FEDIAF 2024: what it is and what’s new?

Raw Feeding

Oct 2

Written By The Little Carnivore - Coline

The FEDIAF recently published its updated nutritional guidelines for 2024, the previous update being in 2021. On this occasion, let’s talk about what the FEDIAF is and its nutritional guidelines. Of course, in this article, we will also look in detail at what’s new and what has changed from the 2021 version.

What is the FEDIAF?

FEDIAF is the French acronym for “Fédération Européenne de l'Industrie des Aliments pour Animaux Familiers” which means in English the European Pet Food Industry Federation. As its name suggests, it is the trade body representing the European pet food industry.
The FEDIAF is composed of 15 trade association members from European countries (and representing 375 pet food companies), and 5 individual pet food company members: Affinity Petcare, Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Mars PetCare, Nestlé Purina Petcare, and Wellpet. So, in other words, it is the European pet food lobby.
The FEDIAF publishes various guides, guidelines, and factsheets for the pet food industry, EU authorities, as well as for pet guardians.
Here are some of the guides : Guide to Good Practice for the Manufacture of Safe Pet Foods, Guide to Good Practice for Communication on Pet Food, and the Nutritional Guidelines for Complete and Complementary Pet Foods.
The FEDIAF works with the European Commission, and its guidelines are designed to complement EU regulations. While these guidelines are approved by the European Commission, the FEDIAF is not a regulatory authority. Therefore, it does not enforce the guidelines or any pet food regulations, and its guidelines are not legally binding.
One of the goals of the FEDIAF is the self-regulation of the industry, so members of the FEDIAF follow (or should follow) these different guidelines in their pet food.

What are the nutritional guidelines?

The nutritional guidelines provide information on the nutrient levels required in commercial pet food for cats and dogs, depending on their life stage, activity levels, etc.
They also include various information regarding pet nutrition such as a glossary, ingredient information, energy requirements, body condition scores, etc.
These guidelines are based on the NRC recommendations (National Research Council, which we talked about in a previous article), as well as recent scientific studies. They are peer-reviewed by the Scientific Advisory Board, a group of independent European scientists working in academia or private consulting.
These guidelines are available for free on their website and are considered the industry standard for pet food in Europe.

FEDIAF vs AAFCO vs NRC

There are 3 nutritional standards commonly used for cats and dogs, namely the FEDIAF, AAFCO, and NRC. So, let’s quickly compare the differences between the three.

The AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) could be considered the American equivalent of the FEDIAF, however, the AAFCO is a non-profit organization that doesn’t represent the pet food industry. Like the FEDIAF, the AAFCO is not a regulatory body, but many American states adopt its nutritional standards as regulatory.
Both the FEDIAF and AAFCO nutritional standards are designed for the pet food industry, which is why they often include safety margins to take into account feed processing.
They are also regularly updated, and they are both based on the NRC.

The NRC (National Research Council) is a non-profit, private organization that publishes the textbook “Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats”. It is a scientific review of the literature on canine and feline nutrition.
The purpose of the NRC is different from the AAFCO and FEDIAF as it doesn’t aim to provide guidelines specifically for the pet food industry, but rather a state-of-the-art publication on the scientific knowledge of dogs and cats nutrition. While the FEDIAF and AAFCO are relatively short, around 100 pages, the NRC is a very dense book of more than 400 pages. The last time the NRC was updated was in 2006.

The three nutritional standards each have their advantages and disadvantages and can be relevant depending on the situation.

What changed in 2024?

Here is a complete overview of the changes between the FEDIAF Guidelines for Complete and Complementary Pet Foods of 2021 and 2024.
You will notice that the tables summarizing the nutrient requirements of cats and dogs remain unchanged.

a. Acknowledgment

Scientific Advisory Board - Prof. Iben, Christine was removed as she retired.

b. Introduction

The introduction was updated to reflect changes in the members.

2021: FEDIAF represents the national pet food industry associations in the EU and from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Norway, Russia, Serbia and Switzerland, promoting the views and interest of around 132 pet food companies in Europe (95% of the industry).

