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Makers of pet food urged to list calories
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More from LifestyleWASHINGTON — Future pet food labels that indicate the number of calories per serving could help obese animals shed the extra pounds, a veterinarians group has recommended to the Food and Drug Administration.
"Pet owners do not always know how much to feed. They may not realize the high number of calories associated with some of the pet food," said John Branam, testifying on behalf of the American Veterinary Medical Association.
The FDA held the hearing last week as part of legislation last year requiring the Center for Veterinary Medicine to establish pet food labeling standards in two years.
According to the AVMA, 54 million pets in the U.S. are obese, an "epidemic" that the association says is growing at an alarming rate.
But Nancy Cook, vice president of the Pet Food Institute's technical and regulatory affairs, said calorie labels are unnecessary and won't prevent obesity in pets.
The labels already contain serving sizes based on a pet's size. Calorie information can be obtained from food manufacturers, she said.
But the AVMA said it's not the jobs of consumers and veterinarians to track down manufacturers for that information. A standard nutritional label that lists the number of calories per weight of food and per household items such as a can or a cup would prevent owners from overfeeding their pets, the group said.
The information also would help consumers and veterinarians compare and choose the best food product, Branam said. For example, two cups of one product could have the same calories as one cup of another product.
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