Pet food labeling can be a fraught area all around — for pet food manufacturers trying to comply with regulations while also selling their products, as well as for pet owners seeking to find the best foods for their pets.
According to a survey conducted by Yummypets, a social network for pet owners, and Pets International magazine among 800 pet owners in Canada, France, the U.K. and the U.S., consumers want accuracy, transparency and simpler language with pet food labeling. No surprises or outrageous demands there.
Yet pet food manufacturers are well aware that regulations sometimes make it difficult, if not impossible, to meet those expectations. The limited space on many pet food packages can pose challenges, too. Is there a happy balance?
Pet owners want accuracy and transparency
In 2023, the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) passed Pet Food Label Modernization (PFLM), the first major update and revision in several years. While pet food manufacturers have several more years to comply and phase in new labels, it still puts a lot on their plates. (Note: Austin Therrell, executive director of AAFCO, will be one of the experts on a regulatory panel closing out Petfood Forum on April 30, 2025.)
Pet food companies in Europe and other regions have similar regulations and rules to comply with when it comes to pet food labeling. At the same time, about 60% of the 800 pet owners surveyed by Yummypets and Pets International said accurate and transparent labeling is very important. When adding in those who said it was important, the total rose to 88%. U.S. respondents were most likely, at 68%, to consider it very important, according to an article by Paula Flores in the February 2025 issue of Pets International magazine.
At least these pet owners mostly feel confident about their ability to interpret pet food labels, with 79% expressing some level of confidence. On the other hand, that means 20% don’t feel at all confident. U.S. consumers were most likely to express a high level of confidence, at 34%, contrasting with French pet owners, with only 14% feeling very confident. By gender, men were more likely to feel a high level of confidence, 35% vs. only 21% for women.
Do pet owners trust what they see on labels?
However these pet owners feel about their ability to understand pet food labels, a majority don’t trust what they see, according to the survey: 58% overall believe labels are misleading. French pet owners especially believe that, at 68%.
Among the label claims and terms all the pet owners surveyed find misleading are “natural” and “premium” (40% named these), nutritional claims (31%) and ingredient lists (29%). Even images on packaging were named by 20% of respondents, while ethical and environmental claims seemed misleading to 16%.
Interestingly, in a 2024 survey by Euromonitor International of pet owners globally, 14% said they thought organic and natural claims were excuses for companies to charge more for their pet foods. Yet a majority of respondents, 54% to 61%, in that survey found those claims, along with ones like recyclable, locally sourced and environmentally friendly, trustworthy; much smaller percentages (5 to 8%) found them untrustworthy.
Recommendations vs. regulations
Reporting on the Yummypets and Pets International survey findings, Flores recommended pet food manufacturers opt for “simpler language.” However, regulations don’t always allow for that — for example, in ingredient lists. In the U.S., some ingredients are required to be listed by their chemical names rather than by the common ones that most people would recognize (though AAFCO and other entities are trying to move toward allowing more common names).
The article also discusses the use of QR codes on pet food as a tool to lead consumers to more in-depth information that won’t fit on the packaging. While some pet food companies already do so, and it’s a sound concept for information on areas like ingredient sourcing, production methods and the like, regulations (again!) require certain information to be on the packaging itself.
There’s also a familiarity factor with QR codes to consider: 54% of the pet owners surveyed said they have never scanned such codes. For those who have and view the technology in a positive light, they know what type of information they’d like to find when they scan: nutritional analysis (named by 63%), detailed ingredient sourcing (59%) and product safety/recalls. The latter registered with only 39% overall, but 48% of U.S. pet owners identified it as a need. French pet owners in the survey were more likely to want information on the manufacturing process (44%), while Canadian pet owners want to see serving suggestions (41%).
