The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (New York) in September recommended that Nutro Products Inc. (City of Industry, Calif.) modify advertising claims for its “lite” pet food products to conform to industry standards established by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (Oxford, Ind.).

The advertising claims, concerning Natural Choice Lite and Natural Choice Small Bites Lite., were challenged by Hill’s Pet Nutrition Inc. (Topeka, Kan.).

According to Hill’s, Nutro lacked a reasonable basis for its “lite” product claims, because the products substantially exceeded the maximum calorie allowance for “lite” pet food according to certain industry guidelines.

In response, Nutro said that AAFCO had no requirements for pet food products designated “light” or “lite” when it introduced Natural Choice Lite in 1994. The manufacturer designated the products in question as “lite” because contained less fat and protein than other Nutro dry dog foods, both then and now.

Furthermore, Nutro noted that temporary manufacturing irregularities at its plants had allowed the unauthorized addition of fat to the “lite” pet food products, skewing the results of certain product tests performed by the challenger. The company presented evidence that the irregularities had been corrected.

Following its review of the evidence, the NAD determined that the Nutro products in question did not meet the industry standard, established by AAFCO, for “lite” pet food products. Although the products may be described as “reduced calorie,” as compared to the company’s other dry dog foods, they are not accurately described as “lite.”

Consequently, NAD recommended that Nutro take immediate steps to ensure that its “lite” dry pet food products do not exceed AAFCO calorie limits for “lite” products, and that it immediately cease labeling these products as “lite,” “light” or any other similar designation until such steps have been taken.

Nutro “respectfully disagree[d]” that its current formulation of Natural Choice Lite product exceeds the caloric guidelines promulgated by AAFCO. Nevertheless, the company said, “[We will] take all of NAD’s suggestions into account for [our] future advertising and make any necessary modifications in accordance with NAD’s recommendations so that [our] Natural Choice Lite product continues to comply with AAFCO guidelines.”