Food Guidelines

The Truth About Organic Dog Food

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Before recommending and encouraging readers to feed organic dog food to their pets, it’s important to understand what exactly IS organic dog food. While it should be held to strict manufacturing guidelines, dog food is highly under-regulated. Anyone can basically put anything into a bag, label it “Healthy Dog Food” and rake in the profits with no regulation by the USDA.

Scary, isn’t it?

As a pet owner, it’s important to know what your dog is eating, to give him the healthiest foods available, to do your homework! Since dog food is generally not regulated, manufacturers can label their food with terms like “healthy,” “holistic,” “complete nutrition,” with no substance to back it up – with one exception: Organic food.

In fact, the ONLY dog foods regulated by the USDA are those manufactured in certified organic facilities.

Usdaorganiclogo

Just because a brand has the word “organic” or “holistic” in their name or on the label doesn’t always mean what it seems. Very few are truly organic, from certified organic facilities. As you can imagine, the misuse of the term “organic” is very common in the pet food industry. Many manufacturers make claims regarding the organic nature of their foods, but without the USDA Certified Organic seal, these companies are not subject to the same regulation, verification, and legal enforcement as certified manufacturers.

The USDA explains,

If a manufacturer wants to claim a product is “100% Organic”, it must contain 100 percent organically produced ingredients, not counting added water and salt. As far as dry dog food is concerned, this is currently not possible, since as per AAFCO regulations vitamin and mineral supplements must be added, which can not be organically produced.

If a manufacturer wants to claim a product is “Organic”, it must contain at least 95% organic ingredients, not counting added water or salt, and must identify the organic ingredients as “organic” in the ingredient list when other organic labeling is shown. To identify an ingredient as organically produced in the ingredient list, the word, “organic” in conjunction with the name of the ingredient may be used, or an asterisk or other reference mark which is defined below the ingredient statement.

Only products that fall into these two groups may display the “USDA Organic” seal, either in color or black and white.

If a manufacturer wants to claim a product is “Made With Organic Ingredients” or a similar statement, it must contain at least 70% organic ingredients, not counting added water or salt, and must identify the organic ingredients as “organic” in the ingredient list when other organic labeling is shown. To identify an ingredient as organically produced in the ingredient list, the word, “organic” in conjunction with the name of the ingredient may be used, or an asterisk or other reference mark which is defined below the ingredient statement. The product may display the seal(s) of the agent(s) certifying the included organic ingredients, but not the “USDA Organic” seal.

If a manufacturer wants to advertise the fact that product has some organic ingredients, it can include less than 70% total and they must be identified as “organic” in the ingredient list. The product may not display the seal(s) of the agent(s) certifying the included organic ingredients nor the “USDA Organic” seal.

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5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. Avatar Of Claire Masters

    Claire Masters

    Mar 29, 2022 at 1:15 am

    Thanks for this truthful discussion about organic pet food and how I should look for USDA organic seal since it would mean that it contains more than half of organic ingredients. As a dog owner, of course, I would want to have my pet eat good quality food. I’d have to look into this more and find the best brands out there.

  2. Avatar Of Kelly

    Kelly

    Aug 3, 2014 at 10:47 am

    My dogs have been on Castor and Pollux Organix dogfood since they were puppies. They are so healthy with shiney coats and no skin conditions. I had a friend who’s dog was always having hot spots and hair loss until she switched and now the dog is fine. A ggod website to check out and see how your food is rated is dogfood reviews.com

  3. Avatar Of Apryl

    Apryl

    Jun 18, 2014 at 7:53 am

    It would be helpful, to me, to have the names of some recommended foods. I have a small, shih tzu/yorkie mix. I have stood and read ingredients and feeling I made the right choice bought a food. Sometimes the bites have been to large for the small dog, money wasted. She isn’t real fond of dry foods, but I would like to find a healthy small bite one for her. Also, a good brand of moist food. I do feed her people food such as chicken, brown rice, sweet potatoes, green beans, as I am afraid of giving her something bad in the dog food lines, but I don’t always have those foods on hand.

    • Avatar Of Lori

      Lori

      Jun 18, 2014 at 9:38 am

      Apryl – here’s a link to Dog Food Advisor where you can do a little research yourself and find a quality brand of food if feeding commercial. You can also sign up for recall alerts. They list the brands alphabetically and provide a list of all ingredients so you can make your own determinations. dogfoodadvisor.com

      • Avatar Of Kies Jr

        Kies JR

        Aug 28, 2014 at 4:22 am

        Yes, Dog Food Advisor (dot) com is a great site I often find what is needed here, the organic foods very rewarding for your dog. Highly recommend.

        Kies.

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