Start with the exact product and guarantor
Record the product name, intended species, net quantity, manufacturer or distributor and pack identity. Keep the lot or best-by detail and the date observed when available, because formulas and labels can change.
Federal label requirements include the product identity, net quantity, manufacturer or distributor and an ingredient list in descending order by weight. State requirements may add or enforce further fields, so the market and pack version stay attached to the record.
- Product and species
- Net quantity
- Manufacturer or distributor
- Pack, lot and date
- Source URL or pack observation
Keep guaranteed analysis separate from ingredients
Guaranteed analysis reports named nutrient guarantees, often as minima or maxima. The ingredient list describes inputs in descending order by weight. One cannot safely be reconstructed from the other, and neither should be converted into an ingredient-quality score.
Preserve the qualifier and unit printed on the pack. A guaranteed minimum, maximum, typical analysis and laboratory result are different observations even when their percentages look comparable.
Read nutritional adequacy, life stage and feeding directions together
Look for the nutritional adequacy statement and the life stage or purpose it names. Feeding directions and calorie content help describe intended use, but they are not proof that a food or amount is right for an individual animal.
Do not describe a product as FDA-approved or AAFCO-approved merely because its label references an AAFCO feeding protocol or nutrient profile. AAFCO does not approve, certify or regulate pet food.
- Nutritional adequacy statement
- Named life stage or purpose
- Feeding directions
- Calorie content
- No invented approval claim
Finish with provenance and animal-specific limits
Keep the source, market and observation date beside every transcription. Use FDA's live recall and advisory pages for current US safety actions rather than assuming that a stored data extract is complete.
Label comparison can expose differences and missing facts. Symptoms, disease, growth, pregnancy, therapeutic feeding or persistent feeding problems require animal-specific advice from a veterinarian or appropriately qualified nutrition professional.