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Licensing, labeling and processing needs for pet treats and chews.
Are you making your own treats or chews and considering selling them to other pet lovers? This article will help you determine what products need licensing, how their labels need to be created, and what you need to do to legally sell them.
Unlike food products for humans, home kitchens are acceptable for licensed production. The food processing must be safe using the “Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP's)” by The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO).
Chews are a single ingredient product with no additions, such as bones with no added fillings to the cavity area of a bone. These products are meant to be chewed, not ingested, and must have no nutritional claims on the label. Examples of chews are pizzles, chicken feet, pig ears, hoofs, antlers, split bones, and similar items.
Chews need no licensing. The labeling of chews should list the following:
Pet treats are defined by AAFCO as “a food provided occasionally for enjoyment, training, entertainment, or other purposes not generally intended or represented to be a complete feed or supplement.” Treats are considered ingestible items such as baked grains, vegetables, cooked or dehydrated fish meat and bone, lamb heart, pork heart, lungs, and any type of organ tissue (these also have a nutritive value).
Pet treats must be licensed. See the following steps that should be followed in order to both prepare for licensing, file the license, and report on sales.
See the AAFCO Labeling & Labeling Requirements page and the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) labeling page for more information. Below is a guide to developing your label:
Here is an MDARD list of known laboratories that can be contracted to do the guaranteed analysis for each product.
Note: You can give the values some wiggle room on the guaranteed analysis. The minimum values should be set below the laboratory result. The maximum values should be set above the laboratory result. For instance, if your lab result showed a crude protein of 18.0 for your pet treat, you could list crude protein lower on the label at 17.0 to give yourself some wiggle room. If your lab results showed a 2.5 crude fiber, you could list 3.0 on your label to give you some wiggle room.
Obtain an assumed name (Doing Business As or DBA) with your county or file for an Incorporation with the State of MI Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). There are advantages and disadvantages to the different ways your business is legally organized. See this resource to learn more.
Complete a Commercial Feed Manufacturer/Distributor License application form. The license fee is a “flat fee,” and you may have multiple products under each license. MDARD asks that a company send copies of label proofs with the license application so that they may review those for approval. If newer products are added later, you may submit those labels for review without a fee. The fee for an animal feed license (pet treat license) is $25 for firms that sell in packages of 5 pounds or less (this is typical for a smaller dog treat company) or $100 if any package is over 5 pounds. The annual license covers the time period of July 1 to June 30.
After the first year, MDARD will send a renewal license form and an “animal feed tonnage fee report form” to each firm. The animal feed tonnage is $.30 per ton distributed in Michigan per that license year. There is a minimum tonnage fee of $50 that is due, and smaller “treat” firms fall into this category. Firms would have to produce over 166 tons of feed to go over the minimal fee that is due.
See previously published Michigan State University Extension article, “Animal feed and pet food or treat products” for additional information.
The Michigan State University (MSU) Extension Product Center provides business counseling and helps entrepreneurs launch new food products. One specialized service provided is the development of Nutrition Facts labels. Food businesses may contact the Product Center for assistance with labeling.
VET APPROVED
The information is current and up-to-date in accordance with the latest veterinarian research.
Learn more »Dog owners want to give their dogs the best food possible, which may lead some people to wonder which is better for them: homemade or store-bought food? In this article, we compare both in detail.
In almost all aspects, store-bought wins over homemade dog food. It’s certainly the more popular option and has more benefits for dogs and their owners. If you’re looking to save money, time, and effort while making sure your dog is getting quality nutrition, store-bought dog food is the way to go.
Homemade dog food requires meticulous planning. Gathering the ingredients to use can cost more than a bag of dog food from the store, and busy dog owners may not have the time necessary to dedicate to cooking. If you run out of time, your dog has no food.
While some dog owners choose homemade food because they believe that it’s healthier than store-bought, this isn’t always the case either. Read on for more information about both options to see which one is right for you.
At a Glance
Homemade Dog Food
Store-Bought Dog Food
Overview of Homemade Dog Food
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Cooking for your dog enables you to give them various flavors each day so they don’t get bored of the same thing. You can also feed them fresh food for every meal, which some dog owners feel is healthier. Homemade dog food includes no preservatives because it isn’t made to last for weeks on a shelf. If your dog is allergic to certain ingredients, you can make sure these foods aren’t included. Recipes can also be customized for weight loss and other health concerns.
