Code of Maine Rules › 01 - DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, CONSERVATION AND FORESTRY › 001 - AGRICULTURE - GENERAL › Chapter 312 - PET FOOD › Section 001-312-2 - Label Format and Labeling

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
A. The statement of
				net content and product name must be shown on the principal display panel. All
				other required information may be placed elsewhere on the label but shall be
				sufficiently conspicuous as to render it easily read by the average purchaser
				under ordinary conditions of purchase and sale.
B. The declaration of the net content shall
				be made in conformity with the United States "Fair Packaging and Labeling Act"
				and the regulations promulgated thereunder.
C. The information which is required to
				appear in the "Guaranteed Analysis" shall be listed in the following order:
Crude protein(Minimum Amount)
Crude Fat(Minimum Amount)
Crude Fiber(Maximum Amount)
Moisture(Maximum Amount)
Additional guarantees shall follow moisture.
D. The label of a pet food shall
				specify the name and address of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor of the
				pet food. The statement of the place of business should include the street
				address, if any,-of such place unless such street address is shown in a current
				city directory or telephone directory.
E. If a person manufactures, packages, or
				distributes a pet food in a place other than his principal place of business,
				the label may state the principal place of business in lieu of the actual place
				where each package of such pet food was manufactured or packaged or is to be
				distributed, if such statement is not misleading in any particular.
F. A vignette, graphic or pictorial
				representation of a product on a pet food label shall not misrepresent the
				contents of the package.
G. The use
				of the word "proven" in connection with label claims for a pet food is improper
				unless scientific or other empirical evidence establishing the claim
				represented as "proven" is available.
H. No statement shall appear upon the label
				of a pet food which makes false or misleading comparisons between that pet food
				and any other pet food.
I. Personal
				or commercial endorsements are permitted on pet food labels where said
				endorsements are factual and not other-wise misleading.
J. When a pet food is enclosed in an outer
				container or wrapper which is intended for retail sale, all required label
				information must appear on such outside wrapper or container unless all of the
				required label information is readily legible through apertures or
				transparencies in such outside container or wrapper..
K. The words "Dog Food", "Cat Food", or
				similar designations must appear conspicuously upon the principal display
				panels of the pet food labels.
L.
				The label of a pet food shall not contain an unqualified representation or
				claim, directly or indirectly, that the pet food therein contained or a
				recommended feeding thereof, is or meets the requisites of a complete, perfect,
				scientific or balanced ration for dogs or cats unless such product or feeding:
1. Contains ingredients in quantities
				sufficient to provide the estimated nutrient requirements for all stages of the
				life of a dog or cat, as the case may be, which have been established by a
				recognized authority on animal nutrition, such as the Committee on Animal
				Nutrition of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences*
				or,
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* To the extent that the product's ingredients provide
				  nutrients in amounts which substantially deviate from those nutrient
				  requirements estimated by such a recognized authority on animal nutrition, or
				  in the event that no estimation has been made by a recognized authority on
				  animal nutrition of the requirements of animals for one or more stages of said
				  animals' lives, the product's represented capabilities in this regard must have
				  been demonstrated by adequate testing.
2. Contains a combination of ingredients
				which when fed to a normal animal as the only source of nourishment will
				provide satisfactorily for fertility of male and female, gestation and
				lactation, normal growth from weaning to maturity without supplementary
				feeding, and will maintain the normal weight of an adult animal whether working
				or at rest and has had its capabilities in this regard demonstrated by adequate
				testing.
M .Labels for products which are compounded for or which are
				  suitable for only a limited purpose (i.e. a product designed for the feeding of
				  puppies) may contain representations that said pet food product or recommended
				  feeding thereof, is or meets the requisites of a complete, perfect, scientific
				  or balanced ration for dogs or cats only:
1. In conjunction with a statement of the
				limited purpose for which the product is intended or suitable (as, for example,
				in the statement 'a complete food for puppies'). Such representations and such
				required qualification therefor shall be juxtaposed on the same panel-and in
				the same size, style and color print; and
2. Such qualified representations may appear
				on pet food labels only if:
a. The pet food
				contains ingredients in quantities sufficient to satisfy the estimated nutrient
				requirements established by a recognized authority on animal nutrition, such as
				the Committee on Animal Nutrition of the National Research Council of the
				National Academy of Sciences for such limited or qualified purpose;
				or
b. The pet food product contains
				a combination of ingredients which when fed for such limited purpose will
				satisfy the nutrient requirements for such limited purpose and has had its
				capabilities in this regard demonstrated by adequate testing.