Section 72.7. Balanced and complete rations

(a) 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 meets one of the following requisites:

(1) If 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.

(2) It 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.

(b) To the extent that the ingredients of the product provide nutrients in amounts which substantially deviate from those nutrient requirements estimated by 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 states of these animals lives, the represented capabilities of the product in this regard shall have been demonstrated by adequate testing.