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Does the Federal Trade Commission Protect Pet Food Consumers? – Truth about Pet Food

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The Federal Trade Commission is a federal agency that “protects consumers by stopping unfair, deceptive or fraudulent practices in the marketplace. We conduct investigations, sue companies and people that violate the law, develop rules to ensure a vibrant marketplace, and educate consumers and businesses about their rights and responsibilities.“

With the many ‘unfair, deceptive or fraudulent’ practices in pet food, you might wonder why we never hear of the FTC suing pet food manufacturers. The reason the FTC is silent in pet food is because 22 years ago – in 1999 – the FTC rescinded its marketing guidelines for cat and dog food, turning over false marketing claims to AAFCO regulations.

One of the most significant marketing issues the FTC pet food guidelines (see summary page 19) prohibited was companies misrepresenting the product on labels and in advertising:

“(1) Misrepresenting dog or cat food in any material respect; for example, misrepresenting the composition, form, suitability, quality, color, flavor of any dog or cat food; misrepresenting that any dog or cat food meets the dietary or nutritional needs of dogs and cats; or misrepresenting that any dog or cat food will provide medicinal or therapeutic benefits;“

So…the question is…did the actions of the Federal Trade Commission rescinding the marketing guides change the way pet food is marketed to pet owners today? Did pet food manufacturers take advantage with no one watching them?

It appears that the FTC pet food marketing guides were originally published in 1969 (at the same time commercial pet food began to become more popular). And these FTC marketing guides were rescinded in 1999.

In other words, after 1999 pet food manufacturers did not have the Federal Trade Commission telling them what they could or could not say in marketing.

Below are pictures of pet food labels when the FTC marketing guidelines were in place, compared to pictures of the same pet food label today.

In each example, the previous label did not include images of human food on the pet food label – but the current pet food label did. Each of the 2021 pet food labels included an image of roasted or grilled human grade meat. And to be clear – none of these pet foods include roasted or grilled human grade meat as the image on their labels indicates.

The FTC pet food marketing guidelines specifically stated pet foods labels could not use images that deceive purchasers to quality of the product.

“241.4 Misrepresenting composition, form, suitability, or quality in labeling.

An industry member should not use on the label of an industry product a statement of identity, vignette, or any other representation, pictorial or otherwise, which has the capacity and tendency or effect of misleading or deceiving purchasers or prospective purchasers with respect to the composition, form, suitability, quality, color, or flavor of the product or any of its ingredients.”

Using the above label of Meow Mix as example, the pet food label states “Rotisserie Chicken Flavor“. This pet food is ‘flavored with’ rotisserie chicken, it does not actually include rotisserie chicken. But…the image on the cat food label is not of a flavor ingredient, it is an image of an actual rotisserie chicken.

If the FTC pet food marketing guides were still in place, would today’s Meow Mix label be in violation? Is the image of a rotisserie chicken misleading or deceptive? Should the image on the Meow Mix label be of the actual flavor ingredient instead of the rotisserie chicken?

The FTC oversees human food marketing too – the agency regulated human food in the 1970s and still oversees human food marketing today. Since human food marketing is still under FTC scrutiny, how does changes in human food labels compare in the 1970s to current day?

Below are images of a meatloaf TV dinner label from the 1970s and the same TV dinner label in 2020.

Human food labels are still held to FTC standards that prevent misleading images. Because of FTC supervision, the label of the TV dinner did not change in the same way the pet food label changed.

We don’t know why the FTC rescinded the pet food marketing guides, but clearly because they did many pet food labels today are terribly misleading.

Because we don’t have the FTC’s help, pet owners have to nudge regulatory authorities to protect us against misleading pet food marketing. If your pet’s food label includes an image of fresh, roasted, or grilled meat (or other potentially misleading image or claim), call or email the manufacturer and ask if the pet food contains that exact quality of fresh, roasted, or grilled meat. If the manufacturer cannot guarantee you the image (or claim) on the label is accurate – report that misleading pet food label to FDA and to your State Department of Agriculture.

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food

Become a member of our pet food consumer Association. Association for Truth in Pet Food is a stakeholder organization representing the voice of pet food consumers at AAFCO and with FDA. Your membership helps representatives attend meetings and voice consumer concerns with regulatory authorities. Click Here to learn more.

What’s in Your Pet’s Food?
Is your dog or cat eating risk ingredients?  Chinese imports? Petsumer Report tells the ‘rest of the story’ on over 5,000 cat foods, dog foods, and pet treats. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Click Here to preview Petsumer Report. www.PetsumerReport.com

Find Healthy Pet Foods in Your Area Click Here

The 2021 List
Susan’s List of pet foods trusted to give her own pets. Click Here to learn more.

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