DavidWolfe.comEveryone remembers the pet food scare of 2007. Thousands of dogs died because they ingested dog food with melamine in it. The melamine had been mixed with wheat gluten that is used as a filler in many dog food brands. However, despite all the recalls, dog owners are still blatantly oblivious to what is in the dog food they purchase for their pets.
70% of pet owners do not know all the ingredients that are in their pet’s food.
Image Credit: The Pet Beastro
The people at Reviews.com decided to do something about this, so they did a review of all dog food formulas to see which are satisfactory.
In order to perform this review effectively, they had a team of 7 researchers and 20 expert contributors. They read 72 articles and studies about pet food and surveyed 300 pet owners. The whole process took about 1400 man hours. At the end of the process, Reviews.com can only recommend 134 dog food formulas produced by 29 brands. This is out of over 2,000 dog food formulas reviewed.
A team of researchers and contributors found that only 134 dog food formulas made by 29 dog food brands to be satisfactory for dog health.
Image Credit: Rock Bridge Animal Hospital
These results were based on good dog food ingredients that promote good health and the location where the dog food was made. Below is a general guide of dog food ingredients.
Image Credit: Reviews.com
It is necessary to understand that this whole process was started because the nutritional labeling of dog food is not easy to understand. The regulations behind pet food labeling are confusing to say the least.
According to Reviews.com “The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) sets and maintains standards for the proper levels of ingredients in pet food, but it’s the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that determines the quality. FDA regulations, however, don’t guarantee that all ingredients will be safe.”
Almost any dog food can legally claim to be “all natural” or “premium” because regulations are so lax. This does not mean the dog food is safe.
Image Credit: Entirelypets
Reviews.com removed the brand above because of the ingredients they use. Just looking at it, I would have thought it was very healthy.
If you want to take a look at the whole list of approved food, you can find it at  Reviews.com. You can even search by dog food type and price.
Now that we have more information, buying healthy food for our pets should be much easier.
For a brief history of dog food manufacturing, take a look at the video below: