How WellyChef recipes are checked

Standards

AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles, Adult Maintenance, expressed per 1,000 kcal ME, for protein, fat, linoleic acid, 12 minerals including iodine, 11 vitamins and choline, with AAFCO maxima where they exist (calcium, phosphorus, selenium, iodine, vitamins A and D). Calcium : phosphorus is held between 1 : 1 and 2 : 1, and omega-6 : omega-3 under 30 : 1.

NRC (2006), Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats, where AAFCO sets no value. Today that is EPA + DHA: recommended allowance 0.11 g and safe upper limit 2.8 g per 1,000 kcal. Rows that use NRC are tagged NRC in every table; all others are AAFCO.

The tools are built to the adult profile only. They do not model growth, reproduction or therapeutic diets, and say so to the client.

Data sources

• Foods: USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy release, per 100 g. Each food's FDC record number is shown and linked in the client's summary. Meats are entered as raw weight; grains and vegetables as cooked weight, from the cooked record. Where a record leaves a nutrient blank it counts as zero. Iodine is counted from the premix only, as SR Legacy does not report it.
• WellyChef VMsure: the production formula's nutrient composition as mixed (formula KC1277D), per 100 g. Vitamin E is converted at 1.49 IU per mg.
• Fish oil: a product standardized to 18% EPA and 12% DHA; linoleic and alpha-linolenic acid from the USDA sardine oil record.

Method

• The builder sizes the client's chosen foods to the energy target, then adjusts the amounts, within a cap per food, to maximise the number of targets met and the margin over each minimum. The VMsure dose is set by the same search, with a small penalty so it uses only as much as the recipe needs (typically 10–20 g per 1,000 kcal). Fish oil is fixed at 1 g per 1,000 kcal.
• A nutrient over an AAFCO maximum is flagged and penalised heavily; the client is shown which ingredient supplies most of it.
• The Recipe Checker takes a recipe the client already cooks and reports, for each shortfall, the smallest additional VMsure or fish oil dose that closes it, or that a food change is needed when the supplement cannot do so at a safe dose.

What the summary contains

• Dog: name, weight, life stage, activity, declared allergies; energy target and energy supplied.
• Recipe per day: grams and kcal for each food with its FDC record, and both supplements with their formula or specification.
• Every nutrient per 1,000 kcal: standard (AAFCO or NRC), recipe value, minimum, maximum, status.
• Calcium : phosphorus and omega-6 : omega-3 ratios.
• The standards statement and the planning-tool disclaimer.

Not included, and worth raising with the client where relevant: body condition score, breed-specific concerns, concurrent medication, and the pet's history with any listed ingredient.