Pet Food Label Checker: 95%, Dinner & With Rules

Check dog and cat food product names against the ingredient list using the AAFCO naming rules described by the US FDA: the 95% rule ('Beef Dog Food'), the 25% 'dinner' rule ('Chicken Formula'), the 3% 'with' rule ('Cat Food with Tuna') and the 'flavor' rule. The Pet Food Label Checker also flags 'grain free' products with grains and 'natural' products with BHA, BHT or artificial colors. Works on Chewy, Petco, Zooplus, Amazon and Walmart scraper output. Click Start with the prefilled example to see it work.

This is an automated comparison of the product name, claims and ingredient list you supply, not a legal determination. It can't see formula percentages, so ingredient-position checks are heuristics. A clean result doesn't mean a label complies. Not legal or veterinary advice; every row carries this disclaimer and a timestamp.

What does the Pet Food Label Checker do?

• ✅ Name rule detection: 95% (simple names), 25% (dinner, formula, recipe, entrée, platter, nuggets), 3% ('with') or flavor, shown in nameRule.
• ✅ 95% names where the named meat isn't the first ingredient (apart from water or broth), or that include plant ingredients like 'Lamb and Rice Dog Food'.
• ✅ Order and presence: named ingredients out of ingredient-list order, or missing from the list.
• ✅ After-salt heuristic: a 'dinner' or 'with' ingredient listed after salt, which is usually around 1% or less.
• ✅ Flavor names with no matching flavor source (digest, meal, broth).
• ✅ Grain free claims with wheat, corn, rice, barley, oats and other grains, and natural claims with BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin or artificial colors.
• ✅ Output per row: nameRule, namedIngredients, ingredientPositions, inScope, riskLevel, issueCount, issues (ruleId, severity, message, quote, sourceUrl, fixHint), checkedAt and a disclaimer.

Who is it for?

• Pet food brands and co-packers checking product names and listings.
• Pet retailers and marketplaces screening catalogs in bulk.
• Pet food review sites and researchers comparing names with ingredients.
• Agencies writing pet food product copy.

How to check pet food names against ingredients

1. Click Start with the prefilled example (a 'Beef Dog Food' led by chicken, 'Lamb and Rice Dog Food', a grain-free recipe with brown rice and a clean chicken formula).
2. Replace the input with your own: title (the product name) and ingredients, with optional description and claims.
3. Or enter a Dataset ID from a Chewy, Petco, Zooplus, Amazon or Walmart scraper. Common fields are detected automatically; use Field map for nested ones.
4. Turn on Only save rows with findings to skip clean rows; you only pay for saved rows.
5. Export results as CSV, Excel or JSON, or fetch them through the API.

Input example

This is the prefilled input:

{
  "products": [
    {
      "id": "EXAMPLE-BEEF",
      "title": "Example Beef Dog Food, 13 oz cans",
      "ingredients": "Chicken, beef, water sufficient for processing, guar gum, vitamins"
    },
    {
      "id": "EXAMPLE-LAMB",
      "title": "Example Lamb and Rice Dog Food",
      "ingredients": "Lamb, brown rice, chicken meal, salt, vitamins"
    },
    {
      "id": "EXAMPLE-SALMON",
      "title": "Example Grain Free Salmon Recipe Dog Food",
      "ingredients": "Salmon, peas, brown rice, potato, salt"
    },
    {
      "id": "EXAMPLE-CHICKEN",
      "title": "Example Chicken Formula Cat Food",
      "ingredients": "Chicken, chicken meal, brown rice, salt, taurine"
    }
  ]
}

Dataset mode:

{"datasetId": "YOUR_DATASET_ID", "fieldMap": {"ingredients": "specifications.Ingredients"}, "onlyFlagged": true}

Output example

Real output from a run of the prefilled input on 2026-11-03 (long finding lists are shortened here; the run returns all of them):

