Human-Grade Cat Food: What It Is and How Itβs Different
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When it comes to your catsβ food, there is a long list of claims to consider in deciding what ultimately goes in their bowl. As a diligent pet-parent, youβve probably noticed that βhuman-gradeβ is a newer label thatβs having a moment. But what is human-grade anyway? And is it the right option for your cat? Simply put, it is food that meets a standard of quality that is safe for humans to consume.Β
When considering any new food for your feline friend, itβs important that the food, regardless of quality, is formulated to meet at least the AAFCO standards, which means it meets the minimal requirements established for a cat not to suffer from deficiencies. Itβs also a good idea to chat with your vet before making a switch.
Hereβs what you need to know about human-grade cat food, its benefits, and where to find it.
Defining Quality
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are the agencies responsible for regulating what is acceptable for human consumption, as well as overseeing the manufacturing safety and labeling of food. These agencies, along with the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), define regulatory requirements and proper labeling for pet products.
Despite being in existence for over 100 years, the AAFCO didnβt have a definition for feed-gradeβor human-gradeβfood until recently. Very recently. The Associationβs conversation around these terms kicked off in late 2015 and didnβt actually wrap up until August 2021. Unfortunately, their recently released definitions are under copyright, but hereβs the gist:
- The USDA defines which ingredients or products are edible or inedible for humans, and based on this, the AAFCOβs slightly out-of-date definition recognizes human-grade as equivalently human-edible.
- The FDA doesnβt explicitly define βfeed-grade,β but they are responsible for βmaking sure food for both people and animals is safe, properly manufactured, and adequately labeled.β
But, itβs important to remember that the FDA does not require pre-market review for pet food, and this statement doesnβt help to indicate quality at all.
We can also assume that βsafeβ is being used liberally here, since, often ingredients like guar gum (a thickening agent) and carrageenan (an emulsifier) are acceptable in pet food, yet studies have shown that these cause inflammation and tumors.
Human-Grade Ingredients
Human-grade pet food first starts with human-grade ingredients. As with all cat food, we need to keep in mind that our feline friends are obligate carnivoresβthey require animal protein to survive. When it comes to human-grade food, you can be sure that there wonβt be mystery meats like βby-productsβ or βmeals.β
By-products, while in part are made up of nutritious organs, also contain other low-quality βnon-meatβ that allows conventional pet food manufacturers to keep recipe protein levels consistent, albeit low quality, and costs low. Meal is another common ingredient in cat food that vaguely encompasses βtissue,β which is then cooked by the process of βrenderingβ or cooking out moisture to create dry, tissue-crisps.
Sound unpleasant? Thatβs because these industrial scraps would never be seen (or permitted) at a deli counter. The lack of transparency in the exact ingredients and their quality is something unfortunately permitted in pet food manufacturing. Sadly, studies have found undeclared horse meat and endangered species of wild animals, such as sharks and turtles, in commercial pet food1.
When it comes to human-grade pet food, you will see an ingredient list filled with familiar ingredients, like chicken breast or turkey thigh. Human-grade cat food recipes wonβt hide behind βby-productsβ or βmealβ and will instead proudly tout exact ingredients like chicken hearts, turkey or beef liver.
Human-Grade Manufacturing
The benefit of human-grade food for cats is more than the quality of ingredients; itβs the safety of the manufacturing process. To label themselves as human-grade, a company has to ensure that all ingredients are safe for human consumption and that all food has been prepared, stored, and transported per the legal requirements of food for humans.
(1) all ingredients are safe for human consumption and (2) all food has been prepared, stored, and transported per the legal requirements of food for humans.
As mentioned earlier, the FDA doesnβt require pre-market review for pet foods, but when it comes to human-food safety, the FDA regulates non-meat processed food, and the USDA oversees the meat industry, inspecting the pre-market process thoroughly, from the slaughter house where the meat was harvested, the kitchen where the meat is cooked, and the facility where the food is stored and prepared for transport. These additional safety precautions give pet parents peace of mind
Smalls: The Original Human-Grade Cat Food
Looking back on the last 100-years of pet food, itβs hard to imagine how housecats that have evolved from their wild, hunting counterparts have come to living primarily on a diet of kibble and the occasional canned βwetβ food.
