What’s the Difference Between Livestock Feed and Pet Food? Not much. – Truth about Pet Food

“The size of the grind” says an industry trade publication is the “major difference among pet foods and livestock feeds.”

In the PetFoodIndustry.com post “Keys to pivoting from livestock feed to pet food making“, advice is given to “livestock feed mill operators” to help them produce a pet food.

“Overall, livestock feed uses much simpler recipes than pet food, often just corn and soy and then some byproducts.”

“The size of the grind is a major difference among pet foods and livestock feeds…” “Pet food makers must achieve a much narrower window of very fine particulate matter than livestock feed producers, before makers can take those ingredients to the next step of the process.“

“Moving on to that next step, a livestock feed maker would take the ingredients, three or four different ingredients, and add vitamins and minerals.”

“For the most part, it’s very similar…”

So…if a livestock feed mill manufactures it – why is it called “food” when pets eat it?

If a cow eats it, it’s called Cattle Feed on the label.

If a chicken eats it, it’s called Chicken Feed on the label.

But if a cat or dog eats it – made by the SAME feed mill – it’s called Cat Food or Dog Food.

The FDA website states federal law requires pet foods “be truthfully labeled“. How are pet products truthfully labeled when they are made by a feed mill, in a “very similar” process to cattle, chicken, and pig feed but labeled as a food?

Truthfully labeled would be Cat Feed and Dog Feed. Truthfully labeled would be ONLY pet ‘foods’ that meet all legal requirements of food to be labeled as food.

Please send the FDA a message (which they won’t provide a response to, but at least it will be on record) telling them most pet ‘foods’ are not truthfully labeled and you expect them to properly enforce federal law. If the product meets food law requirements, it can be labeled as a pet food. If the product does not meet food law requirements, it should be labeled as a feed.

FDA email: AskCVM@fda.hhs.gov

Pet owners deserve to know what they are buying; feed or food.

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

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