Does The Farmer’s Dog Do AAFCO Feeding Trials?

Key points:

• Yes, The Farmer’s Dog has conducted AAFCO feeding trials on multiple recipes.
• We’ve also partnered with the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine on a long-term feeding study—one that involved more dogs and more testing than a traditional AAFCO trial.
• Beyond this, we’ve conducted a multi-year feeding study in which pet dogs living in homes with their families ate our food for up to six years and remained healthy.
• All of our recipes are 100% complete and balanced for dogs in all stages of life, from puppies through seniors.

Every recipe from The Farmer’s Dog is formulated by on-staff, board-certified nutritionists to be 100% complete and balanced. And, because dogs’ health is our top priority, we go above and beyond to ensure our food meets their nutritional needs.

One of many ways we do this is through Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) feeding trials. Here’s what you need to know about those trials—and everything else we do to make sure that our food helps dogs thrive.

The Farmer’s Dog has conducted multiple AAFCO feeding trials.

Dog people may be familiar with AAFCO from seeing its name on food labels—specifically, the AAFCO feeding statement for complete and balanced nutrition. It’s a private, voluntary-membership organization that deals with animal-feed rules, including those for pet food. Many states base their regulations on AAFCO’s guidelines for the nutritional adequacy of pet food.

One of the main ways companies demonstrate that their foods are complete and balanced is through a standard AAFCO adult maintenance feeding trial. The dog food being tested in this type of trial must keep 75% of the participating dogs healthy for six months. Dogs must not lose more than 15% of their initial body weight during the trial, and the averages of four blood values must fall within acceptable levels. The test fails if dogs show signs of nutritional deficiency or toxicity.

The Farmer’s Dog has multiple recipes bearing the AAFCO feeding trial statement, further confirming that our recipes provide optimal nutrition.

Why we go beyond AAFCO feeding trials

While AAFCO feeding trials are important, they’re not everything—and we’ve gone further to prove our food’s nutritional value.

We partnered with the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine on a long-term feeding study that involved 25% more dogs and testing five times as many blood values as a traditional AAFCO trial—which offered even more evidence that our food meets dogs’ dietary needs.

We’ve also conducted a long-term feeding study in which we fed The Farmer’s Dog to dogs living with families for up to six years. This study was meant to ensure nutritional adequacy and performance beyond a single recipe in a controlled setting—looking at the impact of our entire meal plan in real-life situations. Again, we completed a full blood panel for all participating dogs. Each dog also received a full medical examination from two veterinarians, including a board-certified veterinary nutritionist, showing they all remained healthy throughout the duration of the study.

The right nutrition for every dog

The Farmer’s Dog pre-portions its food for each individual dog’s needs. This is one way we make it easy to keep a dog in ideal body condition—something that’s particularly important considering that lean dogs can live up to 2.5 years longer than those who are obese.

Of course, you should talk to your veterinarian about what food is right for your dog. But between our fresh, ready-to-eat formulas and a DIY Nutrient Mix that you can use with home-cooked recipes, we offer a wide range of options for dogs with varied needs.

If your interest is piqued, consider signing up for a fresh-food plan from The Farmer’s Dog.