There are two classifications of pet food and pet food ingredients – human grade or feed grade. The legal requirements of human grade classified pet foods are 100% human edible ingredients and supplements and manufactured in a licensed human food facility. Some pet foods include human grade ingredients, but are manufactured in a licensed pet food facility. In pet food, it’s all or nothing. To make a human grade claim on the label, all legal requirements must be met. If not, the pet food is classified as feed grade.
The legal requirements of feed grade classified pet foods are significantly less. Ingredients can be human edible quality or they can be inedible – even condemned/adulterated. (To learn more about human grade and feed grade pet food requirements – Click Here.)
It’s easy to think that because of the legal requirements of human grade, these pet foods would be significantly more expensive than feed grade. But…
Dog Foods
As a comparison, Open Farm Turkey & Chicken Grain Free dry (kibble) dog food is made with human grade ingredient meats sourced from certified humanely raised animals.
This dog food sells for $5.78 per pound.
But another poultry based kibble dog food – whose website states meat ingredients are sourced from free range chicken – costs A LOT more. Almost 7 times more.
Pupper Fuel Chicken Recipe kibble dog food sells for $39.99 for a one pound package.
The most expensive feed grade kibble dog food we found was a venison protein pet food from ZiwiPeak.
ZiwiPeak Venison Recipe kibble dog food sells for $44.88 for a one pound bag.
Cat Foods
As a comparison, The Honest Kitchen offers a human grade dry cat food – manufactured with human grade ingredients in a human food manufacturing facility.
The Honest Kitchen Whole Food Clusters Grain-Free Chicken Dry (kibble) cat food costs $7.99 for a 1 pound bag.
Another poultry based kibble cat food – however this is a feed grade cat food – sells for almost 4 times more.
ZiwiPeak Air-Dried Chicken Recipe kibble cat food sells for $27.58 for a 14 ounce bag – or $31.52 per pound.
The most expensive feed grade kibble cat food we found was a venison protein food also from ZiwiPeak.
Ziwi Peak Air-Dried Venison Recipe cat food sells for $38.48 for a 14 ounce bag – or $43.97 per pound.
Wishing you and your pet the best –
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
Become a member of our pet food consumer Association. Association for Truth in Pet Food is a a stakeholder organization representing the voice of pet food consumers at AAFCO and with FDA. Your membership helps representatives attend meetings and voice consumer concerns with regulatory authorities. Click Here to learn more.
What’s in Your Pet’s Food?
Is your dog or cat eating risk ingredients? Chinese imports? Petsumer Report tells the ‘rest of the story’ on over 5,000 cat foods, dog foods, and pet treats. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Click Here to preview Petsumer Report. www.PetsumerReport.com
Find Healthy Pet Foods in Your Area Click Here
The 2022 List
Susan’s List of trusted pet foods. Click Here to learn more.
Mary
June 3, 2022 at 11:28 am
Ziwi Peak is FAR from a kibble! It is dehydrated meat so yeah it’s expensive
Susan Thixton
June 3, 2022 at 11:33 am
The Ziwi Peak pet foods are “air dried” which is a non-defined term. Extrusion is one method to manufacture kibble, but air dried and baked are others.
Fifitrixiebelle
June 5, 2022 at 12:16 pm
ST: Define “defined” please.
Susan Thixton
June 5, 2022 at 12:23 pm
A bit confused by your request. Hopefully this is what you are asking…Because everything in pet food is different than human food (with the exception of human grade pet foods), ingredients, processes, supplements have a legal definition written by AAFCO. As example ‘chicken’ in pet food means something completely different than ‘chicken’ in human food. An ingredient or process or supplement being “defined” means the legal definition.
Fifitrixiebelle
June 5, 2022 at 12:41 pm
ST: Thank you. As I read further, I figured out that you meant AAFCO-defined. However, AAFCO-defined is actually not a “legal definition,” is it? Wouldn’t a legal definition be a definition based on a law?
