Field Guide · Glossary
Nutritional adequacy statement
Food and labelsThe required sentence on a pet food label saying whether the food is complete and balanced, which life stage it is for, and how that was established.
How it works
It carries three pieces of information in one sentence, and it is the only place on the package where all three appear. Complete and balanced means the food is intended as a sole diet. The life stage names who it is for. The final part says whether adequacy was established by formulation, meaning the recipe was checked against a profile, or by feeding trial, meaning dogs were fed it and monitored. Foods labeled for intermittent or supplemental feeding carry no such claim at all.
What it looks like
A label reads that the food is complete and balanced for adult maintenance, formulated to meet AAFCO profiles. A topper beside it says for intermittent or supplemental feeding only, which means it is not a diet, whatever else the packaging says.
Commonly confused with
- AAFCO feeding test
- The adequacy statement is the sentence itself. A feeding test is one of the two routes a manufacturer can take to earn the right to print it, the other being formulation on paper.
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