Pet Food Labelling: Understanding Rehydration and Ingredient Percentages
Understanding pet food labels can be challenging, especially when confronted with statements like “Chicken (equivalent to 56%)” or claims such as “with Carrots.”
To ensure that pet food labels accurately reflect a product’s content, the Australian Standard (AS 5812:2023) includes specific rules for how products are named and how ingredients are listed.
General Labelling Rules
Product labels must declare ingredients in descending order of their weight before processing, following the “Mixing Bowl Principle.” The product’s name is determined by the percentage of the “namer ingredient” in the recipe, and this percentage must also be stated on the label.
While percentages are generally based on the mixing bowl principle, there are two exceptions:
- Water: Water added during processing is excluded when determining the “namer,” but it is included when declaring the namer’s percentage on the label.
- Rehydration: Rehydration factors can be applied to relevant ingredients when both determining the namer ingredient and quantifying its percentage on the label.
What Rehydration Means for Ingredients
Many pet food ingredients (like meat meals or dried vegetables) are concentrated through water and sometimes fat removal, making them shelf-stable.
Rehydration is a calculation that determines a dried ingredient’s weight in its original, raw state to determine its contribution for naming.
- Meat Meals: Percentages for naming can use the rehydrated weight. If so, the term “equivalent” must be used (e.g., “beef (equiv. to 9%)”).
- Dehydrated Ingredients: For ingredients where only water was removed (e.g., dried carrots), the rehydrated percentage can be used without the “equivalent” qualification.
Manufacturers use a Rehydration Factor, based on recognised data sets or supplier data, for this conversion.
How Ingredient Weight Influences the Product Name
The percentage of the namer ingredient determines what you see on the front of the pack, following the Australian Standard rules:
| Name Type | Requirement (Exc. Water) | Example |
| The Name (e.g., “Chicken”) | Must be at least 25% and be the main ingredient. | “Chicken Pet Food” |
| The “Meal” (e.g., “Dinner”) | Must be at least 25% but is not the main ingredient. | “Chicken Dinner” |
| “With…” | Must be at least 3%. | “Dog Food with Chicken” |
| “Flavour” | No minimum percentage is required; the ingredient must be identified in the ingredient. | “Beef Flavour” |
Example: A treat containing 0.5% dried carrots can claim to be “with carrots” because, once rehydrated, that 0.5% is equivalent to approximately 4.3% fresh carrots, clearing the 3% hurdle.
Why the shift to declaring the percentage of namer ingredients?
These changes were made to enhance trust and transparency in the industry, driven by three key benefits:
- Alignment with human food: Pet food labels now better align with human food standards (FSANZ) by including namer ingredient percentages. This makes pet food labels more familiar and easier to understand.
- Protein equivalency comparison: Rehydration allows fair comparison between dry kibble (with concentrated meals) and wet food, revealing protein equivalency despite different formats.
- Authentic naming: The standard ensures product names, like “Chicken Dog Food,” reflect a significant amount of the named ingredient, avoiding misleading front-of-pack claims.
With these changes the pet food industry provides a more transparent window into the “mixing bowl,” fostering a relationship of trust between manufacturers and pet parents who want the same quality and clarity for their animals as they do for themselves.