Susan Thixton
June 5, 2022 at 8:46 pm
Yes – AAFCO definitions do become legal definitions – in state law. FDA also recognizes all work from AAFCO as they participate in every part of AAFCO.
Margarat
June 3, 2022 at 12:30 pm
Isn’t Ziwi Peak described as feed-grade because it includes organ meats that aren’t allowed in human-grade meat? It contains tripe and lung, so that food cannot be called human-grade.
Also, their air-dried food, which is 96% meat, is not kibble.
You aren’t usually so sloppy with your reporting – what’s up?
Susan Thixton
June 3, 2022 at 12:54 pm
Ouch!!! Sloppy? Air-dried is a non-defined manufacturing process for a dry pet food. It can be made in any number of ways (because it is not legally defined), but it IS a dry pet food – the same as kibble. Air dried is very different than a dehydrated or freeze dried product – which are defined. And yes, ZiwiPeak is a feed grade product because it is manufactured in a pet food facility, not a human food facility.
T Allen
June 4, 2022 at 9:05 am
Think. When you cook meat in the oven with no liquids what are you doing? Roasting / Baking. Convection ovens circulate the DRY air while roasting / baking. This product is a combination/ mixture of all the ingredients. If you made this in your kitchen what would you have after you put the mixture in the oven at a low temperature to cook and dry it out? A flat cookie sheet of kibble. It’s not freeze dried or heat dried dehydrated slices (jerky) or chunks of muscle. Susan’s reporting is dead accurate as usual. And you are correct it’s not human grade! 🙂
Sue
June 3, 2022 at 12:57 pm
I looked up Open Farm (openfarmpet.com) and don’t see anything that states that the ingredients are human grade.
T Allen
June 4, 2022 at 9:21 am
When you buy food at the grocery store it doesn’t say Human grade either. The live animals are on 3rd party certified and inspected farms. That’s better than 99% of where your food comes from. You are correct in questioning the accuracy of the “marketing” but it’s up to you to decide who to believe. Most of the issue(s) with “human grade” are in the slaughter and processing facilities and that’s where the main concern lies. At 5.78/# I’d be concerned as well.
Debbie D
June 3, 2022 at 1:01 pm
Feed homemade/raw..its cheaper. Kibble is McDonalds in a bag…
Monique Charbonnier
June 3, 2022 at 1:08 pm
Thanks for this article but there is a but ; ZiwiPeak is NOT a kibble high temperature processed junk food it is Air Dried and if you read the Feeding Instructions you will find that it is Not that Expensive.
For example for a 50Lbs adult dog =1 cup of Ziwi per day
For most of Junk Food Processed kibble a 50lbs adult dog needs 2.5 to 3 cups per day.
So Ziwi is NOT that expensive Plus it is way way better then all those Junk Food Kibble on the market !!! Please Note I am not a Ziwi Peak Retailer I am a proud parent of Newfoundland dogs and for 22 years now I feed Raw Appropriated fresh food .Ziwi Peak is my back up whenever I travel with my dogs! I am a professional dog trainer and use and recommend Ziwi as a great HEALTHY treat !! Regards Monique Charbonnier CPDT-KA
Susan Thixton
June 3, 2022 at 2:06 pm
But again – air dried has no legal requirement, no legal definition. I’ve asked AAFCO to define it, so that there would be consistency in products and pet owners would know exactly what the process is – AAFCO declined. It is a dry pet food manufacturing process that manufacturers can decide for themselves how it is made – similar to extruded or baked. The exception is that extruded is legally defined.
Margarat
June 3, 2022 at 7:01 pm
So basically you’re denigrating the product because AAFCO won’t define the production process?
Susan Thixton
June 3, 2022 at 8:47 pm
Absolutely not. It is a dry pet food. It is not dehydrated, it is not freeze dried. It is not a fresh shelf stable product. It is a dry product – kibble is a dry product as well. Not all kibble is extruded, some are baked. In my discussion about this with AAFCO – their belief was air dried is a similar process to baked. But again, without a legal definition with legal requirements for the process – only the manufacturer knows.