[
  {
    "itemNo": 1,
    "productId": "EXAMPLE-BEEF",
    "title": "Example Beef Dog Food, 13 oz cans",
    "nameRule": "95%",
    "namedIngredients": [
      "beef"
    ],
    "ingredientPositions": {
      "beef": 2
    },
    "inScope": true,
    "riskLevel": "high",
    "issueCount": 1,
    "issues": [
      {
        "ruleId": "named_ingredient_not_first",
        "severity": "high",
        "message": "Name implies the 95% rule ('beef' with no qualifier like dinner, formula or with), but the first ingredient (apart from water or broth) is 'chicken'. Under the 95% rule the named ingredient should be listed first, since ingredients are listed by weight.",
        "quote": "Example Beef Dog Food, 13 oz cans | first ingredient: chicken",
        "sourceUrl": "https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/pet-food-labels-general",
        "fixHint": "Check the recipe or add a qualifier such as 'dinner', 'formula' or 'with'."
      }
    ],
    "url": null,
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-03T19:48:04+00:00",
    "disclaimer": "Automated comparison of the product name, claims and ingredient list supplied with the..."
  },
  {
    "itemNo": 2,
    "productId": "EXAMPLE-LAMB",
    "title": "Example Lamb and Rice Dog Food",
    "nameRule": "95%",
    "namedIngredients": [
      "lamb",
      "rice"
    ],
    "ingredientPositions": {
      "lamb": 1,
      "rice": 2
    },
    "inScope": true,
    "riskLevel": "high",
    "issueCount": 1,
    "issues": [
      {
        "ruleId": "non_animal_in_95_name",
        "severity": "high",
        "message": "The product name uses the 95% rule form (e.g. 'Lamb and Rice Dog Food') and includes a non-animal ingredient (rice). Only ingredients of animal origin count toward the 95%, so FDA gives 'Lamb and Rice Dog Food' as an example that would be misbranded unless it were at least 95% lamb.",
        "quote": "Example Lamb and Rice Dog Food",
        "sourceUrl": "https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/pet-food-labels-general",
        "fixHint": "Use a qualifying term such as 'Lamb and Rice Formula' (25% rule) if that's accurate."
      }
    ],
    "url": null,
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-03T19:48:04+00:00",
    "disclaimer": "Automated comparison of the product name, claims and ingredient list supplied with the..."
  },
  {
    "itemNo": 3,
    "productId": "EXAMPLE-SALMON",
    "title": "Example Grain Free Salmon Recipe Dog Food",
    "nameRule": "25% dinner",
    "namedIngredients": [
      "salmon"
    ],
    "ingredientPositions": {
      "salmon": 1
    },
    "inScope": true,
    "riskLevel": "high",
    "issueCount": 1,
    "issues": [
      {
        "ruleId": "grain_free_with_grain",
        "severity": "high",
        "message": "Labeled grain free, but the ingredients include grain: brown rice. A label that's false or misleading in any particular makes food (including animal food) misbranded (21 U.S.C. 343(a)(1)).",
        "quote": "brown rice",
        "sourceUrl": "https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/21/343",
        "fixHint": "Remove the claim or the grain ingredient."
      }
    ],
    "url": null,
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-03T19:48:04+00:00",
    "disclaimer": "Automated comparison of the product name, claims and ingredient list supplied with the..."
  },
  {
    "itemNo": 4,
    "productId": "EXAMPLE-CHICKEN",
    "title": "Example Chicken Formula Cat Food",
    "nameRule": "25% dinner",
    "namedIngredients": [
      "chicken"
    ],
    "ingredientPositions": {
      "chicken": 1
    },
    "inScope": true,
    "riskLevel": "none found",
    "issueCount": 0,
    "issues": [],
    "url": null,
    "checkedAt": "2026-11-03T19:48:04+00:00",
    "disclaimer": "Automated comparison of the product name, claims and ingredient list supplied with the..."
  }
]

How much does it cost to check pet food labels?

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing: $0.002 per product saved plus a $0.00005 start fee per run, plus small platform usage paid by you (a few hundredths of a cent for small runs). That's about $2.00 for 1,000 products and $20.00 for 10,000 plus usage. With Only save rows with findings on, rows without findings aren't saved or charged. You can set a maximum cost per run in the run options.

Use it through the API, integrations or AI agents

• Run it and get results in one call: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/ultimatemc~pet-food-name-checker/run-sync-get-dataset-items
• Use it from AI agents through the Apify MCP server: https://mcp.apify.com?tools=ultimatemc/pet-food-name-checker
• Schedule it after a daily scraper run, send flagged rows to Slack or email with webhooks, or connect it to Make, Zapier, n8n or Google Sheets.
• Chain it after any pet store scraper by passing the scraper's dataset ID.

How it works

Checks are deterministic rules written from FDA's 'Pet Food Labels - General' guidance, which summarises the AAFCO model naming rules, and from 21 U.S.C. 343(a) (false or misleading labeling), checked on 2026-11-03. Ingredient lists are split by commas and named ingredients are matched by position. No AI and no external calls.

Sources:

• FDA: Pet Food Labels - General
• 21 U.S.C. 343, misbranded food

FAQ

What's the difference between 'Beef Dog Food' and 'Dog Food with Beef'?

Per FDA's summary of the AAFCO rules, 'Beef Dog Food' needs at least 95% beef (not counting water for processing), 'Beef Dinner' 25%, 'with Beef' 3%, and 'Beef Flavor' only a detectable amount.

Does it know the real percentages?

No. Ingredient lists are in order by weight, so position is used as evidence; the after-salt check is a heuristic.

Does it cover EU pet food rules?

No. It uses the US/AAFCO naming rules only.

Is it AI?

No. It's a fixed set of rules, so the same input always gives the same result.

Limitations

• Ingredient names and order only; no percentages unless the name rule makes position decisive.
• English names only.
• State feed laws and AAFCO model regulations themselves aren't reproduced.

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Found a false positive? Open an issue on the Issues tab with the product name and ingredient list and what you expected, and we'll review the rule.