Hoping to protect their pet’s health, many pet owners are influenced by dental health claims on pet foods and treats. Unfortunately, the AAFCO written laws that should protect consumers regarding dental claims, don’t protect us at all.
On the Pedigree Dog Food website, Mars Petcare makes this claim about the “Benefits of Dry Dog Food”:
“because of its crunchy texture, dry dog food helps keep your dog’s teeth clean. How? As the bits of kibble scrape across your dog’s teeth, they can remove plaque and help prevent dental issues.”
Does dry pet food actually help to keep a pet’s teeth clean? Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine states this: “It’s true that in the past veterinarians thought that the crunchy texture of dry kibble was better for teeth than wet food. We now know that kibble and wet food both contribute to the development of plaque (the slimy coating you feel on your teeth if you haven’t brushed them). However, there are specially formulated dry dog and cat foods that are designed to remove dental plaque. Check out the Veterinary Oral Health Council website for a complete list of approved dental diets.”
Pet products that have validated dental claims through the VOHC feeding trials, will display this image on their product:
In the case of the Pedigree dog food claim, and with many other pet products, the dog food label does not include the VOHC approved seal. How can a company make potentially misleading claims about their pet foods – claiming kibble cleans teeth?
Because of poorly written AAFCO requirements.
In the AAFCO Official Publication, “Guidelines for Dental Related Claims” (see page 3), the guideline document says this:
“Foods bearing dental related claims for plaque or tartar reduction or prevention, or control of bad breath odor may be misbranded. However, if these claims are made only with respect to the products’ abrasive action or masking flavor, enforcement would be a low priority.”
By AAFCO including the statement “enforcement would be a low priority” right in the guideline, they are telling manufacturers they can make just about any claim – we are not going to ask for validation or enforce the law. AAFCO is giving manufacturers permission to mislead (or lie to) pet owners.
‘Tell pet owners kibble cleans teeth because of the abrasive action. We just don’t care.’
This legal guideline from AAFCO openly allows pet owners to be deceived.
Because of AAFCO’s reckless guidelines, pet owners looking for dental health foods and treats must ask questions of the manufacturer. How was this claim validated? Did you perform a feeding trial, can you provide me with a copy of that trial’s results? Is this product VOHC approved? What data was provided to gain approval?
Ask questions.
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
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Bonnie S Morris
February 5, 2026 at 6:22 pm
Let’s face it, our government lies to us every single day. We do not seem to matter to them at all.
T Allen
February 5, 2026 at 6:51 pm
Kibble and especially “soft moist” feeds are worse than some canned foods because they are high in carbs, which as we all know are changed into sugars by saliva. And we also all know that sugar causes tooth decay. Chewing on the proper items, for dogs and cats, lessens tartar build up, not edible foods. Since VOHC thinks rawhide chews are good than I seriously question anything they say.
Bill Piechocki
February 5, 2026 at 10:04 pm
I dealt with this issue back in the 1980’s when as a rep, I sold dental cleaning products … can give you real stories of the good, bad, & ugly of all these industries … but dental became veterinary only because of me … the change was when they took away the mixing of kibble W/ meat …Favoring… meat enyzymes kept dental care not even in the vet relm … foods then made the claim crunchier for cleaner teeth which was then removed after claims with the FTC for false advertising … reach out to me for more details if you wish ..
Barbara Fellnermayr
February 6, 2026 at 1:18 pm
Kibble cleaning teeth? That’s the equivalent of me brushing my teeth with a chocolate chip cookie!
Just another false advertising claim perpetuated on pet guardians that are looking to do the best for their dogs and cats. It’s right up there with the food being made with “real” meat as first ingredient.
I would rather pet owners feed table scraps then that garbage! At least you know that the ingredients were human grade, humans ate them!