurate. Cat food labels must not mislead customers about the nature, content or quality of the product. Required information includes:

• Product name and description. This includes the animal species, lifestage, and any specific needs for which the product is intended, as well as the type of pet food (“complete” or “complementary”). For example: “Complete pet food for adult cats.” 

  • “Complete" means that, when fed as instructed, the pet food provides all the nutrients your cat requires each day.

  • “Complementary” means that the food is either intended to be mixed with other food or fed as a snack or a treat for your cat.

• Composition (ingredients list). The ingredients should be listed in descending order of weight (from highest to lowest). Depending on location, some pet food manufacturers may list ingredients in one of two ways: by category name (e.g., meat and animal derivatives, vegetables, cereals, minerals, etc.) or by single ingredient names (e.g., poultry meal, tuna meal, carrots, wheat, rice, etc). As there is typically a long list of minerals, note that they may be grouped into a single “minerals” category on the label even when the other ingredients are listed individually. If the manufacturer draws attention to a specific ingredient on the label, the ingredients list should declare the amount of this ingredient included. 

• Additives. Pet food ingredients are considered either feed materials (e.g., chicken liver, tuna meal, carrots, etc.) or additives (e.g., Vitamin A, Vitamin E, beta-carotene , trace elements, amino acids, etc.). Many of the additives used in pet food are also used in human food and are essential for assuring nutritional completeness of the product.

  UK and EU legislation has a very strict process in place to assure that all additives are safe and authorised for use in pet food, and requires manufacturers to declare the use of certain additives on the label. You will see the word “additives” followed by their categories, names and/or identification numbers, and amounts. Vitamins and pro-vitamins can be declared under this heading along with their added amount, or on the list of analytical constituents along with the amount the pet food is guaranteed to contain at the end of its shelf life. 

• Analytical constituents. Similar to the nutritional information on human food labels, manufacturers of pet food are required to declare levels of:

  • Crude protein.

  • Fat.

  • Crude fibre.

  • Crude ash.

  • Moisture for products containing more than 14% moisture.

• Terms like “crude” and “ash” can be confusing! “Crude” refers to an estimated amount that doesn’t tell you anything about the nutrient other than the quantity. Rather than indicating that ash is added to the pet food, “ash'' refers to residue from the methods used to analyse the product in the lab. You may see it referred to as “incinerated residue” or “inorganic matter” instead.

• Feeding guide and Instructions for use. The food label should include recommendations for how much to feed your cat and how often. Keep in mind that the feeding guide is developed for an average pet, so always consider the size, age and level of activity of your cat. Start by feeding the suggested amount and keep an eye on your cat’s weight and body condition, adjusting the amount or frequency of the food if necessary.

• Storage instructions. These instructions will tell you how to store the food in order to maintain freshness and safety. They may include instructions like “keep in a dry, cool place” or “refrigerate unused portions”, for example.

• Net quantities. Similar to human food, the net weight of the pet food must be indicated on the packaging.

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• Best before date. A date written in a MM/YY format or DD/MM/YY format (for microbiologically perishable pet foods) indicates the shelf life of the product. 

• Business address. The label should feature the business name and address of the business operator responsible for labelling. In the UK, that must be an address in Great Britain or Northern Ireland.

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• Contact information. You will also find contact information on the label, such as a free phone number, email address, website, or other way to contact the producer/distributor.

• Batch number and approval number of the manufacturing plant. Known as traceability tools, the batch number and the approval number allocated to the producing facility must be printed on the label to allow the product to be traced.