Can a brand print human grade on its pet food, and what does it really require?

In the United States, human grade is a controlled term that AAFCO permits only under strict conditions (AAFCO, 2024). In the EU and UK, no equivalent legal definition exists: pet food is regulated as feed, distinct from human food, so the phrase carries no defined status and only the ban on misleading claims applies (EUR-Lex, Regulation EC 767/2009).

A US term with no regulatory twin in the EU or UK

In the United States, human grade means every ingredient and the finished product are made, stored and handled to the standards that apply to human food (AAFCO, 2024). The claim is allowed only if the whole product, not a single ingredient, meets those conditions. In the EU and UK, that framework does not exist: pet food falls under feed law, and human grade has no defined reach there. The detail that surprises owners: in the United States, using human grade forces the plant to be registered with the FDA as both a human-food and an animal-food establishment, so a single word on the bag commits the entire manufacturing process.

How to read the phrase in the UK and EU

A brand may speak of food-grade or human-quality ingredients, but the wording is not an official grade and remains bound by the ban on misleading claims (EUR-Lex, Regulation EC 767/2009). In the UK, Trading Standards and the Advertising Standards Authority can challenge an unfair claim. To judge the food itself, nutritional adequacy and the maker's expertise outweigh this kind of label every time (WSAVA, 2021).