Kibble was invented as a necessity to keep pets fed amidst WWII meat and tin rations that crippled the canned pet food industry, but after the restrictions were lifted, pet food manufacturers doubled down on kibble. Not because it was designed for pets, or even because it was healthy for them, but because it was cheap to makeβletting profit margins soar.
In 2016, friends and Smalls co-founders Matt Michaelson and Calvin Bohn discovered the pet food industryβs sorted past and decided it was time for cats to be fed like the family members they are. Together, they started making cat food with locally-sourced ingredients in their own kitchens.
After a few weeks, they turned first into βSmalls Human-Grade Freshβ and then to what is now βSmalls Fresh Cat Food.β Smalls isnβt small-batch anymore, but maintains high-quality human-grade standards.
Our Favorite Cat Bowl Right Now
While providing our feline companions with high-quality food is paramount, selecting the right food and water bowl is equally important. The modern yet practical design of our Hepper NomNom Cat Bowl combines cat-catered features, like whisker-friendly shallow dishes and slight elevation, with a contemporary style aimed at protecting your floors from messy eating and drinking. The NomNom is entirely dishwasher safe and was thoughtfully created with your catβs health and well-being in mind.Β
Pro Tips for Picking the Best Human-Grade Cat Food
When it comes to choosing the best human-grade food for your cat, hereβs what you need to know:
Read Carefully
Marketers choose their words carefully for a reason. When reading a cat food label, consider βmade withβ as a red flag. This precise phrasing is probably accurate, but when using the word βwith,β manufacturers are only required to include 3% of that named ingredient in the food. So, even βcat food with chickenβ may have a lot less chicken in it than βchicken cat food.β
Something truly human-grade would contain only human-safe ingredients and have the labeling practices to back that up. Human-grade food wouldnβt contain a nondescript βmeat by-productβ or a meat βmeal,β as these vaguely named mystery meats are not classified for human consumption.
Ingredient Quality and Quantity
Human-grade indicates quality, but itβs still important that your catβs human-grade food is packed with protein, fats, and moisture. When reading your catβs food label the first and second ingredients should be an identifiable meat source, ie. turkey thigh and turkey breast instead of βturkey byproduct mealβ, but donβt stop reading there. This list helps to contextualize the nutritional value of the ingredients, which is indicated by the labels Guaranteed Analysis (GA).
The GA tells the reader the minimum and maximum amounts of four nutrients: protein, fat, fiber, and moisture, which are essential to cat health. The problem is that the GA doesnβt tell the whole story, so you can do a bit of math (or Googling, weβre not here to judge) to find the recipeβs Dry Matter Basis (DMB) value. The DMB helps to compare the actual nutrient content of food without the moisture content, and can be found by dividing the GA percentage of a nutrient by (100 minus the percentage of moisture) and multiplying the result by 100 to bring us back to a percent.
As obligate carnivores, cats need a protein-rich diet, light on carbohydrates, so an above average cat food should have more than 50% dry matter protein with less than 10% dry matter carbohydrates.
For reference: Fancy Feastβs Classic Chicken Pate has a GA of 10% crude protein and 5% carbohydrate, but DMB of 45% crude protein and a whopping 22% carbohydrate. In contrast, Smalls Fresh Chicken recipe has a GA of 13% protein and 0.4% carbohydrate, with a solid DMB to match of 48% protein and 1% carbohydrate.
Conclusion
With so many different types of pet foods and labels, it can be hard to determine what exactly βhuman-gradeβ pet food actually is. Hopefully, after reading this article, you have a bit of a better idea and can use what you learned to make an informed decision about what to feed your pet. If youβre ever confused about what food is best for your cat, itβs always best to reach out to your vet for advice.
Featured Image Credit: Svetlana Rey, Shutterstock
