For the first time, pet food gets labelling rules of its own.
For the first time, pet food gets labelling rules of its own.
Until now, food for dogs and cats has sat under the same law and the same labelling standard as feed for cattle, pigs and chickens. The revision of 「사료 등의 기준 및 규격」 (Standards and Specifications for Feed) on 4 September 2025 — MAFRA Notice 2025-93 — added Annex 15-2, additional labelling requirements for pet food.
Its first line reads: “The provisions of this annex apply to pet food. Other feeds follow Annex 15.” That sentence is where dog and cat food formally parts from livestock feed.
The supplementary provisions set commencement at three years from promulgation, so it applies from September 2028. For the first year after that, changing labels by sticker is permitted — so an early product carrying an overlaid label is not irregular.
A food meeting the full requirement for its life stage without additional nutrition is a 반려동물완전사료 (complete pet food); anything else is 반려동물기타사료 (other pet food). The nutrient standard it is measured against is set by the National Institute of Animal Science, and a company labelling a product as complete must be able to demonstrate it through an accredited laboratory if required.
Where a product or brand name uses an ingredient name, that ingredient and its percentage inclusion must appear in the ingredient list. The example the rule itself gives: salmon (22% as formulated), dried pollack powder (1.5% on a dry-matter basis). Today both would appear as names alone.
Where a compound ingredient such as a premix is used, at least two representative constituents must be listed in brackets in order of inclusion. If an ingredient is used in the product name, or carries a health or functional claim, its percentage must be stated as well.
Ingredients below 2% by weight may be listed out of order. Which means the tail of an ingredient list is not a reliable ranking.
Fish meal, meat meal and meat-and-bone meal cannot be labelled as “○○ meat”. Meat meal must be written as meat by-product powder, meat-and-bone meal as powder of meat adhering to bone and bone by-products, fish bone meal as fish bone powder, and greaves as by-product of animal fat processing. To write “meat powder”, no by-product may be used.
A company selling under its own brand without making the product must additionally print the distributor-seller’s trade name, address and telephone number. Working out who made it becomes easier than it is today.
The same annex sets out what counts as false or exaggerated labelling and advertising. Much of it is language you can find in current advertising.
Conversely, wording such as supports healthy growth, development and activity, or supports the maintenance of health, stamina, constitution, dietary management and nutrition, is not treated as false or exaggerated. The line is crossed the moment a specific disease is named — diabetes, constipation, cancer.
Source · 「사료 등의 기준 및 규격」 일부개정(농림축산식품부고시 제2025-93호, 2025-09-04) — 고시 전문 및 [별표 15의2]
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