NASC officially launched its Treat Program, extending the organization’s compliance requirements and coveted Quality Seal to treat products for dogs, cats and horses. The program addresses a long-standing source of regulatory confusion in one of the pet industry’s fastest-growing and most valuable segments.
Source: Pets+. Link. The NASC Quality Seal on a treat product carries the same assurance it does on supplements.
Treats are regulated as food, meaning all ingredients must be AAFCO approved and claims are limited to dental or nutritional benefits. But many products marketed as “functional treats” go beyond those boundaries — making claims for joint health, calming or other non-nutritional benefits that legally qualify them as health supplements, not food.”
Also see: Dog food and treats are popular topics on social media, PETFOOD Industry, March 6, 2026. Link. Data from Innova Market Insights, covered trends in mentions, sentiment, total mentions, reach, engagement and views of mentions related to dog food and treats across social media and online platforms. For example, news articles about dog food or treats achieved high level of activity; an average reach of 6.35 million per mention.
*Related: Clean Label Project — science or marketing?, PETFOOD Industry, March 10, 2026. Link. Clean Label Project has released a report that misses the mark in terms of thorough scientific inquiry. George Collings, PhD. asserts. “Without transparency, peer-review, repetitive testing and collaborative scientific processes, CLP’s report risks functioning more as a market-driven certification versus rigorous science.”
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