Dry Matter Basis (Dog Food Labels)
Definition
“On a dry matter basis” or “DMB” refers to a method of expression of the main constituents in dog foods. The nutrients in the individual ingredients of dog foods as well as in the completed dog food are expressed as a percentage on an “as-fed” or “as-purchased” basis. This form of expression has the main disadvantage that dogs are not fed on an equal basis on different diets containing different levels of moisture, i.e. on dry diets, on semi-moist diets and on wet diets (containing about 8–12 %; 25–35 % and 75–80 % moisture respectively). Several ways of expression of the constituents on an as-fed basis have been developed to eliminate the effects of moisture, i.e. “as fed %”, “% of gross energy”, “% of digestible energy” etc. The most commonly used form of expression to eliminate the effects of moisture on the constituents is the “Dry Matter Basis” or “DMB” and is calculated by dividing the as-fed % of a certain nutrient in a complete diet by the dry-matter (DM) fraction of that diet.
Expanded Body
Most Indian dog food brands list the nutrient values on their packaging at the as-fed basis, i.e. as the ingredients would be in the dog’s mom bought in a shop, complete with moisture. Thus a wet food in a pouch might contain 78% moisture with 8% crude protein (as-fed) as example, while a dry kibble could contain 10% moisture with 26% crude protein (as-fed). As you can’t compare two such vastly different foods it is necessary to convert both to a dry-matter basis. Thus the 8% crude protein (as-fed) of the wet food example translates to 36.4% DMB protein (8 ÷ 0.22), while the 26% as-fed protein of the kibble translates to 28.9% DMB (26 ÷ 0.90). Clearly in terms of protein content the wet food in this example is far superior to the kibble.
Tufts University Clinical Nutrition Service recommends that Indian dog owners compare their dogs’ diets on a DMB (dry matter basis) basis whether they are eating dry (kibble) or wet (prey-like) foods of various price points from cheap kibble to expensive wet foods. The FSSAI Standard 2.2.10 for pet food does not require the DMB to be declared on the labels of pet foods marketed in India. Only as-fed values need to be declared. In the 2023 Official Publication of the AAFCO (American Association of Feed Control Officials), all member Feed Control Officials are encouraged to require voluntary DMB declaration on the labels of all pet foods globally.
Quick Facts
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Formula | As-Fed ÷ (1 − Moisture%) |
| Dry Kibble Moisture | 8–12% |
| Wet Food Moisture | 75–80% |
| AAFCO Profile Basis | 4,000 kcal/kg DMB |
| FSSAI Mandates DMB? | Not yet (May 2026) |
DRY MATTER CONVERSION — WORKED EXAMPLES
| Dog Food Type | As-Fed Protein | As-Fed Moisture | DM Fraction | DMB Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whiskas Wet Pouch (cat ref) | 9% | 78% | 0.22 | 40.9% |
| Pedigree Adult Dry | 21% | 10% | 0.90 | 23.3% |
| Drools Focus Adult Dry | 30% | 10% | 0.90 | 33.3% |
| Royal Canin Adult Dry | 25% | 8% | 0.92 | 27.2% |
| Fresh Dog Food (typical) | 14% | 70% | 0.30 | 46.7% |
Related Terms
Faq
Q: Why does the dry food label show higher protein than wet food?
Why would it appear that the as-fed % protein of the dry foods would be higher? 1) The vast majority of the weight of a dry complete diet is comprised of nutrients. The water has been removed in the drying process. 2) Wet foods, on the other hand, are approximately 75–80% water by weight, which dilutes the protein in the as-fed % to a large degree. 3) Interestingly, when comparing on a DMB basis, many of the wet foods contain as much or more protein than the dry foods (for example, a can of tuna contains approximately 65% protein on a DMB basis while a dried complete diet contains approximately 35% protein on a DMB basis). So, the best practice would be to convert both the dry and the wet complete diets to DMB and then compare the nutritional profiles.
Key Takeaways
- Dry matter basis (DBM) removes moisture when computing and comparing the nutrients in dog foods so that you can compare the nutrients in dog foods to those in apples, in dogs, in cats, in human food, etc. on a nutrients-only basis.
- Dry matter basis calculation: DMB% = As-Fed% / (1 – moisture fraction). Thus, for example, 78% wet food, As-Fed% for protein is calculated to DMB% as follows: DMB% = As-Fed% / 0.22.
- FSSAI doesn’t mandate percentage of nutrients on DMB basis to be disclosed, in addition to information on Guaranteed Analysis on label, it would need to be manually calculated by the owner of pet.
- Many of the fresh and wet foods contain more DMB protein than their dry counterparts, even though the as-fed percent of protein in the wet food may be less than in the dry food.