2024: FEDIAF represents the national pet food industry associations in the EU and from Norway, Switzerland and UK, promoting the views and interest of around 150 pet food companies in Europe (95% of the industry)

c. Table VII-8b

The formula for the average energy requirements during growth and reproduction in dogs, was updated adding n-4 to the equation.
2021:

2024:

d. Section 7.2.2.2

The Gross Energy formula in kJ was rounded to one decimal point following consultation of EN 16967.

2021: GE (kJ) = (23.85 x % crude protein) + (39.33 x % crude fat) + [17.15 x (% NFE + % crude fibre)]

2024: GE (kJ) = (23.8 x % crude protein) + (39.3 x % crude fat) + [17.1 x (% NFE + % crude fibre)]

e. Glossary

Correction of a typo.

2021: Recommended Allowance (RA). The concentration or amount of a nutrient in a diet formulated to support a given physiological state allowance for definition. (NRC 2006)

2024: Recommended Allowance (RA). The concentration or amount of a nutrient in a diet formulated to support a given physiological state. (NRC 2006j)

f. 3.3.1. Substantiation of nutrient recommendations for complete dog food

2021: However very high fat foods with very low protein content have been linked with adverse effects in dogs (Lindsay ST et al. 1948). Fat per se is not essential and as long as the minimum recommendation for all essential fatty acids is met or exceeded there is no risk of nutritional deficiency.

2024: However very high fat foods with very low protein content have been linked with adverse effects in dogs, mainly pancreatitis, as reviewed by NRC (2006j); more studies are needed to assess effects of high fat in complete maintenance diets. Fat per se is not essential and as long as the minimum recommendation for all essential fatty acids is met or exceeded (as long as there is an adequate amount for assimilation of fat soluble vitamins) there is no risk of nutritional deficiency

g. Footnotes

The footnote (f) regarding phosphorus requirement of cats was updated.

2021: High intake of inorganic phosphorus compounds (such as NaH₂PO₄) affect indicators of kidney function in cats (Alexander J et al. 2019, Dobenecker B et al. 2018a, Dobenecker B et al. 2018b). More research is needed to understand the impact of different sources and nutrient interactions. For Na₅P₃O₁₀ a recent feeding study with healthy adult cats (Coltherd JC et al. 2021) observed no adverse effects on kidney or bone (skeletal) function and general health when feeding complete and balanced diets containing 1 g/1000 kcal inorganic phosphorus coming from Na₅P₃O₁₀ and total phosphorus level of 4.0g/1000kcal (Ca:P ratio of 1.0) or 5g/1000kcal (Ca:P ratio of 1.3) for 30 weeks.

2024: High intake of highly bioavailable inorganic phosphorus compounds (Pi; such as sodium dihydrogen phosphate), ≥1.5g/1000 kcal ME can affect indicators of kidney function in cats (Alexander J et al. 2019, Dobenecker B et al. 2018a, Dobenecker B et al. 2018b). Studies evaluating the intake of 1 g Pi/1000 kcal ME show this level can be fed to healthy adult cats without detectable adverse effects on renal health: one 30-week-long study with diets containing 1 g sodium tripolyphosphate /1000 kcal (Coltherd JC et al. 2021) and one 5 year long study with diets containing 1 g Pi/1000 kcal ME in the form of potassium monophosphate (50%) and sodium pyrophosphate (50%) (Reynolds et al. 2024). More research is needed to understand the impact of different sources and nutrient interactions

h. 9. References

One reference was added.

Reynolds BS, Chetboul V, Elliott J, Laxalde J, Nguyen P, Testault I, Dorso L, Abadie J, Lefebvre HP, Biourge V. Long-term safety of dietary salt: A 5-year Prospective randomized blinded and controlled study in healthy aged cats (PEANUT study). J Vet Intern Med. 2024 JanFeb;38(1):285-299. doi: 10.1111/jvim.16952

i.

The FEDIAF address was updated on the last page.

2021: Avenue Louise 89 B-1050 Bruxelles +32 (2) 536 05 20 fediaf@fediaf.org www.fediaf.org

2024: Rue de l’Industrie 11 box 10, B – 1000 Brussels www.europeanpetfood.org

I hope this article was useful, whether you wanted to better understand what the FEDIAF is or if you were interested in the minor changes of the 2024 updated version.