{"topic_id":"dzanis_1994_section_01","category":"us-2026","context":"---\ntopic_id: dzanis_1994_section_01\ncategory: AAFCO-HISTORICAL\ntitle: Nutrition Through the Life Cycle\nlang: en\nsource: aafco_jnutrition_dzanis_1994.pdf\ndate_parsed: 2026-07-18\ntokens_estimated: 2000\nextra: {\"publication_year\": 1994, \"author\": \"David A. Dzanis\", \"journal\": \"J. Nutrition\", \"section_index\": 1}\n---\n\n# Nutrition Through the Life Cycle\n\nNutrition Through the Life Cycle\n\nThe Association of American Feed Control Officials Dog\nand Cat Food Nutrient Profiles: Substantiation of\nNutritional Adequacy of Complete and Balanced\nPet Foods in the united States12\nDAVID A. DZANIS3\nDivision of Animal Feeds, Center for Veterinary Medicine,\nRockuille, MD 20855\n\nU.S. Food and Drug Administration,\n\nMeans of substantiation\n\nINDEXING KEY WORDS:\n\n•symposium\nrequirements\n\ndogs •cats •nutritional\nnutrient profiles\n\nThe Association of American Feed Control Officials\n(AAFCO) is an advisory body comprised of represen\ntatives from the individual states of the United States.\nA primary function of AAFCO is the publication of\nmodel laws, animal feed regulations and ingredient\ndefinitions, all of which a state may adopt as a part of\nits own feed laws and regulations. Included in the\nmodel regulations are means for substantiation of nu\ntritional adequacy for \"complete and balanced\" dog\nand cat foods.\n0022-3166/94\n\nThere are two means of substantiating the nutri\ntional adequacy of a pet food. The first method re\nquires the product to be formulated so that essential\nnutrient levels fall with the ranges as set in the AAFCO\nNutrient Profiles. The second method requires a pet\nfood manufacturer to conduct animal feeding trials in\naccordance with AAFCO protocols. Pet foods that\nsuccessfully pass the feeding trials are exempt from\nthe requirement to meet the profiles.\nHistorically, AAFCO has relied on the publications\nof the National Research Council (NRC) as its \"rec\nognized authority on animal nutrition\" with respect\nto the levels of nutrients that constituted a complete\nand balanced dog or cat food (NRC 1974, 1978, 1985,\n1986). This reliance became problematic with the most\nrecent of the NRC publications. The 1985 and 1986\neditions reflected more recent knowledge of canine\nand feline nutrition, but their recommendations were\nnot in a format readily usable by AAFCO or the pet\nfood industry. As a result, AAFCO elected to continue\nto use the outdated 1974 and 1978 recommendations.\nIn 1990, the AAFCO Canine Nutrition Expert\n(CNE) Subcommittee was established to address this\nproblem. The report of the CNE Subcommittee be\ncame the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles (Table\n1) (AAFCO 1992). Compared with the 1974 NRC ree1 Presented as part of the Waltham Symposium on the Nutrition\nof Companion Animals in association with the 15th International\nCongress of Nutrition, at Adelaide, SA, Australia, on September\n23-25, 1993. Guest editors for this symposium were Kay Earle,\nJohn Mercer and D'Ann Finley.\n2 Presented as \"Substantiation of Nutritional Adequacy of Com\nplete and Balanced Pet Foods\" at the Petfood Forum, May 4, 1993,\nChicago, IL.\n3 To whom correspondence should be addressed: FDA/CVM,\nHFV-222, 7500 Standish Place, Rockville, MD 20855.\n\n$3.00 ©1994 American Institute of Nutrition.\n\n2535S\n\nDownloaded from jn.nutrition.org by guest on April 28, 2012\n\nABSTRACT The Association of American Feed Con\ntrol Official (AAFCO) f\n","sources":[],"tokens_estimated":2000,"generated_at":null,"tip":"Use /api/v1/topics to discover more topics. /api/v1/nutrient for precise single-point queries. /api/v1/cross_compare for 2-3 standard comparisons."}