Ingredient Safety:
The ADF is a software tool that provides information about macro- and micronutrient balance based on recommendations by the NRC, AAFCO, and FEDIAF and contains our database of ingredient nutrition information. Ingredients included in the ADF are not necessarily recommended, endorsed, or useful for every species or every animal in question. The responsibility for healthy, appropriate, and balanced foods always rests with the user. The user controls the ingredient choices, purchase, manufacture, conditions, and storage of food. The user is responsible to monitor the animal’s responses to the foods as well, as responses can vary dramatically by an individual. Careful monitoring is always required to ensure a diet is meeting the needs of an animal. When a user approves and feeds a formulation or creates a diet with the ADF, a clear understanding of the needs/requirements for the species and animal that will consume the diet is required in every instance.
Ingredient Accuracy:
While sound reasonable measures have been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within our ingredient database of the Animal Diet Formulator Software, the accuracy of the information on the site is not guaranteed and data users should always check the programs and resulting data output carefully.
The USDA's Standard Reference Legacy Release (SR Legacy) has been the primary food composition data type in the United States for decades. It provides a comprehensive list of nutrient and food component values that are derived from analyses, calculations, and the published literature. The ADF ingredient database is primarily built from the information in this database.
Not all data types provide data on all nutrients; this is because of the uniqueness of the data types:
- Some nutrients are not found in certain foods (e.g., Cholesterol in plant foods, Protein in oils)
- Some nutrients in a food have not yet been analyzed (e.g., Iodine, Chloride).
Data analyses are continually conducted and as data on nutrients are obtained, values will be added to the ingredient profiles.
It is the user's/formulator's responsibility to verify the completeness of any information. We highly recommend using the "Ingredient Compare" Function and "Typical" ingredients within the program. Comparing the ingredients will allow the user to see where there is a lack of nutrient data available for that ingredient and using the Typical ingredients will provide the most complete nutrient data for that ingredient.