How to read labels correctly

Many dog ​​owners turn to ready-made food in the hope that it contains everything their dog needs. However, what actually lies behind the labels "meat and animal by-products," "analytical constituents," and "vegetable by-products" often remains a mystery.

In this article, I'll show you how to correctly read dog food labels or labels on snacks and other foods, what to look out for, and why it's worth taking a closer look.

What does the label say – and what does it mean?
Every feed must contain certain mandatory information, which would be:
- Composition → Ingredients in descending order
- Analytical components → e.g. crude protein, fat, crude ash
- Additives → vitamins, trace elements, preservatives, etc.
- Feeding recommendation

Critically question: “Meat and animal by-products”
What exactly is this? It often involves undefined slaughterhouse waste such as beaks, hooves, tendons, hides, and feathers.

Pay attention to the level of declaration: Does it say “beef (70%)” or just “animal by-products”?

Open declaration = transparent declaration
The individual ingredients are clearly and completely named, e.g.:
Ingredients: Beef (50%), carrots (15%), salmon oil (3%), seaweed meal (0.5%)

🔎 This means:
- You can immediately see which ingredients are included.
- You can even see the proportions in which they occur.
- You can determine whether the food really contains chicken, for example, or whether it only contains traces of it.

Advantage: High transparency – ideal for nutrition-conscious dog owners, allergy sufferers, or sensitive dogs.

Closed declaration = opaque declaration
Here, ingredients are grouped together – usually very general, e.g.:
Composition: Meat and animal by-products, vegetable by-products, oils and fats, minerals

🔎 This means:
- You don't know what meat was used (beef? chicken?).
- You don't know what is meant by "by-products" (chicken feet? lungs? tendons? beaks?).
- You can't draw any conclusions about the quality – everything remains unclear.

Disadvantage: Lack of transparency – cheap, low-quality ingredients may be present without you realizing it. Unsuitable for allergy sufferers or sensitive dogs.

Vegetable by-products – sounds healthy, but is it?

- Mostly waste products such as straw, soybean shells, peanut hulls.
- No real nutritional value, often just fillers or fiber.

🔎 Tip: The less of it there is – or the more specifically it is named (e.g. carrots, parsnips) – the better.

Analytical components – but what do these values ​​mean?

- Crude protein: important, but not every value = good quality
- Crude ash: too much = inferior minerals
- Humidity: important for classification of wet food

🔎 Tip: Always compare only similar feeds (e.g. dry with dry).

Additives – blessing or rip-off?

Food with artificial vitamins and minerals is thus "improved." However, it is not naturally nutrient-rich; it is artificially added.

🔎 Pay attention to:
- clear naming: “Vitamin D3”, “Zinc Chelate”
- no “technological additives” if avoidable

🌟Finally

If you read the list of ingredients more carefully, you will quickly get a feel for which products are really good for your dog – and which you should leave on the shelf.

You don't need to be a chemist—your common sense, your gut feeling, and a little background knowledge are enough.