Pet food standards, explained
AAFCO approved dog and cat food in Singapore: what it actually means
Search for AAFCO approved dog food in Singapore and nearly every brand says yes. Very few explain what the claim covers, because the honest answer is uncomfortable: AAFCO does not approve, certify or register any pet food, anywhere in the world. Here is what the standard actually is, a four step check you can run on any brand including ours, and exactly where The Bon Pet stands. 🐾
"AAFCO approved"
AAFCO approves nothing. It is the Association of American Feed Control Officials, a volunteer body of US state regulators that publishes model nutrient profiles. It does not test food, inspect kitchens, issue approvals or keep a list of approved brands. Any brand using the word approved is describing something that does not exist.
"AAFCO certified" or "AAFCO registered"
There is no certificate and no register to be on. What a brand can honestly say is that its food is formulated to meet the AAFCO nutrient profile for a named life stage, or that it passed an AAFCO feeding trial. Those are two different things and the difference matters.
"Meets AAFCO standards" with no life stage named
The profile is only meaningful attached to a life stage. Adult Maintenance is the easiest to hit. Growth and Reproduction is stricter. All Life Stages means the food meets the growth profile, so it is safe for kittens, puppies, adults and seniors from the same pack. A claim with no life stage attached tells you nothing.
How to check any brand's AAFCO claim in 4 steps
This works on us and on every competitor. If a brand cannot answer all four, the claim is marketing rather than nutrition.
-
Find the nutritional adequacy statement
Not the marketing copy, the actual sentence. It reads something like "formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for All Life Stages". If a brand only says AAFCO somewhere on the page without this sentence, that is a red flag worth an email.
-
Check which life stage it names
Adult Maintenance, Growth and Reproduction, or All Life Stages. If you have a kitten or a puppy, Adult Maintenance food is not formulated for them. This is the single most common gap in Singapore listings, and it is usually not stated at all rather than stated wrongly.
-
Ask how it was substantiated
Two valid routes. Formulation means the recipe was built and analysed against the profile. Feeding trial means live animals ate it under an AAFCO protocol. Trials are expensive and rare among small fresh brands, ours included. Neither route is a lie, but a brand should tell you which one it used.
-
Ask for the actual numbers
A guaranteed analysis with four figures on it is the legal minimum, not transparency. Ask for the full nutrient breakdown and the ingredient quantities. This is where most brands stop replying, and it is the whole reason we publish ours in a public spreadsheet that anyone can copy, check and argue with.
Where The Bon Pet stands
Every Bon Pet meal is formulated with a PhD pet nutritionist to meet the AAFCO nutrient profiles for All Life Stages, substantiated by formulation rather than feeding trial. Cat meals are 95% whole animal protein with no vegetables, because cats are obligate carnivores. Dog meals run 70% protein, 25% vegetables, fruit and seeds, and 5% supplements.
We publish every formula in full, gram by gram, in a public spreadsheet. Not a summary, not a guaranteed analysis, the actual build sheet. You can copy it, take it to your vet, or hand it to a competitor. That is the point.
