Which dog food to use?

[LVRatz]

Read this page, then read the very last statement:

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=organic

[mandycoot]

If you even look at the bag you will see that it is not an organic food, and that there are actually NO organic ingredients in many or most of the dog foods. Though the term 'organic' is controlled, you can use it if it is in the brand name even if the products they produce are not certified organic. If you want to claim something as USDA Certified Organic (the only offical standard for organics) you need to have 95% organic ingredients, each of which must be labeled in the ingredient list as organic, either as "organic spinach" or with an asterisk denoting that it is organic. A food can claim "made with organic ingredients" if it contains 70% organic ingredients.

[MsMagpie]

If you even look at the bag you will see that it is not an organic food, and that there are actually NO organic ingredients in many or most of the dog foods. Though the term 'organic' is controlled, you can use it if it is in the brand name even if the products they produce are not certified organic. If you want to claim something as USDA Certified Organic (the only offical standard for organics) you need to have 95% organic ingredients, each of which must be labeled in the ingredient list as organic, either as "organic spinach" or with an asterisk denoting that it is organic. A food can claim "made with organic ingredients" if it contains 70% organic ingredients.

Whatever the petfood quality regulation committee is called hasn't decided whether or not to adopt the USDA organic standards yet. Right now the use of the word organic is not regulated in the pet food industry. Or at least that's what I was told by a food rep.

[mandycoot]

Hmmm...the foods we use certainly are certified by the industry.

The PetGuard Organic Vegetarian dog food we use for our rats is USDA Certified Organic. And the Newman's Own Organics cat food the cat and hedgie get are certified 70% organic by Oregon Tilth.

I don't know, perhaps it is only optional in the pet food industry at this point -- you take the extra step to be certified if you want to, but if you want to throw around the term organic on your conventional food nobody is going to stop you?