However, homemade dog food has to have the right balance of nutrients in it, or the results can be devastating. You can’t just cook chicken and vegetables for your dog and call it a day. You may need to use supplements to fill nutritional gaps, and these can be expensive.
Before you begin, you need the right advice from a veterinary nutrition expert who can offer scientifically backed recipes that will give your dog the correct nutrients. Homemade diets often lack iron, calcium, riboflavin, and vitamins E and B12. These are all necessary for a dog’s health. To prevent this, you can purchase a DIY homemade food package like the one offered by The Farmer’s Dog.
Making homemade food can also be time-consuming, and if you run out of time, you won’t have any food for your dog. Keeping store-bought food on hand in case of this circumstance might seem like a solution, but dogs can get stomach issues and diarrhea from switching foods too quickly.
Pros
Cons
Overview of Store-Bought Dog Food
Store-bought dog food offers the right amount of nutrition for dogs of all breeds, sizes, and life stages. If you look for a food that meets the requirements of the Association of American Feed Control Officials, you can trust that the manufacturers followed the proper nutritional guidelines for the food’s targeted dogs. Senior dogs need different nutrition than puppies, which is another advantage that store-bought food has over homemade food. The life stages are already balanced appropriately to provide dogs of all ages with everything that they need.
Store-bought dog food is convenient. Unopened dry and wet food can stay on a shelf for a long time. It’s best to check the expiration date printed on the label to see how long this period is, but the fact that it’s shelf-stable enables you to buy it in bulk or stock up when the food is on sale. No preparation is involved. You can just open it and feed your dog.
One major issue with dog food, though, is that it can have recalls. Companies can discover that their manufacturing process may have resulted in food contamination. In these cases, the food should stop being offered to your dog immediately and be returned to the place of purchase for a refund.
If your dog suffers from allergies, reading through countless ingredient lists can be time-consuming. Dogs with specific health issues need certain types of food, which can be hard to locate even among the seemingly endless number of options.
Pros
Cons
What Are the Differences Between Them?
Health Benefits
Both homemade and store-bought dog food have health benefits. Homemade dog food contains only the ingredients that you choose to add, and you know everything that your dog is consuming. The nutrition is controlled by you. However, sometimes it can be impossible to include every nutrient that is essential for your dog’s health in a homemade recipe if it is not properly supplemented.
Store-bought dog food is required by law to meet nutritional and safety standards in production. The food is nutritionally complete and balanced. Learning how to make homemade recipes requires a great deal of time, dedication, and education to be sure that you’re not eliminating anything essential from your dog’s diet.
Nutrition
Store-bought food provides an easy solution to offer a complete and balanced diet to your dog. Homemade food also offers benefits: If you make a nutritionally complete recipe for your dog, they will get the proper amount of nutrition. But this is difficult to do, you need balanced, approved recipes and supplementation to guarantee that they are receiving the right number of vitamins and minerals.
Safety
In a homemade dog food recipe, you can see everything that’s included. While that doesn’t mean the food is never at risk of contamination, even in your own kitchen, the risk is reduced when you can control the food and how it’s prepared.
Store-bought dog food can always be recalled if there is an issue in the production, so we give the edge to homemade dog food when it comes to safety but only slightly.
Price
Store-bought food is an easy way to offer a complete and balanced diet to your dog. Homemade food also offers benefits: if you make a nutritionally complete recipe for your dog, they will get the proper amount of nutrition. However, this is difficult to do, as you need balanced, vet-approved recipes and supplementation to guarantee that your dog is receiving the right amount of vitamins and minerals.
Keeping up with these ingredients can be expensive. You also want to make sure you’re adding the correct number of vitamins and minerals to the food, which means you likely need to purchase supplements. If you’re making two or three meals every day for your dog, the costs of the meat, produce, and supplements can add up quickly.
Conclusion
When it comes to homemade dog food vs store-bought dog food, there are advantages and disadvantages to both. Store-bought food stands out as the better choice in terms of price and convenience.
Homemade dog food requires a great deal of work, both in learning how to make it correctly and then preparing the recipes. That doesn’t mean you should be discouraged from trying it, just that you should do it the right way. If done correctly, you will know exactly what you are feeding your dog and mix in some love, too. We recommend that you get advice from a veterinary nutritionist and speak to your vet before switching your dog to a homemade diet.
We hope that this article was informative and helped you decide which type of food is best for your dog.
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