Wendy
July 11, 2022 at 4:43 pm
So if I understand this, extruded is cooked at high temperatures creating AGE Advanced Glycolate Endproducts. Ziwi Pets is “air-dried” which according to them means baked at a low temperature.
However, since “air-dried” has no AAFCO definition there is no way to corroborate this.
Is this correct?
BTW
I feed Ziwi Peaks Mackerel Lamb, Open Farm freeze dried Turf & Surf, and homemade organic food.
The Ziwi Peaks costs much less than the Open Farm.
Susan Thixton
July 12, 2022 at 12:32 pm
Because AAFCO has no legal definition/legal requirement for air-dried – it’s left up to manufacturer discretion to how that process works.
T Allen
June 4, 2022 at 9:46 am
No one is saying it’s not a better product than the usual kibble! That doesn’t mean it’s not kibble though. When you cook meat in the oven with no liquids what are you doing? Roasting / Baking. Convection ovens circulate the DRY air while roasting / baking. This product is a combination/ mixture of all the ingredients. If you made this in your kitchen what would you have after you put the mixture in the oven at a low temperature to cook and dry it out? A flat cookie sheet of “kibble”. It’s not human grade so it still could contain less than human edible “protein”. If you can afford it. By my calculation the least it would cost me for my 50# dog would be $8/day! I feed homemade and even with 80/20 ground beef at $4/# (plus vegies & supplements) if I spent $5 it’s a considerable savings. And I totally agree it would make a great back up travel food / treat option!
Hunter
June 3, 2022 at 1:08 pm
Ziwi Peak isn’t actually a kibble—it’s essentially jerky. It’s almost entirely meat. Doesn’t change the grade of the meat, but it certainly isn’t kibble.
spookywanluke
June 3, 2022 at 1:25 pm
Imo it’s unfair to throw ziwipeak (non extruded, air fried, limited/no grain and sustainably resourced meats (not 5d)) in with actual kibble brands.
T Allen
June 4, 2022 at 8:51 am
So you think “sustainably resourced meat” doesn’t get parasites, diseases and break legs? If it’s not human grade, yes it could be 5D. That doesn’t mean it is not a better option than other types of “kibble”, it definitely is but it’s still not human grade.
B Dawson
June 3, 2022 at 4:51 pm
I used to sell ZiwiPeak when I had a holistic pet supply in the early to mid 2000s and think, as another comment stated, the food is more like a jerky – flat & somewhat soft. Another product in this category would be Real Meat.
I never thought of kibble as anything other than dry pellets that had been extruded or baked. That was the big argument back then, flash cooked by extrusion’s high heat vs. slow baked at lower temperatures. Then the “air-dried” brands came along and added yet another player in the best-way-to-preserve-nutrients debate.
It is interesting though that “air dried” lacks a definition from AAFCO. I hope inquiring about it won’t set off a witch hunt against these types of dry products similar to the prejudice against raw and freeze-dried.
Jodi
June 3, 2022 at 5:07 pm
Thank you so much for alerting me to Ziwi Peak. I had always heard that this brand was high quality – teaches me to do my own research! I see there are several comments as to whether it is defined as kibble, but to me, if the food is considered “feed grade”, that is unacceptable for my pets. Thank you again!
Eva
June 3, 2022 at 6:20 pm
The owners of the Pet Store I use are no longer going to carry Ziwi Peak products as they learned Ziwi Peak was purchases by a Chinese corporation. That is more than enough info for me. I will never buy it again.
Suki
June 4, 2022 at 10:35 am
Thank you for posting this! It appears Chinese/Hong Kong private equity firm FountainVest acquired ZiwiPeak last fall. Had been feeding ZiwiPeak wet rabbit and lamb to my cats in rotation as a backup for vacations, vet stays, etc. in addition to raw and lightly-cooked fare. Stopped feeding Ziwi a couple months ago when I found sizable, length and thickness, bones in several of the cans. I try not to feed anything tainted by Chinese ingredients/production and will continue rotating Honest Kitchen and Caru only – brands I discovered via TAPF List. Thanks, Susan!
Fifitrixiebelle
June 5, 2022 at 12:20 pm
Wow, thank you for this comment. I buy ZP, but I will not be buying it anymore.
Peg
June 3, 2022 at 11:04 pm
Ziwi Peak is similar to jerky. There is nothing extruded like kibble. These are pieces of meat that are air dried which leaves some moisture. There are instructions to finish the contents 8 weeks after opening the bag. I have had much success with my one cat boy who will not eat raw. He is doing well on the Ziwi Peak canned and the Air Dried pieces. I have been in contact many times with the owners of Ziwi Peak and they have always been most helpful answering my questions.
Peg
June 3, 2022 at 11:52 pm
I just finished doing some research and I am sick to my stomach. The 2 brands that I use, both from New Zealand have been purchased a year ago by two of the biggest Chinese Investment firms. ZiwiPeak and Feline Natural will still be produced in New Zealand but I’m done…..purely because of Chinese dirty money involvement. I lost 2 cats and had one pass at age 3 from kidney failure from Chinese melamine poison in 2007
I see now that Honest Kitchen makes a Pate. Will try that now
Thank you
T Allen
June 4, 2022 at 9:59 am
You do know that “Pate” is not a balanced diet? I feed my cat Raised Right Human Grade (https://www.raisedrightpets.com/) and homemade cooked with Alnutrin supplements (https://www.knowwhatyoufeed.com/shop.php) She is 15yo and acts like a kitten. I switched from Honest Kitchen (good for dogs not cats) because of the high carb levels in their cat food. They think potatoes are low glycemic, they are not despite the marketing claims on the internet. My cat has done much better since switching 10 years ago.
Suki
June 4, 2022 at 5:37 pm
Thanks for the links. I think Peg was referring to the relatively new Honest Kitchen cat paté line, Câté. It doesn’t have potatoes and is “complete & balanced for kittens and adult cats”. I’ve added it to my rotation for now and 4 out of 4 cats seem to like it. I don’t love that it includes agar-agar and the ambiguous natural chicken flavor, however.
Tracey
June 5, 2022 at 12:07 am
Feline Natural is owned by a US based PE, not Chinese.
Susan Thixton
June 8, 2022 at 11:04 am
Here is a link with information about the sale: https://www.chinapetmarket.com/china-pet-foods-acquires-petfood-nz/
Fifitrixiebelle
June 5, 2022 at 12:22 pm
Wow. Feline Nat’l, too? Ugh. TY for writing this.
T Allen
June 4, 2022 at 10:14 am
Well done Susan! I was not aware of the latest marketing term, “air dried”. LOL! It’s pretty hard to dry things without air. It’s sad to see so many people who can’t follow logic without getting side-tracked. I see it everywhere and it’s exhausting having to try and people on topic. You did a great job explaining it though, repeatedly. And no, I would not pay $45/# even if when wet it expanded to 2# ($22/# as fed) which it doesn’t! And even if it was human grade although that would make it more reasonable. It costs me <$5 a day to feed my 50# dog homemade semi raw.
Fifitrixiebelle
June 5, 2022 at 12:53 pm
Almost impossible to “follow the money.” KKR and FountainVest seem to me to be too close for comfort. I don’t like the sounds of any of it — all of it is super rich money grubbers whose sole motivation in life is to get richer. I don’t believe a private equity firm is a thing I trust to care about my pet’s well being. MHO.
Dr Rock
June 4, 2022 at 10:20 am
I had a large dog w/digestive issues. We made all his meals from scratch weekly for 5 yrs. Boiled and boned whole chicken, broccoli, carrots, peas, and rice. It was labor intensive, but less expensive than buying processed food. My buddy lived very well and had less GI issues. He lived to be 14.